[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 168 (Thursday, December 27, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2003-E2004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING ALLEN SHORT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JEFF DENHAM

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 27, 2012

  Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleague, Mr. Costa, 
to acknowledge and honor Allen Short, General Manager of the Modesto 
Irrigation District, who is retiring on December 31, 2012 after 22 
years of service to the agency that provides water and power to 
thousands of farms, homes and businesses in the San Joaquin Valley of 
California.
  During the past two decades, Mr. Short also has been a leader among 
the Central Valley's other publically owned water and power agencies, 
spearheading efforts to develop agreements to meet environmental goals 
for the San Joaquin River system and the Bay-Delta estuary while 
protecting and enhancing the Valley's economically critical water and 
power resources.
  Modesto Irrigation District and the neighboring Turlock Irrigation 
District hold some of the oldest water rights in California. The two 
Districts jointly own Don Pedro Dam and Reservoir on the Tuolumne 
River. MID provides irrigation water for 59,000 acres of farm land, 
electricity for more than 113,000 retail accounts, and treated drinking 
water to the City of Modesto.
  Prior to becoming General Manager in 1993, Mr. Short joined MID as 
its first Chief of

[[Page E2004]]

Domestic Water Operations in 1990 and was named Chief--Water Resources 
and Rights Officer in 1992. That position included overseeing 
Irrigation Operations, Water Rights and Domestic Water Operations. He 
was responsible for overseeing the construction and operation of the 
new domestic water facility that MID completed in late 1994.
  He had previously held positions as water division manager for the 
City of San Luis Obispo from 1985 to 1990 and as water treatment 
operator and treated water supervisor for Stockton East Water District 
from 1978 to 1985.
  As General Manager of MID, Mr. Short has been actively involved in 
water policy matters at the local, state and federal levels. In the 
late 1990s, he was instrumental in the development of the Vernalis 
Adaptive Management Plan (VAMP), a 12-year program intended to protect 
San Joaquin River fall-run salmon; to gather information on the effect 
of San Joaquin river flows on delta environmental conditions and water 
supply operations, and; to provide flows from the Tuolumne River and 
other San Joaquin Tributaries to meet California's 1995 Water Quality 
Control Plan. Mr. Short played a major role in the development of the 
San Joaquin River Agreement to provide a framework for implementation 
of VAMP, which began in 2000, and he led non-federal implementation of 
the program as Coordinator of the San Joaquin River Tributaries Group 
Authority, an organization representing local water agencies on the 
Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced and San Joaquin Rivers.
  In 2006 and 2008, Mr. Short worked closely with Senator Dianne 
Feinstein and Members of the San Joaquin Valley Delegation in the House 
to draft provisions for the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement 
Act to protect the water supplies and operations of ``Third-Party'' 
agencies like MID during implementation of the San Joaquin River 
Restoration Settlement. He has continued to advocate for the interests 
of local public water agencies in the San Joaquin River Basin as a 
leading member of the San Joaquin River Tributaries Association.
  Mr. Short also has been a leading voice on policy matters for public 
owned electric utilities in the Central Valley and throughout 
California. He is the former President of the California Public 
Utilities Association (CMUA), an 80-year-old organization that 
represents consumer-owned utilities before the California Legislature 
and regulatory bodies. While serving on the CMUA Board of Directors as 
its President, Mr. Short led a reorganization of CMUA to improve its 
effectiveness in representing the interests of public power agencies. 
He continues to serve on the CMUA Board of Governors.
  Mr. Short also currently serves as Chairman of the Transmission 
Agency of Northern California (TANC), a joint powers authority composed 
of 15 public power agencies. TANC is the Project Manager and largest 
participant in the California-Oregon Transmission Project, a 340-mile-
long transmission line that brings power to California from the Pacific 
Northwest to improve the reliability of California's electric grid. Mr. 
Short joined TANC in 2003 as MID's Commissioner and was elected 
Chairman in 2008.
  In addition, Mr. Short is the President of M-S-R Public Power Agency, 
an entity organized in 1980 by MID, Silicon Valley Power and the City 
of Redding Electric Utility to acquire electric generation and 
resources for its member agencies. In June, 2012, Mr. Short was invited 
by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to testify on behalf of 
M-S-R and the Southern California Public Power Authority at a hearing 
about implementation of Federal Clean Air Act regulations.
  After his retirement from MID, Mr. Short will serve as Executive 
Director of the San Joaquin Tributaries Authority, an organization 
formed in 2012 to represent local water agencies on the Stanislaus, 
Tuolumne and Merced Rivers.
  Mr. Speaker, please join Mr. Costa and me in honoring Modesto 
Irrigation District's General Manager Allen Short on his retirement and 
thank him for his exemplary leadership and service to the District.

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