Dear Supporters,
Please call and/or e-mail your house representatives today or by Monday and tell them oppose H.R. 1927 (More Water and Security for Californians Act) introduced by Jim Costa of Fresno and Madera county. H.R. 1927 will severely weaken scientifically sound protections for California’s salmon fishery and other native fish in the Bay-Delta estuary and threatens the thousands of jobs that depend on healthy populations of these fish.
H.R. 1927 aims to take advantage of the California drought crisis in order to remove essential environmental pumping restrictions and deliver more water to special interests in arid and desert regions of California. These pumping restrictions upheld by the courts protect our vital fisheries, farms, and Bay-Delta estuary. State Water Contractors have even admitted that environmental protections under the Endangered Species Act have had a minimal effect on water deliveries this year.
This drought thus provides no justification for H.R. 1927’s plan to weaken Endangered Species Act protections for endangered salmon and other native fish and wildlife in California’s Bay-Delta estuary.
Please call and/or e-mail your house representatives now. Using the link below, you can easily find your representative’s email and phone number by typing in your zip code.
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
A copy of a template to use for e-mailing your house representatives is below. We also have the template in .docx and .txt for easy editing. We encourage you to make your own changes, THANK YOU FOR YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT!
Dear Representative (Your Representative’s name),
I urge you to oppose H.R. 1927 introduced by Rep. Costa. This bill severely weakens scientifically sound protections for California’s salmon fishery and other native fish in the Bay-Delta estuary and threatens the thousands of jobs that depend on healthy populations of these fish.
California’s drought, not environmental laws, is the cause of low water supplies for some farmers, cities, fisheries, and the environment. Even the State Water Contractors have admitted that Endangered Species Act protections have had a minimal effect on water deliveries this year.
This drought thus provides no justification for H.R. 1927’s plan to weaken Endangered Species Act protections for endangered salmon and other native fish and wildlife in California’s Bay-Delta estuary. H.R. 1927 will remove significant protections that the courts have supported in order to benefit special interests in Representative Jim Costa’s districts. These special interests are demanding more water every year for their naturally arid and desert regions, not taking into account that our entire state is experiencing a drought. We cannot afford to put California’s historically essential fisheries and our vital Bay Delta estuary in serious danger by allowing H.R. 1927 to pass.
Similar House legislation such as H. R 3964, which also waives environmental protections and blocks state law that protect our fisheries and Bay-Delta estuary, have been opposed by California’s Governor, both of California’s U.S. senators, a majority of California’s House delegation, fishing groups, water users, Delta communities and conservation groups.
H.R. 1927 is an unjustified and dangerous proposal, and I strongly urge you to oppose it.
Sincerely,
(Your name)