[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 68 (Tuesday, May 5, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H5103-H5104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CALIFORNIA WATER

  (Mr. CALVERT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because California is in the 
middle of a water crisis. California's current drought is not like 
other droughts

[[Page H5104]]

because California is suffering from a devastating combination of a 
natural dry spell and a federally imposed dry spell.
  In December 2007, a Federal judge ordered restrictions on water 
project operations in the delta to help protect threatened species, the 
delta smelt. The negative impact has been extraordinary. The 
restrictions have resulted in the loss of nearly one-third of the 
supply that 25 million Californians depend on from delta operations. 
Farmland throughout California's Central Valley is going fallow while 
farmers struggle to find work. In Southern California economic growth 
is being thwarted because any new construction is jeopardized by a lack 
of proven water supply.
  There is no evidence that the federally imposed pumping restrictions 
have benefited the delta smelt. If this Congress is going to continue 
to give Federal agencies the authority to take actions that kill jobs 
and harm our economy for the benefit of a species, then the American 
people deserve clear evidence that these actions benefit the species.

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