KXO RADIO - New bill a threat to agriculture water

You are here : Home

New bill a threat to agriculture water

Todays is : Wednesday, 19 November 2008

Written by George Gale
Wednesday, 09 July 2008
(New Assembly Bill has the Imperial Irrigation District on the defensive)…..The Bill, AB 2175, was authored by two Democratic Assemblymen, John Laira of Santa Cruz and Mike Feuer of Los Angeles. Brad Lucky, IID Governmental and Regulatory Affairs Director, says the bill’s intent is to reduce urban and rural water consumption. Lucky told the IID Board of Directors Tuesday, he viewed the bill as another piece of wasted legislation. He said the bill is nothing more than another grab at Agriculture water. The bill calls for a reduction of Ag water use by 500,000 acre-feet by 2015. Lucky said much of the decreased water use would come from Imperial County. He said the bill was another example of the environmentalist chokehold on Democratic Legislators. He said they refuse to look at the entire picture. The bill apparently is in response to the Governors recent State Drought declaration. Lucky said he and other IID staff members are working with the authors of the bill to try and work out some amendments for the bill that make sense. He said if at the end of summer the Governor issues a statewide emergency drought declaration, it would be trouble and seriously jeopardize local water. Lucky said the state should not ignore Federal water agreements, including the Quantification Settlement Agreement.