Restrictions on Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water supplies meant to protect salmon, Delta smelt and other fish would be eliminated by language that congressional Republicans have put into the federal government funding bill.
The 359-page bill, which is expected to come up for a vote today or Thursday, is needed to keep the federal government running after March 4.
House GOP leaders said the bill includes $100 billion in spending cuts needed to reduce the budget deficit.
Inserted at the request of Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, are measures to eliminate rules that federal biologists have created over the past couple of years in response to crashing fish populations. The bill also would block an effort to restore the San Joaquin River.
Salmon fishers and environmentalists decried the legislation. However, the general manager for the nation's largest irrigation district said the bill could significantly improve its water supplies this year.
"It would be safe to say that if the (restrictions) were not implemented, our water supply would be 65 to 70 percent," said Tom Birmingham, general manager of the Westlands Water District. It is now slated to get about 45 percent of its contract amount.
Several Delta fish populations have declined rapidly over the past decade, including Delta smelt, a small fish that some scientists said could be nearing extinction, and a commercially valuable salmon run that was closed for two of the past three years.
"We've just come through the three worst years in history for salmon businesses, families and communities due to the type of water management the House is now trying to force on us," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.
With the GOP takeover of the House of Representatives in November, many observers expected that the politically charged conflict in the Delta, which Westlands and others have characterized as a fight between fish and farmers, would be a target for conservative critics of endangered species rules.
One environmentalist speculated that Westlands' gains could come at the expense of other water agencies in the Bay Area and Southern California.
That is because Westlands relies on pumps operated by the federal government. If federal pumps are exempted from federal environmental laws, the state's endangered species law would require customers of the neighboring state-owned pumps to make up the difference, said Barry Nelson, a water policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Those customers include water agencies in the Bay Area, Southern California, Central Coast and Kern County.
"This really is a half-baked proposal with far-reaching implications," Nelson said. "It would cripple the ability of (state and federal) agencies to work together and develop solutions."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a statement Monday said, "These are complex problems, and they require nuanced solutions. These broad-brush strokes do nothing to help us," Feinstein said.
The 359-page bill, which is expected to come up for a vote today or Thursday, is needed to keep the federal government running after March 4.
House GOP leaders said the bill includes $100 billion in spending cuts needed to reduce the budget deficit.
Inserted at the request of Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, are measures to eliminate rules that federal biologists have created over the past couple of years in response to crashing fish populations. The bill also would block an effort to restore the San Joaquin River.
Salmon fishers and environmentalists decried the legislation. However, the general manager for the nation's largest irrigation district said the bill could significantly improve its water supplies this year.
"It would be safe to say that if the (restrictions) were not implemented, our water supply would be 65 to 70 percent," said Tom Birmingham, general manager of the Westlands Water District. It is now slated to get about 45 percent of its contract amount.
Several Delta fish populations have declined rapidly over the past decade, including Delta smelt, a small fish that some scientists said could be nearing extinction, and a commercially valuable salmon run that was closed for two of the past three years.
"We've just come through the three worst years in history for salmon businesses, families and communities due to the type of water management the House is now trying to force on us," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.
With the GOP takeover of the House of Representatives in November, many observers expected that the politically charged conflict in the Delta, which Westlands and others have characterized as a fight between fish and farmers, would be a target for conservative critics of endangered species rules.
One environmentalist speculated that Westlands' gains could come at the expense of other water agencies in the Bay Area and Southern California.
That is because Westlands relies on pumps operated by the federal government. If federal pumps are exempted from federal environmental laws, the state's endangered species law would require customers of the neighboring state-owned pumps to make up the difference, said Barry Nelson, a water policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Those customers include water agencies in the Bay Area, Southern California, Central Coast and Kern County.
"This really is a half-baked proposal with far-reaching implications," Nelson said. "It would cripple the ability of (state and federal) agencies to work together and develop solutions."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a statement Monday said, "These are complex problems, and they require nuanced solutions. These broad-brush strokes do nothing to help us," Feinstein said.
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