Efforts in Congress to pump more fresh water from the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary are difficult and complicated for everyone to track. But our request to Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Barbara Boxer, and our individual Congressional Representatives is simple: Do right by the San-Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary!
The House passed the Energy bill S.2012 (which includes Congressman David Valadao’s bad bill language on over pumping the Delta) on a largely party line vote except for Fresno’s Jim Costa voting for it. Congressman Jared Huffman led the opposition to including the Valadao bill in this package on the House Floor, but it could not be stopped.
The Energy bill now goes to the Senate, where the hope is that most Senators will not agree to go to conference on the Energy bill at all. The Senate will likely need 60 votes to go to conference; if they go to conference, the Senate only needs a simple majority to pass the conference report.
Sadly, Senator Feinstein’s bill S.2533 (which mirrors Garamendi’s HR 5247) contains language regarding over pumping the Delta which is equally as troublesome. We fear that in all the wheeling and dealing in the halls of Congress bad language authorizing the over pumping of the estuary from any of these bills can make it into the final energy bill, or other legislative acts.
As Congress is on a 10-day break, we are asking you to call Senator Feinstein and Senator Boxer’s district offices, as well as the office of your local Congressional Representative, and to urge them to vote against against S.2012 and to keep any language that promotes additional water exports from the Delta from showing up in any drought legislation.
The district office phone numbers for our Senators are below. Here is the message to deliver:
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“I am calling to ask that __________________ does the right thing for the Delta.
“As we enter the fifth year of drought, it is important to know that Delta water quality protections were rolled back 15 times over the last two years.
“Water quality standards for the Delta are already violated on a regular and continuous basis. Even though the reservoirs of Northern California have filled with El Niño rains, Delta inflow, outflow, and interior Delta standards protecting Delta agriculture, fisheries, and communities are being violated because not enough water is moving naturally through the system.
“These standards were also routinely ignored or illegally weakened the last three years. Increasing water exports from the Delta will ruin all our fisheries which are threatened and ruin water quality for our family farms and businesses.
“Please let Senator/Representative _______ know I oppose any bill that increases water exports from the San Francisco Bay-Delta.”
District Phone numbers:
Dianne Feinstein (415) 393-0707
Barbara Boxer (510) 286-8537
Find district contact info for your local Congressmember here.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/CA
Thank you for your support during this difficult period. We have to keep the pressure on for the right things to happen.
Yours in service,
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla