Drought Requires Long-Term Solutions, Seymour Says

Drought-stricken California cannot rely on a short-term fix for its worsening water problems and must begin taking serious steps to promote long-range conservation and development of new water sources, the state’s junior senator said Thursday.

Republican John Seymour said in a breakfast interview with Times editors and reporters that the state needs to enlist new technology to reclaim fresh water from the sea and to conserve the vast quantities of water used in California agricultural production.

At the same time, the former Anaheim state senator said he has drafted legislation to address the water crisis in the near term. Seymour’s bill, to be introduced in the next two weeks, would authorize the creation of what would amount to a federal water bank.

The measure would allow the government to use federal dams and canals to move water from one state to another, make loans to local government agencies to purchase water and defer payments for water works from communities hardest hit by drought.

Ultimately, Seymour said, the state’s water needs must be addressed not only through new sources, such as desalination plants, but also through a major commitment to reduced usage, particularly by agricultural interests.

“What California needs, I think, in the longer term is not only desalination, but much better water conservation--particularly in Southern California. Agriculture is going to have to learn to conserve a lot more,” he said.

Appointed in January by Gov. Pete Wilson to fill Wilson’s unexpired Senate term, Seymour, 53, also said he will work hard in the 102nd Congress to achieve a compromise on a California desert protection bill sponsored by Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.). The bill has been stalled for years because Cranston and Wilson could not agree on many of its provisions, chiefly the amount of desert acreage that would be protected.

Seymour said he has not yet made up his mind about a Bush Administration proposal to draft a sweeping free-trade agreement with Mexico.

The trade accord could open lucrative markets to California manufacturers, especially those who make high-technology products, Seymour said. But it also could hurt California growers who are subject to environmental regulations that are more strict and costly than those imposed in Mexico, he said.

“I just don’t think it’s right that agriculture in California take the big hit for this one. . . . If the cost of growing my product because of concern for the environment . . . puts me, as a California farmer, at a distinct disadvantage, that’s not fair trade.”

On the political front, Seymour asserted that a 1992 primary challenge from conservative Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) would help rather than hurt him in a general election by defining Seymour as a fiscal conservative who is a moderate on social issues. Former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, a liberal who barely lost the governorship to Wilson last fall, so far is the only Democrat to announce she plans to run for Seymour’s seat.

Reacting to a story in Thursday’s editions of The Times, Seymour said his chief aide, William Cranham, made a “mistake in judgment” during Seymour’s tenure in the state Senate by twice intervening with California real estate regulators in the state licensing of a Seymour business associate.

But Seymour said he continues to have confidence in Cranham, who now serves as the chief of staff in Seymour’s U.S. Senate office. “He didn’t do anything dishonest intentionally. . . . Bill’s not that kind of guy,” Seymour said. “It was a mistake in judgment, clearly. But so? A lot of us make mistakes in judgment. I’ve made them.” Seymour has said he was unaware of Cranham’s contacts with the state officials.

Seymour said that dealing with California’s water problems is at the top of his agenda. The bill he is drafting will become one of several measures seeking to address both the short-term and long-term consequences of the California drought.

The House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, for example, on Wednesday approved a drought relief measure that contains water bank authority similar to that proposed by Seymour. The House bill also would authorize $30 million in federal drought relief for California.

Competing proposals that make it through the House and Senate eventually will be fashioned together in a House-Senate conference committee, and then sent back to both chambers for final approval.

Seymour made it clear that he favors market-driven water strategies rather than government-mandated allocation schemes. He said, for example, that he opposes a suggestion by Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) that the Interior Department cut off the sale of federal water from the Central Valley Project to California farmers to save more water for urban areas.

“It’s what I call the small pie theory,” Seymour said. “The small pie theory says this is all we have. We’re never going to get any more. Now let’s fight over what’s left in the pie. I choose to believe in the bigger pie concept and that is, through good management and through resource development, you can enlarge the pie.”