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California Water

Floor Speech

Date: May 5, 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Agriculture and Food Environment Federal, State and Local Relations

CALIFORNIA WATER -- (House of Representatives - May 05, 2009)

(Mr. CALVERT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because California is in the middle of a water crisis. California's current drought is not like other droughts because California is suffering from a devastating combination of a natural dry spell and a federally imposed dry spell.

In December 2007, a Federal judge ordered restrictions on water project operations in the delta to help protect threatened species, the delta smelt. The negative impact has been extraordinary. The restrictions have resulted in the loss of nearly one-third of the supply that 25 million Californians depend on from delta operations. Farmland throughout California's Central Valley is going fallow while farmers struggle to find work. In Southern California economic growth is being thwarted because any new construction is jeopardized by a lack of proven water supply.

There is no evidence that the federally imposed pumping restrictions have benefited the delta smelt. If this Congress is going to continue to give Federal agencies the authority to take actions that kill jobs and harm our economy for the benefit of a species, then the American people deserve clear evidence that these actions benefit the species.


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