What happens if the 2010-11 federal budget cuts that passed the House last month make it into law?
The “Continuing Resolution” cuts would yank money for San Joaquin River restoration and would block implementation of portions of the biological opinions to protect smelt and salmon from the south Delta pumps.
A withdrawal of federal support would be a step backward – a step toward more courtroom clashes, according to speakers at a state Assembly committee oversight hearing today.
“We don’t really know how it will work. We can say it will be messy,” said Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which imports Delta water for its urban customers.
Under one scenario, Kightlinger said, the federal Central Valley Project could actually pump more water with no benefit for State Water Project customers. If the mostly agricultural CVP takes more water, the mostly urban SWP could be forced by the state Department of Fish and Game – not affected by federal budget cuts, of course – to reduce the amount of water it takes in order to maintain some balance in the delicate Delta. Then you have a farms vs. cities situation.
Did he say this could be messy?
As for the San Joaquin River restoration, Friant Water Users Authority General Manager Ron Jacobsma said the cuts would force reevaluation of the schedule for that project. While the settlement that ended 18 years of litigation on the river hasn’t been universally popular, he said, it did provide some certainty for farmers about their costs and water supply. That certainty goes away if the issue gets kicked back to the courts.
The schedule reevaluation, Jacobsma said, “would create a great deal of unrest, in my opinion.”
The cuts could set a dangerous precedent, said Gary Bobker, program director with The Bay Institute, an environmental group.
“If you defund the San Joaquin River settlement,” he told the panel, ”you’re sending a message that investing a lot of time in trying to resolve complex, difficult and controversial issues isn’t worth doing.”
