[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 13, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SANTA MARGARITA RIVER, CALIFORNIA, CONSTRUCTION AUTHORIZATION

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. DARRELL E. ISSA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 12, 2008

  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on behalf of my bill 
H.R. 29. the Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project. I would like to 
thank Chairmen Nick Rahall and Ike Skelton for quickly moving this bill 
through their respective committees. This is now the third Congress in 
which this bill has passed the house, and I hope the Senate will act 
just as quickly.
  The Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project is very important to U.S. 
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and the city of Fallbrook. In 1966 the 
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California entered a 
stipulated judgment in U.S. v. Fallbrook P.U.D. directing the 
Department of the Interior to provide a ``physical solution'' to the 
60/40 allocation of the Santa Margarita River. Since then, previous 
legislative efforts to authorize a project carrying out the Federal 
judge's mandate have not been successful despite past support of 
Members of the California Congressional delegation. Finally, through a 
long process of negotiation between the Marine Corps and the city, this 
conjunctive use project was agreed upon. This design was deemed to 
fully implement the court's directive at far less than half the cost of 
previous proposals with no environmental degradation.
  Furthermore, passage of this authorization for the conjunctive use 
project is essential to giving Camp Pendleton access to the San Diego 
Aqueduct. Since its completion, the aqueduct has provided ample access 
to Southern California's regional water supply system for nearly all of 
San Diego County, except for Camp Pendleton. A key benefit of H.R. 29 
will be the construction of a water system physically connecting Camp 
Pendleton to the San Diego Aqueduct, thereby making it possible to use 
imported water as needed, including emergency mobilization in time of 
conflict.
  The conference report for the Fiscal Year 2003 Omnibus Appropriations 
Act directed the Bureau of Reclamation, under the Santa Margarita River 
feasibility authorization, to ``. . . perform the studies needed to 
address current and future municipal, domestic, military, 
environmental, and other water uses from the Santa Margarita River.'' 
Funding for Reclamation's feasibility study of the Santa Margarita 
Conjunctive Use Project has been provided in each subsequent fiscal 
year up to the present, and its work is more than 90 percent complete. 
When signed into law, this project will be funded by the Department of 
Navy and Department of the Interior. This project is essential to 
ensure that Camp Pendleton has a larger water supply to meet the 
current and future needs of the base.
  This project has been vetted by multiple committees over a number of 
years and found to be of the utmost importance to the Marines at Camp 
Pendleton, while also benefiting the city of Fallbrook. It will provide 
for enhanced recharge and recovery from the underground basin on Camp 
Pendleton to provide a constant water supply for the base, along with a 
safe, reliable, drought-and earthquake-proof water supply for more than 
35,000 families.
  Again, I thank my colleagues for working with me and my constituents 
to move H.R. 29 through the legislative process.

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