Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2954, Public Access and Lands Improvement Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3864, Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Emergency Water Delivery Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. MATSUI. I wish to thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 3964.

California is currently experiencing a record drought. Up until just last Thursday, it had been 54 days without rain in my district of Sacramento. That is almost 2 months. To put this in context, Sacramento is experiencing a 130-year record for low rainfall, a record that dates back to 1884.

With 2013 being the driest year on record since the Gold Rush, and 2014 being the third year of a drought cycle, we are being pushed to make do with less water than ever before.

A statewide drought emergency has been declared, and my district of Sacramento is doing its part by

instituting a mandatory reduction in water use. My constituents are required by law now to reduce their water use 20 to 30 percent. Fines for multiple offenders will reach $1,000.

Moreover, in the Sacramento region, the Folsom Reservoir is at dangerously low levels and is currently only at 17 percent of capacity.

Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to solving California's water issues. The issue of water in California has been debated for so many decades because it is such a critical issue for the State. As a daughter of a Central Valley farmer who grew up on a farm, I deeply understand the value of and the controversy over water.

In northern California, we have done our best to balance our watershed to provide water for our farms, cities, and habitat.

To say this bill will help the drought is grossly misleading and, frankly, irresponsible.

Mr. Speaker, even if we pumped as much water south as possible, it still wouldn't be enough. The problem is a lack of rain. There is simply no more water to pump from the Delta.

Mr. Speaker, instead of working together, this bill only further divides our State. My district, the city of Sacramento, the Sacramento region, and northern California as a whole, strongly oppose this bill. Some of the concerns include the loss of the State's right to manage its own water, the decimation of environmental protections for our Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the ability to manage Folsom Reservoir for the benefit of the Sacramento metropolitan area and, most importantly, the overall instability that this bill would create in California.

We cannot afford to give up California's right to control its own water future. The stakes are much too high. I urge my colleagues to strongly oppose this legislation.

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