George Miller: “I rise in support of H.R. 3816, making appropriations for energy and water development for fiscal year 1997. This bill…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 3816, making appropriations for energy and water development for fiscal year 1997. This bill provides funds for critical flood control and navigation projects in Contra Costa and Solano counties in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. I appreciate the committee's continued support for these projects. I am particularly pleased that the committee's bill seeks to resolve two important matters affecting California's Central Valley Project and the protection of water quality in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Specifically, the committee has included language to compel San Joaquin Valley irrigators to repay over $30 million in costs related to cleaning up the contamination at Kesterson Reservoir and for studies on how to resolve the mounting drainage crisis in the Central Valley. Committee members also voted to reimpose a ban on selection of any terminus for the San Luis Drain. Agricultural wastewater in California's Central Valley poisoned Kesterson Reservoir in the 1980's and demonstrated the severe pollution generated by irrigated agriculture in the West.”