California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for the
opportunity to speak on H.R. 5781, the California Emergency Drought
Relief Act.

Mr. Speaker, we have been here before, and we will be here again
until Congress acts to provide authority for increased operational
flexibility for California's water projects. The American Geophysical
Union released a report last week that indicates, according to some of
the measures they are taking, that the 2012-2014 drought affecting
California is the worst in 1,200 years. The 2014 drought is responsible
for part of the greatest absolute reduction to water availability to
agriculture that we have ever seen. But we can operate the projects
differently for different outcomes.

The water modeling experts in the area I represent have indicated to
me that without additional authority to move water, unless California
receives 150 percent of its normal average rainfall this year, which is
unlikely, the water allocation on both the east side and the west side
of the San Joaquin Valley will be zero. Last year it was zero, and next
year it will be zero.

But urban users in the bay area and southern California, they will
get water. The fish, they will get water. But the folks on the east and
west side of the San Joaquin Valley will get a zero water allocation
unless we exceed 150 percent of normal. I would like the House to think
about that. We are talking about 2 years without surface water that
forms the basis of the economy of the region. The results are an
immediate impact to farmworkers and their families, to farmers, and to
the farm communities. This isn't some esoteric discussion about
precedent; this is about people's lives and their livelihoods that are
at stake.

Economists at UC Davis estimated that in 2013 the California economy
lost $2.2 billion in economic output as a result of this drought. For
my friends whose primary concern is environmental protection, the loss
of surface water supplies for the valley means that farmers are forced
to turn to groundwater, and they are overdrafting that groundwater in
substantial manner.

This is a crisis. The situation this year has been devastating, and
if we do nothing, next year it will become catastrophic.

H.R. 5781 is not perfect nor is it a bill that will solve all of
California's problems. We need to fix a broken water system. However,
it is a bill that provides, for 18 months, the flexibility for the
movement of water which is now not being moved. And it does so
responsibly by preserving the Secretary's discretion to reduce pumping
to prevent additional harm to endangered species. It will only take
advantage when we have storms. It does not change the biological
opinions, and it does nothing to move water rights in front of someone
else, as the previous speaker said. It has a sunset on it.

There will be debate about others ways to assist in drought recovery,
but this is the measure we have before us now.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. It will help the
San Joaquin Valley. It will help all of California to get by during the
devastating effects this drought is having. It is not a panacea. And
yes, we need to work together, but as far as igniting water wars, gee,
I don't think they have ever subsided. There are still historic
differences.

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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.

The fault lines on water in California everybody on this floor knows.
They are deep and they are historic and they have existed for decades.
It is because we have this broken water system. We have a water system
designed for 20 million people. We now have 38 million people.

To provide water for the people, for the environment, and to maintain
agriculture, of which we are the largest agricultural State, we need to
work. We need to work together.

There were some comments about the secret meetings. Gee, if this has
been a secret as we have been working together for 8 months now, it is
one of the worst-kept secrets in Washington this year, I think. The
fact is this provides us a modicum of relief. I urge my colleagues to
support this legislation, but we need to do much more.

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