[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11567-11568]
[From the U.S. 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 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

[[Page 11568]]

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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