Number: 2006-09
WHEREAS, the Central Valley Project (CVP) is a huge federal and state water diversion system that delivers water to farmers and cities in central California; and
WHEREAS, the Project is a network of dams, reservoirs and canals in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins providing water in an area 400 miles long and 100 miles wide; and
WHEREAS, the delta at the confluence of the rivers which drains into San Francisco Bay, which once consisted of millions of acres of marshlands, seasonally-flooded wetlands and vernal pools, is critical habitat for over half of the birds in the Pacific Flyway; and
WHEREAS, there are 11 national wildlife refuges in the region; and
WHEREAS, the Bureau of Reclamation is proposing new long-term water contracts that will increase the amount of water being withdrawn by millions of acre-feet per year; and
WHEREAS, this habitat is provided by fewer than 300,000 acres of wetlands which remain today–down more than 90 percent from over 4,000,000 acres of wetlands that historically existed in the Central Valley; and
WHEREAS, some species dependent on the California wetlands, including the Pacific white-fronted goose and cackling Canada goose, have suffered aggravated population losses from disease, lead poisoning, and habitat destruction and degradation; and
WHEREAS, the United States has signed the North American Waterfowl Management Plan with Canada whereby both countries agree to take actions to assure the continued survival of abundant populations of ducks, geese, and swans; and
WHEREAS, the stocks of many anadromous fish species, such as chinook salmon, steelhead, and striped bass, and wildlife populations have suffered severe depletion from water resources development and associated agricultural activity resulting in economic losses of several hundred million dollars annually; and
WHEREAS, the Bureau of Reclamation has provided little mitigation for the fish and wildlife losses from its Central Valley Water projects; and
WHEREAS, the process followed and conditions agreed to for renewal of the contracts for water from the CVP in 2005-06 will set a precedent for reallocating millions of acre-feet of Reclamation water and the terms and conditions for all of the remaining contracts that will expire between now and the year 2012; and
WHEREAS, in addition to water committed in the CVP’s original contracts, the Bureau is proposing to implement the new long-term contracts to deliver approximately 1.0 million acre-feet per year of additional water, placing additional strains on the Bay-Delta estuary and the Central Valley environment; and
WHEREAS, most of the initial contracts for delivery of Reclamation water were agreed to before the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act; basic conditions used to allocate subsidized water have changed; and the public’s knowledge of and concern for the environmental attributes and values of water resources have increased during the past 40 years; and
WHEREAS, the Department of the Interior has justified the renewal of most of these long term water contracts for the CVP based on abbreviated and defective environmental reviews; and
WHEREAS, the expiration of contracts for the delivery of Federal water presents an opportunity to obtain more timely repayment of the Federal investment, to tighten eligibility requirements, and to undertake other reforms to make water available for fisheries, wetlands, water quality, and other high-valued uses; and
WHEREAS, the Secretary of the Interior has broad discretion to alter the allocation, pricing, and other requirements and conditions of expiring contracts, and each of these options could result in different environmental impacts;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, at its annual meeting assembled March 17-18, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana, urges the Secretary of the Interior to defer renewal of any other contracts, including the pending Westlands Water District contract for over one million acre feet, until after preparation of a revised Environmental Impact Statement to evaluate the cumulative impacts of all reasonable alternatives, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, and revised Biological Opinions under the Endangered Species Act on the long term operating plan for the entire CVP, including all of the new contracts based on that operating plan; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges the Congress of the United States to schedule oversight hearings to ascertain the impacts to California’s fisheries and fish habitat that have resulted, or could result, from the construction, operation, and further expansion of the Central Valley Project through these new contracts and to direct the Secretary of the Interior to prepare a new Environmental Impact Statement and new Biological Assessments and Biological Opinions on such impacts including the long term operating plan for the CVP.