Rep. Peters’ Statement on Misguided House Overreach into California Water

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) continued his support for a long-term California water infrastructure vision and voted against H.R. 5781.

“This bill does not make it rain, and it does not help our state develop a long-term strategy for dealing with drought,” Rep. Peters said. “This drought will only be mitigated by conservation efforts and a plan to diversify our state’s water supply by recycling wastewater, building up our storage capacity, and investing in desalination facilities. Instead of pushing partisan ideas that do not benefit the state as a whole, we should be pursuing a bipartisan approach that works with the state and federal governments, and with water authorities and users across California.”

H.R. 5781 would direct the Federal Government to pump more water to the Central Valley Project, at the expense of other water users, and undermines existing water rights agreements in California as well as state environmental laws. The bill was introduced less than a week ago, on December 2, 2014, and brought to the floor without committee debate or input from state water agencies, local water agencies, or California Native American Tribes, all of whom would be forced to comply with this regulation.

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