202 



The CVPIA went far beyond the idea of addressing environmental concerns related to the 

 construction and development of the CVP. Unfortimately, many aspects of the CVPIA 

 created unnecessary uncertainty and prescribed actions which could only be classified as 

 punitive in nature. Many of these so called "improvements" have already proven themselves 

 to be unfair, while generating little, if any, environmental benefit. 



What you have developed and subsequently introduced, Mr. Chairman, in the form of the 

 Central Valley Project Reform Act ("CVPRA"), will in many cases strengthen the CVPIA by 

 clarifying the intent of Congress. It will remove those provisions that provide no 

 environmental benefit, yet add to the uncertainty of water management in California. It will 

 fix many of the problems that we have encountered to date in implementation of the CVPIA. 

 You, the members of your conmiittee and the many others who have worked very hard in 

 developing the CVPRA should be congratulated on your effort. Successful passage of this 

 legislation will clearly add to the environmental value of the CVPIA by making an 

 unworkable law workable, while solidifying the baseline on which future changes to water 

 management in California can be based. 



If there is a theme to be found in my testimony today, it will be the CVPRA will not be 

 "gutting" the CVPIA as some would characterize it, but is in fact a necessary correction to 

 the CVPIA so as to make it of much greater value to California and the nation, moving the 

 CVP into a position of greater environmental protection, while at the same time assuring that 

 we have a reliable project. 



Let me specifically address a couple of the provisions of the CVPRA and give you my 

 analysis of the value of these provisions. 



San Joaquin River and Friant Division Provisions 



Section 6(b)(7) of the CVPRA calls for a rewrite of the part of the CVPIA wherein the 

 federal study of the San Joaquin River, known as the San Joaquin River Comprehensive Plan, 

 is replaced with direction to assist the State of California and appropriate local agencies in 

 implementing a number of specific improvements. 



Much of this section of the CVPRA deals with the implementation of the results of the state 

 mandated San Joaquin River Management Program ("SJRMP"), a five-year consensus-based 

 effort culminating in a report back to the State Legislature, which was finalized earlier this 

 month. Many of the specific measures which would be implemented on the San Joaquin 

 River under the CVPRA are to enhance the viability of the existing salmon fishery on the San 

 Joaquin River and were pulled from the SJRMP report. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 and the Bureau of Reclamation were involved in the development of the San Joaquin River 

 Management Program and in the final report. Clearly, the suggestion of the CVPRA to move 

 to immediately begin to implement programs developed over an existing five-year study will 

 have far greater environmental value than to have the federal govenmient independently 



