Rep. Jim Costa (CA-16) released the following statement regarding the determination by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s to reduce the Bureau of Reclamation’s flexibility to pump water at the maximum levels allowable under the flawed biological opinions:
“Almost every week that we have been in session this year, I have gone to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to urge that we pump water through the Delta at the maximum levels allowed under the current flawed biological opinions. Clearly, the hydrologic conditions resulting from El Nino in December, January, and now the last two weeks, have provided excess flows that could have been captured for the benefit of the San Joaquin Valley and other parts of California. Sadly, Since January 1st, as a result of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) actions, we have lost 203,000 acre-feet of water that would have gone to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California communities. This is unacceptable and could have been avoided, if USFWS and NOAA had listened to a bipartisan group of legislatures in the House and Senate, including Senator Dianne Feinstein.
“We must try everything possible to get Senator Feinstein’s legislation out of the Senate so we can move to conference with the legislation introduced by Rep. David Valadao and myself, which the House passed last year with my support. This will allow us to go to a conference committee to combine the best parts of both bills and create greater drought resiliency for the San Joaquin Valley by making pumping decisions more scientifically justified, constructing additional water storage in California, and expanding deployment of recycled water and desalination to reduce demands on the Delta.
“In the meantime, it is unacceptable, avoidable, and immoral to allow farm communities in the Valley to continue to go without water, while we are witnessing and experiencing El Nino flows going through the Sacramento-San Joaquin river systems.”