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Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

Date: July 10, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Agriculture and Food Environment

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Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Chairman, California, like most of the West and Midwest, is suffering and enduring a devastating drought. This is impacting the livelihoods of our families, our farmers, our small businesses throughout the State. California produces about half of the Nation's fruits, vegetables, and nuts; in other words, California feeds the rest of the country.

California's Governor wants to move forward with something called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, or the BDCP, which will build two massive tunnels to facilitate shipping water from one part of the State to the other.

I agree with every Californian that we need long-term, statewide solutions to our State's water needs. There needs to be some level of predictability for our families, farmers, and small businesses about our water supply. To do that, we need to focus on conservation, recycling, reuse, and storage. The BDCP does none of these things.

California voters and the State legislature haven't agreed on whether or not to fund this project, which is expected to cost $25 billion, a cost that keeps rising. The project is still in the draft stage. Right now, the plan is already more than 30,000 pages, and final comments aren't even due until the end of July. According to the plan, the Federal Government is expected to contribute $4 billion.

Anyone who follows California water knows it is an emotional issue, one the State has been debating for decades. But the BDCP is not based on sound science. For example, the Delta Independent Science Board issued a report this year that said:

We find the science in this BDCP falls short of what the project requires. Many of the impact assessments hinge on overly optimistic expectations about the feasibility, effectiveness, or timing of the proposed conservation actions, especially habitat restoration.

The Science Board goes on to say:

The analyses largely neglect the influences of levee failures and environmental effects of increased water for agriculture.

I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for making time for me to discuss this important issue today, and I hope in the future we can look at this type of funding from the Federal Government.

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