Hoopa Valley Tribe cautions Congress

7/23/2007

The Eureka Reporter

The chief water negotiator for the Hoopa Valley Tribe has cautioned Congress that a bill to restore the San Joaquin River will drain funds from the Trinity River restoration project. In a public statement on behalf of the tribe, tribal representative Danny Jordan stated:

“As early as next week, the House Natural Resources Committee could move a measure (H.R. 24) to settle water rights claims on the San Joaquin River a step closer to enactment. The Senate has a similar measure (S. 27) waiting in the wings. The Hoopa Valley Tribe opposes the bill in its present form because of its negative effect on the Trinity River and other restoration efforts.

“The San Joaquin and Trinity Rivers are bound together by a series of dams and canals that make up the Central Valley Project, as well as by the Central Valley Project Improvement Act enacted in 1992. The CVPIA was enacted to correct 70 years of environmental damage caused by the development and operation of the Central Valley Project.

“The San Joaquin settlement proposal was first publicly unveiled in November 2006. It became immediately apparent that the proposal included provisions to tap the already oversubscribed Restoration Fund of the CVPIA as one of its funding sources. In February 2007, Department of the Interior officials agreed with the tribe that the San Joaquin funding proposals would divert monies away from other CVP restoration activities.

“Passing the existing form of the San Joaquin legislation will mark the first step in march to reduce or eliminate the landmark provisions for environmental restoration embraced in the CVPIA.”