Republic House members have sent a letter to President Obama and Governor Brown requesting they take immediate action to direct federal and state regulatory agencies to revise environmental regulations and water quality standards that have caused 445,000 acre-feet to flow out to the ocean – water that could have otherwise been sent to drought-stricken communities in Central and Southern California, they say.
The federal and state regulatory agencies have compounded the adverse impacts of drought on millions of Californians by demanding disproportionate regulatory standards to be met or allowing only the barest minimum of water to be pumped from the Delta, the letter says.
“When water has been abundant, FWS and NMFS have limited the Projects’ ability to pump water south because of delta environmental regulations, which, for example, resulted in State Water Project contractors receiving only 80% of the water they contracted and paid for when the California snowpack was 172% of average in 2011. Under current regulations, our constituents are being denied the water they deserve – during dry or wet years – as regulators continue to prioritize it for fish,” the letter states.
Federal and state law and regulation generally recognize disaster or emergency situations deserve special consideration, they point out. “With just a few weeks of potential rainfall remaining, the urgency and magnitude of the California drought demands that Federal and state agencies be directed to abandon their inflexible approach of strict regulatory requirements and exercise emergency discretion available to them so we do not lose another 445,000 acre-feet of water into the Pacific Ocean when Mother Nature blesses California with additional rainfall this year.”
The letter is signed by Congressmembers Kevin McCarthy, David Valadao, Devin Nunes, Ken Calvert, Jeff Denham, John Campbell, Ed Royce, Gary Miller, Darrell Issa, Paul Cook, Howard “Buck” McKeon, Dana Rohrbacher, and Duncan Hunter.
Read the letter here: Drought Water Letter McCarthy 113 March 2014
