Opinion: Interior is committed to water solutions
By: David J. Hayes

The Fresno Bee's opinion page got it wrong. It claimed that the Two Gates project would have provided additional water deliveries to the west side, but that the Interior Department "abruptly ... pulled the plug" on the project. The Bee concluded that Secretary Salazar and the Obama Administration are "unwilling to find a solution to the San Joaquin Valley's water challenges.

The Bee did not check its facts. First, the Two Gates project was proposed by water users as a scientific experiment. It was never the silver bullet for solving the west side's water challenges.
Nonetheless, because of the federal government is committed to pursue all possible angles to relieve the suffering caused by water shortages in the Valley, the agencies worked furiously through the fall to complete the review and permitting of this project.

Unfortunately, reviews by the CALFED science panel and state and federal agencies identified major questions regarding whether the project's assumptions were sound and, as a result, whether the project would increase water deliveries through the pumps.

At the same time, the cost projections for the project more than doubled to nearly $80 million dollars.

Rather than invest $80 million dollars of taxpayer money in a project that may not produce a drop of water, the U.S. Geological Survey is developing real-time information that will tell all of us whether Two Gates will work.

This was all explained in the Federal Action Plan that was released on Dec. 22, but which apparently The Bee never consulted before it wrote its editorial. (The Action Plan may be viewed at http://www.doi.gov/documents/CAWaterWorkPlan.pdf). Nor did the Bee show the courtesy of asking us about this issue before publishing incorrect information.

What is most unforgivable, however, is the Bee's assertion that the administration is uninterested in finding a solution to California's water problems.

After eight years of neglect from the federal government, made worse by a three-year drought, an ecological collapse and court-ordered actions, the new administration stepped in and developed a coordination action plan across the federal agencies, entered into a partnership with the governor and invested more than $400 million in Recovery Act dollars in job-creating water projects in California.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have visited the Valley, met with farmers, and are actively engaged in the effort to find solutions to a crisis that has been years in the making.

The latest example of that come just two weeks ago, when the department announced the signing of the Record of Decision for the Delta-Mendota Canal California Aqueduct Intertie -- a project that will, in fact, add to west side water deliveries. The Bee mentioned none of this, preferring instead to take an unfair, gratuitous swipe at the administration.

All parties -- including the Bee's editorial board -- have a duty to respond responsibly and constructively to the water crisis and the human tragedy that it has spawned.

The administration is committed to the people of California. No one is served by politicizing California's water crisis.

David J. Hayes is deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior.