6 



According to the Department of Interior, numerous rules and 

 regulations implementing the statute remain to be finalized. Ap- 

 propriately, the rulemaking process and not new legislation should 

 be the forum for resolving concerns about the CVPIA. In fact, we 

 will not even know if there are flaws in the CVPIA itself until the 

 rulemaking is completed. 



Patience is not the only virtue. Cooperation is the other. For ex- 

 ample, cooperation is the key to the Bay-Delta Accord, agreed to 

 last December, which has all the primary stakeholders on Califor- 

 nia water issues working together to solve the problems of the San 

 Francisco Bay Estuary. 



Mr. Chairman, that is the key, keeping all the parties around the 

 table to work out the problems. The existence of the CVPIA was 

 crucial to that success, and I think, unfortunately, H.R. 1906 would 

 undermine the agreement even before it has been fully imple- 

 mented. 



Mr. Chairman, just two concluding comments. I am troubled by 

 the fact that some members are attempting to take apart the 1992 

 Act piece by piece on other bills such as the attempt through the 

 budget process to shut down the San Joaquin study before it 

 reaches its conclusions on the feasibility of restoring the river. 



And I understand who wants to have this done, and I understand 

 its purpose, and I understand why it is being done. And I assure 

 you that any legislative alteration to the CVPIA will receive very 

 strict scrutiny when it comes to the U.S. Senate. 



Finally, Mr. Chairman, H.R. 1906 is the wrong bill I think at the 

 wrong time. It imperils the Bay-Delta agreement which gives us 

 the chance to work out water issues at the state level, and, instead. 

 Congress should be encouraging cooperative resolution for these 

 difficult resource issues. 



Revisiting CVPIA at this early stage, and, you know, I was a fun- 

 damental player, author, but no one's work is perfect, and I am not 

 saying that at some point you might not want to look at it, but at 

 this early stage, I think it sends exactly the wrong message to 

 those who look to Congress for certainty, for fairness, and for good 

 common sense. And I hope the committee would keep those views 

 in mind as you deliberate. 



I thank you for the opportunity. I have extensive comments on 

 the specifics of the bill, but I felt in my limited time I would simply 

 like to register and argue for patience and cooperation, keeping 

 people around the table, not rushing in preemptively and reopening 

 the water wars of California. 



[Statement of Senator Bradley mav be found at end of hearing.] 



Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. The Chair's intent is to take each of 

 the members, and then we will open it up for questions following 

 the last member to testify. Mr. Herger from California is our next 

 witness. 



STATEMENT OF HON. WALLY HERGER, A U.S. 

 REPRESENTATIVE FROM CALIFORNIA 



Mr. Herger. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members, for the op- 

 portunity to testify before your committee on this very important 

 legislation. Mr. Chairman, as you know, nearly two-thirds of our 

 state's water in California originates in northern California. Shasta 



