[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 91 (Thursday, July 13, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1415]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF THE FOLSOM SOUTH CANAL COST DEFERRAL BILL

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                         HON. DANIEL E. LUNGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 13, 2006

  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, today I am 
introducing the Folsom South Canal Cost Deferral bill, to prevent 
California water customers from having to shoulder the costs of unused 
capacity in the Folsom South Canal, a Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau, 
water conveyance.
  The Folsom South Canal was authorized by Congress in 1965 to include 
five water conveyance segments or ``reaches.'' The canal was intended 
to deliver water from the Auburn Dam and related facilities to 
municipal and industrial water and irrigation users in the Sacramento 
area and on south to irrigated agriculture in the planned East Side 
Division.
  The first two reaches--a total of 26 miles of the canal were built to 
the Sacramento-San Joaquin County line. They were designed and 
constructed to accommodate enough water to meet anticipated demand in 
Sacramento and in the East Side Division. However, the East Side 
Division was never authorized and, thus, has not been developed. As a 
result, the remaining three reaches have been reclassified by the 
Bureau as ``Construction in Abeyance.''
  Because the canal project, as originally designed, was not fully 
developed, Central Valley Project, CVP, water customers that today take 
delivery of water from the completed reaches are now shouldering the 
entire capital cost of the canal, plus interest. This does not seem 
fair, since they had no control over the design or construction of the 
project and bear no responsibility for the fact that the East Side 
Division did not materialize.
  My bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to defer that 
portion of the capital costs and interest that corresponds to the 
unused capacity of the canal. This will prevent current municipal and 
industrial and irrigation water customers from having to pay costs 
associated with an oversized canal. In the next few years, the question 
of the Auburn Dam may be revisited and other water users may seek 
allocations of CVP water. My bill does not permanently settle the issue 
of the excess capital costs--it merely defers those costs until other 
decisions about the future of the CVP are made. The bill also 
authorizes the Secretary, during the deferral period, to periodically 
review and adjust, as appropriate, the amount of the unused capacity of 
the canal and the amount of reimbursable capital and interest of the 
canal.

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