U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) recently requested that President Donald Trump step in and end the water controversy in his home state that threatens reservoir reserves, hydropower generation and fresh water supplies in his Central Valley district.
“The future of the Valley is at stake, and I am asking your administration to intervene and stop these attacks,” Rep. Denham wrote in a Sept. 28 letter sent to Trump.
The congressman alleges that state bureaucrats “are attacking Central Valley residents” at both the state and federal levels, and in his letter the lawmaker called their actions “an unprecedented assault on our water, our economy, and our livelihood.”
Specifically, Rep. Denham opposes amendments that the California State Water Resources Control Board has proposed to the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary.
Last month, in an interview with The Ripon Advance, Rep. Denham explained that without federal level changes to water policy, not only would the state be left unprepared for the next drought with insufficient water storage and infrastructure, “but the state’s dangerous water grab will be allowed to continue, sending more of our supply into the ocean, crippling our Central Valley economy, farms and communities.”
Rep. Denham said the state’s plan would siphon off at least 40 percent of California’s rivers, basically flushing significant amounts of usable water into the ocean.
“This is the same water our school districts use for our children, our communities pull from our wells, and our farmers use to irrigate crops,” he told The Ripon Advance. “In forcing its agenda, the state continues to ignore concerns raised by scientists, economists, our irrigation districts, government officials and comments from more than 6,000 local residents. It has become clear that we cannot rely on the state to act in the best interests of the Central Valley. I’m standing up for our community and working on the federal level to stop the state water grab in its tracks.”
In his letter to Trump, the lawmaker also addressed issues related to the Don Pedro Reservoir, where he said state bureaucrats are using the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to shut down hydropower generation and increase flows on the Tuolumne River.
“The NMFS Sacramento office is essentially holding the Department of Energy, Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture hostage through the hydropower relicensing process as they try to flush insane amounts of our usable water into the ocean, all while charging Valley residents hundreds of millions of dollars to put an experimental fish passage at Don Pedro,” Rep. Denham wrote in his letter. “No available science supports this idea.”
Rep. Denham noted in his letter that if the state plan advances, “this will be the most expensive hydropower relicensing in history.”
The congressman’s letter is the latest in his numerous ongoing efforts to protect Central Valley water.
For instance in July, the U.S. House approved a U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) 2019 appropriations bill that includes two amendments championed by Rep. Denham aiming to prevent the Sacramento-headquartered board’s plan from moving forward, and to store water in his California district’s Central Valley region.
The congressman also that month hosted DOI Secretary Ryan Zinke’s tour of the Don Pedro and New Melones Reservoirs, which Denham said would become significantly drained under the state’s proposed plan.
In his letter to Trump, Rep. Denham pointed out that Secretary Zinke and the DOI have been actively engaged with the congressman’s local irrigation districts.
“We have made significant and beneficial progress, and I look forward to continuing to work with your administration to find a practical solution that benefits and empowers the Valley,” he wrote.