[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 14, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H5126-H5127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1230
          WESTERN WATER AND AMERICAN FOOD SECURITY ACT OF 2015

  (Mr. DENHAM asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about California's 
water crisis. Later this week, we will be debating a bill, the Western 
Water and American Food Security Act of 2015, which was born out of 
many conversations with the Senate and with the administration.
  Over the years, we have discussed how dry California is. Now, we 
can't prevent Mother Nature from creating a drought, but we can plan 
and store water for those dry years. It has happened for centuries. The 
problem is it just hasn't been happening in the last several decades in 
California, which means over 1 million acres of farmland will go 
fallow.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not just a California issue. This is an issue 
that will affect the entire United States food supply. We need to make 
sure we are capturing water.
  While Members want to continue to debate climate change, shouldn't we 
all agree that hydroelectricity, the cleanest electricity out there, is 
good for our environment? The trees that I grow as an almond farmer are 
good for the environment. If you want to reduce carbon, let's plant 
more trees.
  If we want to have safety and security in our communities that have 
forestland, then shouldn't we clear the

[[Page H5127]]

brush and make sure that we don't have a fuel supply again, creating a 
better environment with a healthy forest?
  There are things that we should do to create a healthy California and 
a healthy country. This water bill is one of those solutions.

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