This week, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power held a hearing to discuss drought impacts on water deliveries to Central Valley contractors and farmers. The Subcommittee is dominated by representatives from California, 9 of the Subcommittee’s 22 members are from the state. The hearing’s main focus was on water releases from Northern California dams for environmental purposes.
Bureau of Reclamation releases cold water from upstream dams to help stabilize fish habitat in the Delta. This process has routinely occurred for the past several summers in order to voluntarily comply with the Biological Opinions for salmon and smelt. Subcommittee Republicans were insistent that federal policy of water releases needs to change since the smelt and salmon have failed to recover over the past decade. Republicans instead have offered alternatives such as habitat restoration, predator intervention, better real-time management of the water pumps, and more storage. Democrats believe the water releases are key to the species’ survival. Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also defended the policy of voluntary water releases.
In the larger picture of Congress addressing the drought, drought legislation may finally be negotiated between the House and the Senate as both chambers have agreed to go to conference over energy legislation which includes House-passed drought relief measures including that of Representative David Valadao (R-CA).