Feinstein gets green light to proceed on contentious water bill

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s third effort to address California’s drought by expanding the water supply through dams, recycling, desalination and other methods, as well as tinkering with protections for endangered fish, received the go-ahead Tuesday from the federal Bureau of Reclamation at a Senate hearing.

Estevan Lopez, a bureau commissioner, called Feinstein’s bill, S2533, a “measured approach” that would “improve the water supply situation in California” while protecting the environment and endangered salmon.

In addition to altering provisions intended to aid fish to improve water deliveries, Feinstein’s bill would provide $1.3 billion in federal funds for new dams, urban water recycling and desalination along with other provisions that Democrats such as McNerney support.

At Tuesday’s hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources panel on water and power, the bill drew enthusiastic support from San Joaquin Valley farm groups, and from Timothy Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, who said it could add 1.4 million acre-feet to the state’s water supply.

The bureau’s nod of approval to the legislation came a week after the Pacific Fishery Management Council, a federally designated group that manages Pacific Coast fisheries, issued a letter saying Feinstein’s bill “would cause irreparable harm” to fish.

Feinstein is seeking to include her bill in a Western drought package that Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, hopes to assemble this year.