They continue, and become more complicated with the change in congressional leadership.
Political barriers could stall Valley irrigation plan
By Michael Doyle - Bee Washington Bureau
Published 12:00 am PST Monday, February 19, 2007
WASHINGTON-Serious political and pragmatic obstacles impede a new proposal to shift vast San Joaquin Valley irrigation facilities into farmers' hands.
Capitol Hill skeptics hold key leadership positions. Congress is already booked up with another big Valley water plan to restore the San Joaquin River. Technical solutions are complicated. And history, if it's any guide, suggests it's extremely hard to transfer federal water projects -- especially ones serving California.
"A proposal like this will always face challenges," Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, conceded Friday. "This is not a unanimous consent item."
Just ask El Dorado County residents.
In 1988, the area's congressman proposed that the Sly Park water and recreation unit be transferred from federal into local control. In 2003, Congress finally finished the job -- 15 years for a modest project that lacked the legal and environmental baggage associated with the San Joaquin Valley's west side.
Costa, nonetheless, said he finds promise in the new notion to deliver into local control the San Luis Reservoir and more than 100 miles of canals and associated pumping plants. He represents much of the 600,000-acre Westlands Water District.
Under the proposal, Westlands would join with the San Luis Water District and other districts in taking over the federal facilities. The state of California would also play a role.
The water districts would become responsible for resolving the irrigation drainage problems now afflicting almost 400,000 acres of the Valley's west side. In exchange, the federal government would forgive the districts' $489.6 million construction debt.
"This is an attempt, I think, to think out of the box," Costa said.
