House Committee OKs Emergency Drought Bill

Acting with speedy bipartisan resolve, the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee on Wednesday approved a California drought relief bill that would give the federal government greater flexibility to work with the state to provide water to hard-pressed cities and industries.

The emergency measure, which could receive full House approval as early as next week, would relax an 80-year-old ban against diverting water from federal projects intended primarily for irrigation. The Senate is expected to pass the legislation and send it to President Bush for his signature.

Under the House bill, Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan Jr. would be authorized to cooperate with California officials on drought measures by using U.S. government facilities to store and transfer water and by participating in the state’s water bank.

The bill would permit the Interior Department to drill wells and undertake other construction projects to mitigate drought losses. It also would allow the department to buy water from “willing sellers” in the state and to sell it to interested buyers at a price that would cover the government’s costs.

California Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), acting chairman of the House panel, said the legislation would permit integration of federal and state resources “to get water where it is needed most and to minimize the effects of the drought” on health and safety, the state’s economy and fish and wildlife.

“We need this bill very much and we need it quickly,” said Rep. Richard H. Lehman (D-Sanger), who helped draft the legislation.

The bill would authorize $30 million in federal drought relief in California and another $12 million to design and begin construction of facilities to control the temperature of water released from Shasta Dam, a step regarded as essential to preservation of some types of salmon and other fish in the Sacramento River.

The legislation would authorize the Interior Department to work with California officials to build temporary barriers and take other measures necessary to prevent salt water from threatening fresh water drinking supplies in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta area.

Gov. Pete Wilson would have to request the federal government’s cooperation to trigger the special assistance. The expanded authority would be temporary, ending one year after the law is passed.

Under another provision of the bill, the interior secretary would be given permanent authority to conduct studies on how to conserve and augment water supplies available to federal reclamation projects in the Western states.

It also would authorize preparation of drought contingency plans, subject to congressional review, and would allow federal assistance to all 50 states in drought contingency planning.

Before the measure was approved, the committee narrowly rejected a proposal to bar any federal deliveries of water for production of surplus crops, such as rice or cotton.

Rep. Samuel Gejdenson (D-Conn.), who advocated cutting off irrigation water to farmers growing such crops, said the nation has been squandering water resources for decades by not following his suggestion.

Proponents of the bill said adoption of Gejdenson’s amendment would have jeopardized quick passage and might have killed the legislation.

Miller, who said he agreed with the thrust of the proposal, urged Gejdenson to add it to a reclamation reform bill coming to a vote in the committee soon. “You raise a very pertinent point--certainly for California,” Miller said.

On a voice vote in which the ayes and nays seemed evenly divided, Miller ruled that the proposal was rejected. Gejdenson did not seek a roll call on the issue.