blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2010/06/29/pavley-will-increase-fines-for-illegal-water-diversions/

Posted by danbacher on @ 10:33 am

by Dan Bacher

The California Assembly’s Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife will hold a hearing in the afternoon today (June 29) on a bill, SB 565, that would give the State Water Resources Control Board new penalty and investigative powers dealing with water rights.

SB 565 is sponsored by Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) and co-sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael. While it is supported by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, the bill is opposed by Restore the Delta and other groups.

“This bill would increase the Board’s fines for illegal diversions (which have not been updated in nearly 20 years) to keep pace with inflation,” said Barry Nelson of NRDC. “It would provide other enforcement related tools as well. An effective enforcement program would increase the incentives to discourage illegal water diversions.”

He added, “This, of course, would help the troubled Bay-Delta system and other degraded rivers. But it would also benefit legal diverters, who can face water shortages and increased regulatory burdens as a result of illegal pumping.”

However, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta, said the bill will reduce or eliminate existing due process and property rights protections for California water rights holders.

“This bill allows the State Water Board to review and revise any water right without cause, giving this agency new invasive power to inspect private property for vaguely defined purposes to ascertain whether the beneficial purposes of water use are being met,” said Barrigan-Parrilla.

Barrigan-Parrilla said SB 565 “shifts the burden” of proving forfeiture of a water right to the water right holder – dramatically increasing the likelihood of a frivolous lawsuit being filed by a third party.

“The bill forces property owners to pay for the extremely costly engineering reports that will ultimately be used against them by third party litigants,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. ”It also increases exponentially the penalty to reflect the “market value” of water (regardless of the actual value of the water to the user).”

These provisions were considered for inclusion in last year’s SBx7 5 on water rights enforcement, but were ultimately abandoned for lack of support.

“Many Delta farmers believe, and we concur, that these new authorities will be used to litigate Delta farmers out of existence,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “By keeping Delta farmers in a position of defense, those who want to usurp their water rights will keep the financial pressure on, forcing Delta farmers to “sell” the farm. This is a blatant attempt to rewrite the California water code to justify taking away the historical water rights held by Delta families.”

She emphasized, “What is even more shameful about this proposed legislation is that it does not help to meet the long term environmental needs of the Delta, but actually sets the stage for even more water diversions.”

The legislation is being considered at a time when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is campaigning for the construction of a peripheral canal and new dams. The canal is likely to result in the extinction of Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, green sturgeon and other collapsing fish species.