A staggering economic and environmental problem festering for three decades in the southern San Joaquin Valley would be addressed by a secret deal reached between the Obama administration and farmers — one that is sounding alarms for Bay Area lawmakers. Westlands sued the government for failing to provide farmland drainage. The Obama administration and Westlands have now agreed on a plan. the deal would forgive $342 million in federal debt that Westlands owes for construction of the 1960s extension of the Central Valley Project to deliver water to the San Joaquin Valley farms. The more land is irrigated [by Westlands], the more pollution is produced. The soil consists of an ancient seabed full of minerals perched atop an impermeable layer of clay. Irrigation leaches the minerals, and the clay barrier traps the water. Unless it is drained, the land is ruined. Critics described the Bureau of Reclamation as an agency so close to its water contractors that it “simply cannot be trusted to negotiate’ with its clients’ without some form of oversight or transparency. If that isn’t happening, and it sure doesn’t seem like it is, then that’s a big problem.”
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 18:51:18 +0000
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