OAKLEY — Assemblyman Jim Frazier announced Wednesday an effort to combat recently approved federal legislation that would maximize water exports from the Delta to Southern California agriculture.
“As a defender of the Delta, I plan to introduce legislation to further protect the Delta and those who rely on all it has to offer,” Frazier said in a news release issued Wednesday. “I completely disapprove of the last-minute language included in the federal water legislation allowing unsustainable water exports south of the Delta.”
Frazier went on to say that he hopes the president “will recognize the catastrophic effects and send this proposal back to the drawing board.”
The bill, known as the Water Resources Development Act of 2016, passed through the Senate 78 to 21 on Friday despite a filibuster effort by one of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Barbara Boxer.
Boxer changed her position on the bill after a 98-page last-minute addition, or rider, was introduced by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, on Dec. 5, with support from Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
The rider requires pumping from the Old and Middle rivers at the “most negative reverse flow rate allowed under the applicable biological opinion to maximize water supplies for the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project.”
Additionally, it would allow the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce to authorize flow rates above the highest allowed rate during storm events. Also, the time period for water transfers from three to eight months, April to November.
Within the language, Feinstein clarified that the bill made clear that agencies cannot violate the Endangered Species Act or biological opinions. However, environmental groups disagreed.
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