February 1, 2011

Now that the State of the Union address is over with, serious federal budget maneuvering has begun, especially in the House of Representatives. With President Obama expected to release his Fiscal Year 2012 budget request in mid-February, and with Washington insiders predicting it will contain ten to twenty percent across the board spending reductions, several competing proposals have already been voted on or are circulating around Washington, DC.

U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (both D-CA) introduced legislation Jan. 26 directing the Environmental Protection Agency to set drinking water standards for perchlorate and chromium 6. The two bills, S 78 and S 79, require EPA to set a health advisory within 90 days of enactment, propose a drinking water standard within 180 days, and finalize the drinking water standard no later than one year after the legislation is enacted.

The Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, H.R. 10, was reintroduced by Representative Geoff Davis (R-KY) on January 20. The bill has 115 cosponsors, including 11 from California: Representatives Calvert (R-44), Dreier (R-26), Gallegly (R-24), Herger (R-2), Hunter (R-52), Issa (R-49), McCarthy (R-22), McClintock (R-4), McKeon (R-25), Nunes (R-21) and Royce (R-40).

Citing grave concerns with recent activities of the National Committee on Levee Safety, ACWA and two other organizations have called on the chairs and ranking members of the Senate and House water committees to affirm that irrigation canals should be exempt from any future levee safety standards.

ACWA, the National Water Resources Association and the Family Farm Alliance directed their concerns with the canals-as-levees issue to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate and House water committees.

A letter sent Jan. 25 outlines concerns with the approach recommended by the National Committee on Levee Safety to consider irrigation canals as flood control levees for the purpose of regulating their safety.

Letters to the both the House and Senate are attached below.

The National Committee on Levee Safety has responded to a letter from ACWA, the Family Farm Alliance and the National Water Resources Association expressing concerns about the committee's recommendation that canals be treated as levees.

The response letter and the Oct. 26 letter from ACWA and the other organizations are below.