Jim Costa: “I thank the gentlewoman from Wyoming for yielding the time. Mr. Chairman, I am opposed to this amendment not because it…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from Wyoming for yielding the time. Mr. Chairman, I am opposed to this amendment not because it provides additional water for reclamation and reuse, which I support. I am opposed to this amendment because it prevents any of these funds from being used for storage--groundwater and surface storage water. As I said earlier, Californians, by over a two-thirds vote, supported a significant bond measure last year for that water storage, both surface and groundwater. This amendment would prevent that from occurring. Mr. Chairman, let me also talk a little bit about the narrative that has been coming from some of my colleagues that I just firmly reject about this legislation and the underlying bill. This does not--this does not--amend the Endangered Species Act. It does not provide any kind of a rollback of the endangered species law. That is just false. It does not impact the water quality of the delta or the bay. And do you know why? Because we have a State law in California under Decision 1641 that requires the State Water Board to monitor the level of salinity in the delta and to protect the water quality for people in the Bay area who derive their water from that source. So how could this legislation impact Decision 1641? It simply cannot.…”