Environmental Study of U.S. Water Pacts Sought

A White House council recommended Friday that major environmental studies be performed before the federal government renews long-term contracts for the delivery of irrigation water to farmers in the Central Valley of California.

Findings by the President’s Council on Environmental Quality are advisory but could hold great sway with a federal court that is considering a lawsuit brought by environmental groups seeking to block outright renewal of such contracts.

Federal agencies have traditionally followed the council’s recommendations as well, but it was not immediately clear whether the Interior Department, which administers federal water projects, would reverse its policy of renewing the contracts in this instance.

Immediately at stake is 1.5 million acre-feet of water a year that the federal Bureau of Reclamation has delivered for four decades to farmers served by 28 irrigation districts in the eastern San Joaquin Valley. That is roughly a year’s supply for 3 million urban families.

Review Ordered

Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. said in a statement that he has ordered a review of the council’s recommendations, and a spokesman added that the department, for the time being, would “stand by” its position.

The outcome of the dispute is expected to set a precedent for about 300 long-term contracts providing water to 2.7 million acres of irrigated land throughout the Central Valley.

The Bureau of Reclamation, an Interior Department agency, had intended to renew the irrigation contracts as they expired for another 40 years for the same amount of water.

Lujan has said he is “morally and legally bound” to do that under a 1956 law guaranteeing farmers indefinite access to the water on which they depend to maintain land values and obtain crucial financing.

But a suit filed earlier this year by the Natural Resources Defense Council contends that the bureau should not renew the contracts without a formal environmental assessment. The group is concerned about the effects of massive water diversions on river fisheries, wetlands and water quality downstream.

Opposite Sides

The dispute has pitted the Interior Department against the Environmental Protection Agency, which has taken the side of conservationists and asked the President’s council to arbitrate.

After two months of hearings and deliberations, the three-member presidential council agreed with the EPA that locking up huge quantities of water for 40 more years constitutes a major federal action requiring a comprehensive study of the consequences under the National Environmental Policy Act.