Compromise is urged on river restoration bill

Water districts represented by the Friant Water Users Authority want legislation passed and the river restored to settle a 1988 lawsuit filed by environmentalists. Farmers lost the lawsuit and fear that without a compromise settlement, a federal judge would give fish more river water.

"We're having ongoing discussions, and I think those discussions have been productive," said Ron Jacobsma, general manager of the authority, which represents 22 water districts serving the San Joaquin Valley's east side. "We're feeling optimistic."

Nonetheless, the bill that backers once optimistically hoped could be finished by Dec. 31, 2006, remains shackled by politics growing more complex by the day.

Supporters and opponents alike have run San Joaquin Valley radio ads, using KMJ airwaves to debate the river plan. Three of Friant's water districts are raising doubts about the evolving proposal. Friant chairman Kole Upton, once a public supporter, is now urging a much more modest effort.

"Would it not be better to do a compromise solution now, and defer the decision about a salmon fishery until we have proof that salmon will survive the warm water of the San Joaquin?" Upton wrote in The Fresno Bee this week.

Even the original House author of the river bill, Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, is joining other lawmakers in denouncing a leading proposal to pay for the river restoration.

"It's no longer just Nunes out there by himself," said Rep. Devin Nunes, a Visalia Republican who has consistently criticized the river bill.

Nunes represents the east side farmland served by Friant water. He has long denounced the river restoration plan that's expected to divert about 19% of the region's irrigation water.

Republican activist and campaign consultant Tal Cloud joined the fray in mid-November by financing the first of what has become a series of ads opposing the river bill. Cloud said he paid for the first ad himself because he was angry.

Cloud subsequently allied himself with a Madera County-based group called Families Protecting the Valley, formed by farmer Dennis Prosperi several years ago. Cloud said the group has raised "between $60,000 and $75,000" and spent about $25,000 on ads.

The Deer Creek and Tule River Authority -- which represents Friant water districts in southern Tulare County -- responded with its own KMJ ads promoting the river restoration deal. The water groups paid $4,990 for the ads, according to documents filed with the radio station.

The competing ads set the stage for today's 9 a.m. meeting at Visalia's Lamplighter Inn, where 100-plus elected representatives from the 22 Friant water boards have been invited.

"We want to reduce the controversy," said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, adding that "I'm going to listen" to what farmers say.

Costa is now the chief author of the House river bill, having seized it from Radanovich. One of his biggest challenges is paying for at least some of the $500 billion bill.

Radanovich says he still supports the legislation. In a new twist, though, Radanovich has joined his sometime-rival Nunes in saying they would "absolutely oppose" proposals to use a nuclear waste cleanup fund for the San Joaquin River work.

Congressional Democrats are eyeing a decontamination and decommissioning fund relied upon by uranium enrichment plants.

"It would be outrageous for this environmental cleanup money to be redirected to totally unrelated projects," Nunes, Radanovich and other House members declare in a letter being sent to House leaders next week.

Jacobsma said "additional work is anticipated" as the Friant water districts and their congressional champions figure out funding options.

The reporter can be reached atmdoyle@mcclatchydc.com or (202) 383-0006.