[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 130 (Thursday, September 25, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1860]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       FARMERS AGREE: TIERED PRICING PROMOTES WATER CONSERVATION

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                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 25, 1997

  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, as the author of the Central 
Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992 [CVPIA] that modernized the 
purposes and operations of one of the largest water projects in the 
United States, I was delighted to read recently that some of those who 
have most vociferously opposed passage and implementation of that 
landmark law are coming around to the side of reform.
  The objective of the law was to bring the Central Valley project into 
the modern age--when the massive subsidies, unlimited contracts, and 
indifference to environmental and fishery destruction that long 
characterized the CVP's operations were rejected in favor of managing 
the project in a more financially and environmentally responsible 
manner.
  One of the key devices in that law is the use of tiered pricing in 
new water contracts to encourage the most efficient use of water 
resources. In the past, the CVP has provided millions of acre feet of 
water to irrigators at enormously subsidized prices--often to grow 
marginal or surplus crops on low-quality, high-polluting land. Indeed, 
some irrigators continue to launch litigative and legislative efforts 
to overturn the law so they can continue to enjoy these multibillion 
dollar subsidies at the expense of the taxpayers.
  Tiered pricing charges users progressively higher--while still 
subsidized--prices based on the amount of water they use in order to 
encourage efficient use and minimize runoff that can contaminate 
groundwater, rivers, and streams. Irrigators denounced tiered pricing 
as unfair and predicted it would not work.
  How gratifying it is then, to read the ``Summary of Grassland Basin 
Drainers' Drainage Reduction Activities'' for August 28, 1997, in which 
we learn that, within their own districts, many of these very same 
farmers have turned to tiered pricing--to achieve the same objectives 
as the CVPIA.
  Most water districts in the drainage area have implemented tiered 
water pricing to encourage farmers to manage water deliveries carefully 
and to reduce drainage water volume and selenium load. Several 
districts have targeted drain water reduction, specifically, by 
implementing a separate tiered pricing structure for preirrigation.
  The report then details some of the specific programs in the San 
Joaquin Valley drainage area which receives substantial CVP deliveries 
out of the Delta, and concludes as follows:
  ``All of these programs have encouraged farmers to select efficient 
water management practices that reduce surface and subsurface drain 
water in the 1997 crop year.''
  I am personally gratified, Mr. Speaker, to learn that the irrigators 
themselves have come to accept the beneficial value of tiered pricing, 
and I look forward to their joining us in our ongoing efforts to 
implement other provisions of the CVPIA.

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