Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010 -- (House of Representatives - July 15, 2009)

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Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the amendment, an amendment that makes technical changes to allow water transfers in the Central Valley of California. This amendment takes a significant step towards addressing the impacts of the water supply crisis in the San Joaquin Valley.

This is a companion amendment to the one that Mr. Costa and I just introduced. Mr. Costa is my coauthor of this amendment. And together, these two amendments, in fact, do work to help us deal with the incredibly significant crisis that we have in the Central Valley. People are suffering greatly.

Currently, the Bureau of Reclamation restricts certain water transfers to intracounty transfers. The inability to transfer water beyond county lines has created incredible impediments to efficient and practical water use in our State. This amendment will allow those transfers to occur beyond these county lines so that water users who have enough supply in one county will be able to use it in another county to help their fellow farmers.

As Mr. Costa indicated, the amendments also direct the Secretary to implement recovery plans for the giant garter snake, an endangered species. The recovery plan will remove the bureaucratic red tape that prevents water projects from moving forward, while also protecting this important species.

We could not be here today working on these problems if it wasn't for the work of the chairman, Mr. Pastor, for Mr. Obey, for the cooperation that the entire Valley delegation has shown on this issue. Mr. Costa has indicated that because of the efforts that we have employed, we have provided our farmers with 500,000 acre-feet that they wouldn't have had otherwise under the current rules.

I want to specifically also indicate my sincere appreciation to Majority Leader Hoyer, who has been steadfast in his support of Mr. Costa and me trying to move this effort forward.

At this time, Mr. Chairman, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Salazar), who has also been a diligent supporter of our efforts and has been concerned, has actually visited our district, and I greatly appreciate his help and support.

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Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the chairman. As I said before, without his help, we could not have made these amendments in order and brought them to the floor. I think these amendments offer significant opportunities to the Central Valley. They are not a panacea. They are not going to cure every problem. We have more work to do.

But, in closing, I want to thank Secretary Salazar for taking time out, coming and visiting our valley, understanding the problem. We have a lot of work to do with the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Reclamation, but with continued work and cooperation, I think we will make significant progress on the significant challenges that we face in the Central Valley.

With that, Mr. Chairman, I would ask for an ``aye'' vote of my colleagues.

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