William Bradley: “on Thursday, April 28, 1994, a Federal district court judge in California enjoined implementation of the Central Valley…”

“on Thursday, April 28, 1994, a Federal district court judge in California enjoined implementation of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act pending completion of an environmental impact statement. I am quite concerned that this ruling is going to hurt virtually every water user in California. Congress passed the CVPIA to do two basic things: To restore some certainty to California's water supply, and to deliver some very basic protection to endangered fish and waterfowl. Under the act, for the first time, CVP farmers enjoy assured contract renewals, urban interests gain access to CVP water through voluntary water transfers, and fish and wildlife resources garner a minority share in available CVP supplies. Congress gave the Secretary of the Interior very specific directions on what to do, how to fund those actions, and precisely what kind of environmental impact reviews would be required. The whole point of the bill was to get things moving right away, not sometime down the road once a study was finished. Congress struck a careful and reasoned balance in the CVPIA among the competing needs of agricultural water contractors, urban residents, and fish and wildlife resources in California. With Thursday's decision, this carefully crafted balance has been replaced by chaos. Some 65 pending contract renewals are now at risk. Urban users are barred from negotiating voluntary water transfer agreements.”