Friday, June 10, 2005
An aggressive water industry campaign that seeks
to protect local water ratepayers from unfunded mandated
fees for the multi-billion dollar CALFED Bay Delta
program has earned the support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,
the Placer County Water Agency says.
In a May 31 letter sent to PCWA General Manager David
Breninger, the governor said he intends to develop
a balanced CALFED funding plan "consistent with the
beneficiaries-pay principle." Schwarzenegger's letter
is in direct response to a May 11 letter sent to
him by Breninger and 36 other water managers stating
their opposition to new CALFED user fees.
The governor also said in his letter that his CALFED
finance plan will be spread over 10 years and include "payments
from water users to the Ecosystem Restoration Program
and other programs, but in proportion to the direct
benefits received."
PCWA has coordinated with other agencies to advocate
that CALFED funding be paid by agencies and water
customers who receive benefit from the program.
"Although CALFED may be a worthy effort, it does not
appear to benefit customers of PCWA," said PCWA chairwoman
Pauline Roccucci. "If there is no benefit to us, we
shouldn't be forced to pay."
CALFED was formed in 1994 by state and federal water
management interests so they could further alter
California's Delta ecosystem in order to greatly
increase pumping of Northern California water to
Southern California.
The costs to mitigate CALFED's increased exportation
of water have become extraordinarily expensive, PCWA
says.
"CALFED is striving to find a way to get Northern California
water and power customers to subsidize a significant
portion of their Bay-Delta project costs," said PCWA
legal counsel Ed Tiedemann. "Such a sweeping action
is on the verge of breaking a fragile 10-year-old water
truce in California."
PCWA officials have repeatedly taken a strong stand
with State and Federal officials that CALFED abide
by the "beneficiaries-pay principle."
This "basic equity issue, however, has become a hotly
debated CALFED policy principle in Sacramento," Breninger
said. So the Governor's recent written response to
PCWA on CALFED financing is very encouraging and
greatly appreciated, he said.
However, Breninger pointed out that CALFED funding
is far from settled and that PCWA will continue to
aggressively participate in the CALFED funding debate
as it moves through the state legislative process.