Water

A still-controversial 1992 law intended to boost California’s striped bass population can be scaled back, the Obama administration now believes. In a modest softening of the state’s polarized water debate, a top Interior Department official voiced sympathy Wednesday for a Republican-authored bill that would end the 1992 law’s stated goal of doubling the number of striped bass living in and around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. “It makes sense to remove the striped bass from the doubling goal... Read more

A simple and relatively inexpensive way to expand California’s available water is to modify spillways on reservoirs. Congressman Jeff Denham noted experts have estimated it would allow access to a million acre feet of water annually. That’s enough to meet the typical water needs of almost 11 million people a year based on per capital consumption figures supplied by the United States Geological Survey. But it requires more than the proverbial act of Congress. Denham noted the big roadblock is the... Read more

Congressman Jeff Denham is hoping to safeguard threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead by removing a known predator fish from mandatory protection measures with the Save Our Salmon Act of 2016, which he introduced earlier this week. The predator fish in question is the striped bass, which is an anadromous fish species not native to California. Denham aims to exclude the species from the anadromous fish doubling requirement of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, which requires doub... Read more

U.S. Representative Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) today introduced the Save Our Salmon (SOS) Act of 2016, which eliminates the doubling requirement established by the Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992 (CVPIA) for striped bass, a known predator fish of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead. The CVPIA mandated population doubling for all anadromous fish as part of an effort to protect the fish populations. Under this requirement, both native species and predator fish, specifically ... Read more

US Congressman Jeff Denham (R) who represents all of Stanislaus County and portions of San Joaquin County is upset over predation and the loss of water through pulse flows. Denham was Friday’s KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”. The former Mother Lode Representative said that he has frequently written in his newsletter about the impact the ongoing, brutal drought and the effect that it has on jobs, families, and local livelihoods. Last week, Denham made this point during a Natural Resources committee h... Read more

U.S. Representative Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) issued the following statement regarding Senator Dianne Feinstein’s water bill release: “More than a month after Senator Feinstein promised, she released legislation that looks like what she proposed months ago. The Valley is hurting, and with the Senate’s inaction, the window to move water and bring immediate relief is rapidly closing. It’s ridiculous, especially given that millions of gallons are flowing to the sea daily and farmers face zero allocat... Read more

U.S. Representative Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) issued the following statement regarding tonight’s State of the Union address, President Obama’s final address in office: “The President spoke tonight about his desire to focus on the future. If the President truly wants to implement change that helps families in my district prosper, he’ll take a hard look at some of the legislation we’ve passed in the House to strengthen our economy, rein in government bureaucracy and get people back to work. Most imp... Read more

It should come as no shock to anyone that in California water is our biggest issue. Access or lack of a steady water supply impacts our jobs, our livelihoods, our economy and all of our families. Since we first arrived in Congress, increasing water supplies has taken top priority. As representatives of the Valley, we considered our primary responsibility to secure water storage for our constituents. This has always impacted how we focused our committee work, the bills we’ve sponsored and co-spon... Read more

Today, California Members of the House of Representatives released a timeline outlining water negotiations between the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate dating back to 2011. In addition, Members issued statements regarding their ongoing, years-long efforts to alleviate the impacts of California’s drought. Negotiation Timeline 2011 H.R. 1837 the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act is introduced in the House. The bill would roll back government restrictions on the pumpin... Read more

U.S. Representative Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) released the following statement in reaction to today’s federal court ruling forcing the EPA to stop implementation of their proposed “Waters of the U.S.” rule: “Today’s ruling is a huge victory for farmers, ranchers and landowners all across the country. The EPA’s move to regulate every stream, creek and puddle on private property is a clear attempt at bureaucratic overreach. Under the EPA’s proposed rule, almost all waters could be subject to regulat... Read more