Lagomarsino Rejects Sespe Compromise : River: The Ventura congressman finds Supervisor Flynn’s plan too restrictive for water interests. Senate hearings are today.

A compromise plan hailed as a resolution to a deadlock over whether to severely restrict future construction of dams on Sespe Creek hit a major stumbling block in Washington on Wednesday, on the eve of Senate hearings to decide the river’s fate.

The plan, fashioned by Ventura County Supervisor John K. Flynn and endorsed by the Board of Supervisors, was rejected Wednesday by Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) as too restrictive to water interests that may want to dam the site in future years.

Flynn’s plan would protect 51 miles of the Sespe, from its headwaters in the wilderness high above Ojai to the Los Padres National Forest’s southern border four miles north of Fillmore, essentially precluding any high dams and reservoirs on the river. A diversion-style dam could theoretically still be built on the lower four miles of the river.

Lagomarsino, who has sponsored a House bill to protect 31.5 miles of the river under federal “wild and scenic” status and set aside another 10.5 miles for future study, said Flynn’s plan represents no compromise at all. The bill would leave open the possibility of building a dam at two of three proposed sites.

“The compromises on this have already been made,” Lagomarsino said Wednesday from Washington. “The main dam site that the water people have been looking at for years is the Topatopa site, right in the middle of the wild and scenic area. We’ve already given that up.”

Phil White, a Ventura engineering consultant and advocate of protecting the Sespe, said the Flynn plan is a compromise that is fair to both sides.

“If Congressman Lagomarsino refuses this plan, he is not paying attention to his constituents,” White said.

Lagomarsino added a caveat that if the two California senators, John Seymour and Alan Cranston, side with Flynn after the Senate hearings today, he may have to accept some changes in the bill.

“The essential thing for me is that the option (to dam the river) be retained for the future,” he said. “At this time, I can’t see endorsing a bill that wouldn’t do that.”

Flynn, however, said he had spoken to Lagomarsino and found him receptive to his plan. He said he believed that Cranston is receptive to the idea as well.

“I think this has a good chance of flying,” he said.

Flynn was in Washington on Wednesday along with environmentalists and representatives of county water and farm interests who will offer differing opinions to a subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today.

The outcome of the hearings will almost certainly determine the fate of the Sespe, said Richard Russell, legislative aide to Seymour.

After the hearings, Seymour and Cranston will negotiate how much of the Sespe to set aside as wild and scenic. The two have already agreed to come to a joint decision on the issue, their aides said.

With the tough issues worked out in the subcommittee and with the endorsement of both California senators, the bill is then expected to win approval by the full Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. And by the end of next month, the full Senate will probably approve the measure by “unanimous consent,” Russell said.

Seymour sponsored and Cranston co-sponsored the Senate version of Lagomarsino’s Los Padres Wilderness Bill, which would designate 220,500 acres of the forest as the Sespe Wilderness.

In addition, the bill protects 195 miles of other rivers under wild and scenic designation or “future study” status, including Piru and Matilija creeks in Ventura County.

But so far, the Senate bill has left open the number of miles that would be protected on the Sespe Creek, awaiting testimony at today’s hearings.

“Sen. Seymour certainly gives considerable weight to the will of elected representatives,” Russell said. “On the other hand, you have to remember that such agencies as the United Water Conservation District feel they have given up one potential dam site already with the 31-mile designation” in Lagomarsino’s House version of the bill.

In addition to Flynn arguing for his proposal, environmentalists from Keep the Sespe Wild are expected to argue in favor of protecting all 55 miles of the river against any future dams.

Representatives of United Water Conservation District, which now operates the Freeman Diversion Dam on the Santa Clara River, plan to argue to keep options open for future generations.

Kathryn Lacey, legislative assistant to Cranston, said the senator will speak again today in favor of setting aside all 55 miles of the river as wild and scenic, preventing any dams from being built on the river.

Times staff writer Daryl Kelley contributed to this story.

Sespe Creek

The Sespe Creek, the last major wild river in Southern California, runs 55 miles from its headwaters and Pine Mountain to its confluence at Fillmore with the Santa Clara River. Representatives of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, environmentalists and water interests will present rival plans on the future of the river today before a Senate sub-committee which is expected to ultimately decide whether to permit dams on the river.