U.S. Senate Energy Panel Passes Drought Legislation : Water: Bill would give federal authorities new powers to move water where it is needed most during a crisis.

After languishing for more than six months, an “emergency” California drought bill that would provide relief to cities, farmers and wildlife was approved Thursday by the Senate Energy Committee and sent to the Senate floor.

The drought relief measure, endorsed unanimously by the energy panel, was hailed as landmark legislation by Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.), a committee member who said he was “personally proud” of the bill.

But critics said the bill’s slow progress--a similar version was passed by the House in March--underscores the fact that Congress has failed to provide speedy aid for drought-stricken communities in California. The state endured a fifth straight year of extreme dry conditions this summer with little assistance from the federal government.

The Senate bill would give federal authorities new powers to move water where it is needed most during a crisis and allow cities to use federal water projects to store and transfer water. It also would authorize Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. to issue government loans to needy farmers and work with California officials on drought-prevention measures such as establishing water banks.

The measure is expected to be approved by the Senate, although its estimated $100-million price tag for 1992-1996 will have to compete with other funding priorities.

The federal relief, however, may not be needed soon since the worst effects of the shortage ended with the coming of fall.

Seymour said the legislation would arm California with “new tools” to quickly respond in the event of future drought emergencies.

“For once, we will be in an active mode instead of a reactive mode,” Seymour said. “If this legislation had been on the books last year, we would have already taken action to relieve the pressures of the drought.”

In response to drought conditions, a similar bill was drafted early this year and rushed through the House by Interior Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Martinez). At the time, Rep. Richard H. Lehman (D-Sanger), who helped draft the legislation, declared: “We need this bill very much and we need it quickly.”

But the House bill attracted little attention in the water and power subcommittee of the Senate Energy Committee, said one congressional staff member familiar with the issue. “We’ve been sitting on it waiting for somebody to announce that they cared,” said the staffer, who asked not to be identified.

“I have been perplexed by the lack of action in the Senate. . . ,” said Jason Peltier, a Sacramento lobbyist who represents California water districts and farmers who use water from the federal government’s Central Valley Project. “The drought was almost over in 1977 before Congress acted. Now we’re in the same circumstance.”

It was not until late July and early August that Gov. Pete Wilson and Interior Department officials wrote letters urging that the Senate expedite the bill.

The emergency program established under the bill would become effective once the governor requested temporary drought assistance from the federal government. In contrast with the House bill, the expanded authority in the Senate version would not be temporary.

The bill would relax an 80-year-old ban against diverting water from federal projects in California that were intended primarily for irrigation. For example, it would permit hard-pressed communities such as Santa Barbara to store water in Lake Cachuma, a federal reservoir, at a savings of $15 million in construction costs.

Other federal projects throughout the state could be linked with state, local and private facilities to form a smooth-flowing system for transporting water across California.

The bill also would authorize $12 million in federal outlays to design facilities that would control the temperature of water released from Shasta Dam, a move seen as essential to protect some types of salmon that spawn in the Sacramento River.