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This year's efforts to get funding for the river-and-Delta preservation program known as Cal-Fed were recently abandoned by Congressional negotiators. The negotiating collapse at the end of the congressional session will cost California at least $20 million, which had been on the table to fund work throughout Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. "Without the support of the Secretary of Interior for a compromise, it became clear to me that we could not reach an agreement on a Cal-Fed authorization bill this year," said Senator Dianne Feinstein. "Congressman Condit and I had been trying to find a way to bring together versions of Congressman Doolittle's authorization bill with one that could be supported by Interior and we were not able to bridge those differences." The basic issue that could not be agreed upon was what kind of congressional direction the federal funds should accompany. Congressman Doolittle's authorization bill pushed to put more changes in the program that would give more attention to future water-storage needs for Central Valley farmers. Senator Feinstein expressed that the focus should now go to creating a bill that will get the support of the Department of Interior. |
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"I would like to concentrate my efforts on developing the Senate version of a multi-year authorization bill to be considered next year. We will do everything we can to make it a bipartisan bill that can be approved by both the Congress and the Administration," said Feinstein. "In the process of developing this longer term authorization bill, I intend to scrutinize the Cal-Fed record of decision and work with the Interior Department to see that it is clear. One of the problems has been that there is a belief that the record of decision is not entirely clear. If the record of decision needs amending to clarify it intent, then it should be amended." The CalFed program was formed as a result of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA), signed into law by President George Bush in 1992, as well as the listings of salmon and other species of the Central Valley under the federal and state Endangered Species Acts. Anglers were in the forefront of the move to pass the CVPIA, which made fish and wildlife a purpose of the federal project for the first time. Unfortunately, they have been largely omitted from the so-called "consensus" process that has taken place since CalFed was formed after the water summit between the state, federal government and water contractors in December 1994. Anglers have blasted the CalFed plan adopted this summer for promoting new dams and storage facilities and the export of more water from the Central Valley and Delta, rather than restoring fish and wildlife as was originally intended under the legislation. |
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