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Deal reached in suit on San Joaquin RiverBy Michael Doyle and Mark Grossi McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS Wednesday, September 13, 2006
By about 2013, salmon should be reintroduced to the river that once teemed with them. Hundreds of millions of dollars would be spent on channel improvements and more, and a new "San Joaquin River restoration" administrator would oversee the complicated work. The river restoration details, and myriad others that will change life in the San Joaquin Valley, have been worked out by farmers and environmentalists during months of negotiations. They will be presented to a federal judge this morning, in hopes of settling an 18-year-old lawsuit. "To be able to come up with an agreement that parties on both sides can agree to is a monumental step to a healthy river," Grant Davis, executive director of the San Francisco-based Bay Institute, said Tuesday. "Failure would not only harm the river, it would harm the San Joaquin Valley." Davis declined to offer details of the settlement, which was described by others who had been briefed about the pending deal as it stood several weeks ago. The Justice Department reportedly only signed off on the agreement Monday night, and details have been in flux until the last moment. But even as environmental groups and their negotiating partners embrace the new deal, it is attracting flak on Capitol Hill and among some water users. Part of the agreement includes an apparent deadline for Congress to approve San Joaquin River restoration legislation by Dec. 31. Construction of the Friant Dam in the 1940s helped fuel the Valley's agricultural growth, but it also essentially dried up portions of the San Joaquin River in western Merced and Fresno counties. In high water times, the river shunted into a wide bypass channel for decades. With the long-running lawsuit unresolved, Rep. George Radanovich, R-Fresno, and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., last year began urging farmers and environmentalists led by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Bay Institute to strike a deal. Feinstein will introduce the legislation -- dubbed by some the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement Act -- to authorize the various river fixes. A draft of the proposed legislation would allow the federal government to buy land from "willing sellers." All environmental laws must be complied with -- a blow to some water agencies that were hoping for exemptions. Outside parties -- such as the Merced Irrigation District -- cannot sue if they are unhappy with how the settlement works. The proposed legislation establishes a "San Joaquin River Restoration Fund," which will include California state bond money and federal funds. Friant water users would not pay any more than they already do, but the "capital component" of their existing water contracts would be devoted to the new restoration fund. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Feinstein could attempt to attach the river bill to another, must-pass funding bill. Radanovich, next week, will hold a hearing on the settlement, which will set the foundation for a House bill. "I think if all the water districts in Friant support it, then so do I," Radanovich said. The agreement will not automatically dissolve if the legislation strays beyond the Dec. 31 deadline, said Friant Water Users Authority lawyer Dan Dooley. http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/living/science/15508462.htm | |
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