Dianne Feinstein
is the senior
U.S. senator from California.
Re “Feinstein’s play threatens to roil the water world” (Editorial, Feb. 14): Given the magnitude of the Central Valley water crisis, I was surprised by The Bee’s sharp criticism of an Emergency Temporary Water Supply amendment I am proposing to provide farmers with the minimum amount of water necessary to stay in business (38 to 40 percent of their contractual allocation), while maintaining environmental protections.
Water is jobs in our state. More than 2,700 growers, who farm 800,000 acres of land south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, rely on water from the Central Valley Project to stay in business. Three consecutive years of drought have caused more than 400,000 acres of farmland to be fallowed. Rows of almond trees have been uprooted, and thousands of farmworkers are unemployed.
Winter storms have boosted storage capacity at key reservoirs and replenished the Sierra snowpack, yet many farmers will not be able to farm because, as things stand now, the recent precipitation is flowing into the ocean. In addition, the National Marine Fisheries Service is slated to dramatically reduce the amount of Delta water available for agricultural and drinking water uses to just 8 percent of the Delta’s water flow during the key irrigation months of April and May. Westside farmers can’t survive on that.
The Endangered Species Act is a vital instrument, but it lacks flexibility to address the human condition during emergencies. That’s why I’m proposing to make technical modifications to the biological opinions that restrict Delta pumping and modestly increase the water exported from the Delta for human uses to 14 percent during the months of April and May, while leaving in place a major pulse flow to provide water for salmon during the peak of their runs.
This is a fair, short-term compromise that will help stem economic devastation caused by drought while honoring environmental protections.
There is precedent for my proposal. In 2003, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously for a bill which, like this one, made one change to the implementation of each applicable biological opinion in order to ensure a sufficient water supply, while upholding essential protections for New Mexico’s silvery minnow.
I understand that there are passionate views on both sides of the issue, and hopefully there will be an administrative solution that makes further legislation unnecessary. But I won’t leave Valley families to fend for themselves in dire circumstances. With 2.3 million Californians unemployed, I believe jobs and the economy must be our top priority.