Patrick Leahy: “I agree with him. The conservation title of the Harkin bill is there to help mitigate western water conflicts. I have…”

“I agree with him. The conservation title of the Harkin bill is there to help mitigate western water conflicts. I have been on the Agriculture Committee for 26 years now. It was the first committee I went on when I came here. I have heard a lot of the debates on conservation practices and on water matters. We get concerned about water in the East for different reasons than they do in the West. My home in Vermont has a well. We live on a dirt road. We have to provide our own water. We are certainly very careful about protecting the water we have. Our home had once been a farm. They had to have water for the cattle. We know what it is. This is not a case where you are going to willy-nilly transfer water away. In fact, under the amendment that the Senator from Nevada, Mr. Reid, has proposed to the Harkin bill, it provides specifically that the State law is paramount. In other words, if Nevada or Montana or anywhere else has a water transfer law, then nothing happens unless it is approved under the State law. This proposal is here to make sure we plan before we are in trouble, before we are in a drought situation.”