McCarthy Applauds Action To Address California's Man-Made Drought

Washington D.C. – Congressman Kevin McCarthy today issued the following statement after the House Committee on Natural Resources voted to pass H.R. 1837, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act:

"Current water policy that puts the interests of a tiny fish above hardworking Central Valley families has created a man-made drought in California, diverting hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water that could have been used to support jobs and crops throughout the Central Valley. The increased unemployment and fallow land seen in our communities because of environmental overregulation still stings, and without action, will continue. That's why I applaud today's committee approval of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act, a common-sense, effective solution to reverse this man-made drought and put people and jobs first."

Congressman McCarthy was one of the three original co-sponsors to H.R. 1837, which was introduced in May of 2011. Last year, California's Sierra Snowpack was 165 percent above average, yet farmers only received 80 percent of the water they contracted and paid for. The reduced allocation is directly connected to the environmental regulations in the Delta. In 2009 and 2010, over one million acre-feet of water (one acre-foot equals 326,000 gallons) was lost due to protections for fish.