While some problems can be fixed administratively, some cannot. 

 It is of interest that the Bureau did not pursue serious administra- 

 tive reforms until legislative reforms were undertaken. The Central 

 Valley Project Reform Act, CVPRA, will preserve what must be 

 preserved in the CVPIA, but it will also reform what must be 

 changed to bring stability and common sense to the management 

 of the Central Valley Project. 



The CVPIA mandated that 800,000 acre feet of vield from the 

 Central Valley Project be primarily dedicated to fish and wildlife. 

 The CVPRA reserves the 800,000 acre feet of CVP water for the en- 

 vironment but improves efficiency by providing that after meeting 

 Fish and Wildlife requirements any portion of the 800,000 acre feet 

 can be reused, if possible, by agricultural or urban interests. 



The legislation underscores the principles of the December 15, 

 1994, Bay-Delta agreement by clarifying that all CVP water used 

 to meet Endangered Species Act and Bay-Delta water quality obli- 

 gations will be credited toward the 800,000 acre feet. The CVPIA 

 required the Bureau to do a projectwide environmental impact 

 statement and prohibited the long-term renewal of existing con- 

 tracts until the EIS was completed. Unfortunately, it will probably 

 take at least 10 years to complete that process. 



The CVPRA replaces the costly and unnecessary series of succes- 

 sive two-year interim renewals of existing water supply contracts 

 and instead provides for a single interim renewal until the PEIS 

 is completed. The CVPIA established a redundant Federal program 

 to double anadromous fish in the Central Valley. Unfortunately, it 

 targeted two species for recovery that are in conflict. One feeds on 

 the other; not a very reasonable goal. The CVPRA replaces this du- 

 bious goal with a requirement that the CVP participate in the larg- 

 er and more realistic ongoing state anadromous fish recovery pro- 

 gram which seeks to restore salmon and steelhead. 



The CVPIA provided firm water supplies to wildlife refuges iden- 

 tified in the Act. The CVPRA maintains the current CVPIA obliga- 

 tion to reduce refuge supplies by no more than 25 percent because 

 of drought or other conditions but requires the development of effi- 

 cient water management practices for refuges and clarifies that ref- 

 uge reductions will be imposed whenever shortages are imposed on 

 CVP contractors within the same division. 



The CVPIA requires the Secretary to complete the Trinity River 

 Flow Evaluation Study by September 30, 1996, but does not submit 

 the science or the Secretary's subsequent decision to public review. 

 The CVPRA maintains the study but simply requires that the Sec- 

 retary open the studies and data for public review and any new 

 instream flow requirement through rulemaking which allows for 

 notice, public comment, and judicial review. It takes a common 

 sense approach and requires that any instream flow regimes vary 

 according to hydrologic and reservoir storage conditions. 



The CVPIA established a restoration fund. The CVPRA main- 

 tains the restoration fund but improved flexibility by increasing the 

 fdnding that can be spent on physical fixes already authorized by 

 the CVPIA. 



H.R. 1906, the Central Valley Project Reform Act of 1995, was 

 introduced with strong bipartisan support from many members of 

 this committee and several of the members you will indeed hear 



