House GOP wants to nix San Joaquin's restoration

WASHINGTON -- An ambitious San Joaquin River restoration plan once again divides the House and Senate.

On Friday, the Republican-led House took up an annual energy and water spending bill that pointedly omits any funding for restoration of the once-teeming California river. The Senate's bill, by contrast, steers $12 million toward efforts to restore water and salmon to the channel below Friant Dam east of Fresno. Caught in the middle are the farmers and federal officials trying to make the restoration work.

"The proposed construction activities will be starting in the near term, so the funding needs will be increasing," Ron Jacobsma, general manager of the Friant Water Authority, said Friday.

The river funding dispute will have to be negotiated as part of a final bill that provides about $32 billion for an assortment of energy, Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers programs. It's a nationwide package with special relevance for the Central Valley, serving irrigation and environmental purposes.

The House bill, for instance, includes $36 million for restoration of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a 10 percent cut from this year. The bill and its accompanying verbiage also push policies in certain directions. Lawmakers, for instance, are using the House bill to encourage quicker completion of studies for potential water storage projects on the upper San Joaquin River and in the Sacramento Valley, among other locations.

In a similar vein, Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, used a colloquy with subcommittee leaders to urge more flexibility from the Corps of Engineers on policies governing flood-

control levee vegetation. Many California lawmakers insist that the state should not be subject to a strict no-vegetation rule imposed elsewhere.

On the San Joaquin River restoration, more than mere dollars separate members of Congress.

Farmers and environmentalists agreed six years ago on a long-term restoration plan, thereby ending a lawsuit begun in 1988.

House Republicans want to kill the current river restoration program and replace it with a far less expensive plan focusing on warm-water fish instead of salmon. Driving the point home, Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, sponsored an amendment to be considered when the House resumes debate this week that prohibits federal funds from being used to reintroduce salmon to the river in fiscal year 2013.

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House GOP wants to nix San Joaquin's restoration