Water package for parched San Joaquin Valley set to be unveiled
By: Michael Doyle and Mark Grossi

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is expected today to unveil an ambitious-sounding package of irrigation deliveries, water transfers, farm loan guarantees and other programs targeting the parched San Joaquin Valley.

Crafted amid intense political pressure, the package is supposed to alleviate farmers' distress while still protecting fish. Some key California lawmakers said late Thursday they were pleased by the effort, though others still want more detail.

"I'm heartened by this," Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Thursday night.

The comprehensive package is expected to accompany what is normally a routine water allocation announcement, where the federal Bureau of Reclamation declares how much water farms and cities can expect. Last February, the bureau announced farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would receive nothing. That later increased to 10 percent of historic deliveries.

This year, lawmakers have been demanding that farmers receive up to 40 percent of their historic deliveries. If necessary, Feinstein said she would offer an amendment rewriting environmental decisions in order to deliver the increased water.

Feinstein said Thursday there now appears to be "a good likelihood" that the administration actions being announced today will go a long way toward her goal. The precise details were being tightly held until today.

"I'm very hopeful," added Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Feinstein and Boxer spoke as they departed an extraordinary closed-door session that amounted to a high-level California water summit. Three Cabinet secretaries, both of the state's senators and more than a half-dozen House members convened on Capitol Hill for more than 90 minutes to hash out the state's immediate water woes.

In part, the session held in the underground Capitol Visitors Center permitted Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Council on Environmental Quality chief Nancy Sutley to sketch out their plans for easing California's pain.

In part, the session allowed members to keep the pressure on. Democratic Rep. Jim Costa of Fresno reminded the administration officials of the 40 percent unemployment that's brutalized some San Joaquin Valley towns, while Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, cited the predator fish and other non-irrigation causes for the decline of some endangered Delta species.

Farmers have been leery, with Westlands Water District General Manager Tom Birmingham predicting Wednesday that the initial water allocation will again be zero, just like last year. One possibility is that the Bureau of Reclamation's initial allocation, while low, will be accompanied by expectations that the other actions being taken will bring total water deliveries up toward the 40 percent mark.