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rights, and an apparent contradiction of the reform-minded values of the new leadership 

 in the House of Representatives. The lobbyists for HR 1 906 described their strategy to 

 repeal the Riggs Amendment in a Memorandum that was released to the public: 



As you know. Rep. Riggs is urging California Members 

 not to cosponsor a CVPIA bill that includes our Trinity River 

 provision. He has sent around a "Dear Colleague" harshly 

 critical of the proposal. 



Because of Riggs' influential position on the 

 Appropriations Committee, we should make an effort to 

 resolve his concerns now. 



One possible avenue to compromise would be to 

 require the Secretary to issue new flow requirements as 

 regulations are subject to APA. Making the Secretary take 

 regulatory action would give us a role in the process without 

 appearing to "inject politics" into it. It also would make the 

 Secretary's actions on the Trinity subject to any regulatory 

 reform measures Congress enacts, such as peer review and 

 benefit cost analysis. (We might want to require those as 

 part of the deal.) We also could consider requiring the 

 Secretary's recommendations to take into account the 

 economic and environmental effects on the Sacramento 

 system. 



Accommodating Riggs by dropping or immediately 

 amending the Trinity River provision would have several 

 benefits. It would allow us to avoid making an enemy out of 

 a powerful California Republican; deny a powerful ally to the 

 enviros; demonstrate in a very concrete way that we are 

 willing to be flexible and accommodate other interests; keep 

 Riggs as a friend on appropriations issues now and in the 

 future; and, avoid dissention within the Valley delegation over 

 the CVPIA. 



Memorandum from the Ferguson Company to Central Valley Project Water Users 

 Association 2-3 (May 18, 1995). 



The Ferguson Company memorandum was featured in the July 1 7, 1 995, issue of 

 U.S. News and World Report in an article pointing out that the seven cosponsors of H.R. 

 1 906 "received $527,479 in political contributions from agricultural interests prior to the 

 1994 election." 



Testimony by Pliny Mc Covey, Sr., on HR 1906 

 July 20, 1995 

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