[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 168 (Thursday, December 27, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2005-E2006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING ROBERT NEES

                                 ______
                                 

                            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 Robert Nees, Turlock Irrigation District's 
Assistant General Manager for Water Resources, who is retiring on 
December 31, 2012; and to thank him for his dedicated 33-years service 
to the District.
  Established in 1887, the Turlock Irrigation District, TID, was the 
first publicly owned irrigation district in the state. In 1893, TID 
built La Grange Dam on the Tuolumne River in partnership with Modesto 
Irrigation District, MID, to divert water into their canal systems. In 
addition, TID operates Don Pedro Dam, Reservoir and Power House, 
facilities that it owns jointly with MID. Today, TID provides 
irrigation water to more than 5,800 growers on 150,000 acres of 
farmland and serves electricity to 100,000 accounts.
  Mr. Nees joined TID in 1979 as the District's Public Information 
Officer and developed TID's first legislative and public affairs 
program. In 1993, Mr. Nees became TID's Water Resources and Public 
Affairs Administrator, taking on responsibility for all of TID's water-
related issues, and in 1995 he was named as TID's Assistant General 
Manager of Water Resources and Regulatory Affairs. Mr. Nees' current 
title is Assistant General Manager of Water Resources and his 
responsibilities include overseeing TID irrigation operations and 
working with local, state and federal agencies

[[Page E2006]]

on issues affecting the District's water supply and hydroelectric 
operations.
  In 1995, Mr. Nees helped negotiate a settlement agreement with the 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, MID, the City and County of 
San Francisco, CCSF, conservation groups and state and federal 
agencies. The agreement included minimum stream flow schedules at La 
Grange Dam to benefit fish; a program to monitor Chinook salmon 
populations and habitat in the Tuolumne River; and programs and 
activities to enhance habitat in the Tuolumne River downstream of Don 
Pedro Dam.
  The following year, Mr. Nees developed and implemented a 
communications plan for TID and participated in the development of the 
1996 Fourth Agreement with the City and County of San Francisco that 
apportioned costs among CCSF, MID and TID arising from the Districts' 
responsibilities as FERC licensees for the Don Pedro Project 
hydroelectric facilities.
  In 1998, Mr. Nees represented TID on the San Joaquin River Group 
Authority during development of the Vernalis Adaptive Management Plan, 
VAMP, and the San Joaquin River Agreement, which together established 
and implemented an alternative means of meeting the San Joaquin River 
flow objectives contained in the State Water Control Board's 1995 Water 
Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin 
Delta Estuary. Initiated in 2000, the 12-year VAMP program also 
included protective measures for fall-run salmon and studies of how 
different San Joaquin River flow levels affect delta resources and 
water supply conditions.
  Mr. Nees led TID's voluntary effort to develop a groundwater 
management plan that included mitigation of overdraft conditions, as 
well as conservation, recharge, and conjunctive-use activities. When 
state law made the program mandatory in 2011, Mr. Nees oversaw TID's 
effort to comply with the requirements for agriculture water use 
efficiency and improved water measurement and conservation.
  Mr. Nees also has been TID's lead on a variety of other complex water 
supply, operations and environmental compliance matters for the 
District. These include overseeing development of TID's municipal water 
treatment system, including the 2000-2002 installation of an 
infiltration gallery in the river to serve both as a future diversion 
point for a treatment facility for domestic water, and provide more 
river flow in the critical portion of the Tuolumne River below La 
Grange Dam for fish habitat.
  Since 2009, Mr. Nees has worked on the relicensing by FERC of the Don 
Pedro Project. The current hydroelectric license expires in April 2016. 
Bob assembled a relicensing team consisting of TID, MID and outside 
consultants, and Bob has lead the team through all the key steps in the 
relicensing process, which is now nearing its conclusion.
  Those of us who work on California water issues will miss Mr. Nees' 
expertise and his calm and steady hand.
  Mr. Speaker, please join Mr. Costa and me in honoring Turlock 
Irrigation District's Assistant General Manager for Water Resources, 
Robert Nees on his retirement and thank him for his exemplary 
leadership and service to the District.