Bay Delta Conservation Plan

Floor Speech

Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, in our San Joaquin Valley in California, unfortunately we are facing yet another fight for every drop of water that's critical to our economic recovery. For over the last 2 months, we have lost over 700,000 acre-feet of water that represents $2.2 billion in economic activity because of an unlawful biological opinion that puts a 2-inch fish before 25 million Californians.

Had the Bay Delta Conservation Plan been implemented, none of this valuable water would have been lost today. To add insult to injury, our valley was dealt yet another blow when the Bureau of Reclamation announced this week a 25 percent water allocation. This is simply unacceptable.

It remains to be seen if the Obama administration and their nominee to replace Secretary Salazar has forgotten or ignored the tough lessons from the failures of 2009 and 2010. Immediate action is necessary to keep a bad situation from becoming devastating to our valley this year and throughout the State.

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan must move forward to resolve this situation in the future. Every day wasted is valuable time and water lost.

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