Hoopa Valley Tribe Fights for Water Funding for Trinity River Restoration

July 22, 2007
For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Danny Jordan
Hoopa Valley Tribe
(530) 625-4548
(707) 499-8366

HOOPA VALLEY TRIBE CAUTIONS CONGRESS ON CONFLICT BETWEEN SAN JOAQUIN AND TRINITY RIVERS' RESTORATION BILLS


Hoopa, Calif. – The chief water negotiator for the Hoopa Valley Tribe has cautioned Congress that a bill to restore the San Joaquin River will drain funds from the Trinity River restoration project. In a public statement on behalf of the tribe, Tribal representative Danny Jordan said the following:

“As early as next week, the House Natural Resources Committee could move a measure (H.R. 24) to settle water rights claims on the San Joaquin River a step closer to enactment. The Senate has a similar measure (S. 27) waiting in the wings. The Hoopa Valley Tribe opposes the bill in its present form because of its negative effect on the Trinity River and other restoration efforts.

The San Joaquin and Trinity Rivers are bound together by a series of dams and canals that make up the Central Valley Project as well as the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) enacted in 1992. The CVPIA was enacted to correct 70 years of environmental damage caused by the development and operation of the Central Valley Project.

The San Joaquin settlement proposal was first publicly unveiled in November, 2006. It became immediately apparent that the proposal included provisions to tap the already over-subscribed Restoration Fund of the CVPIA as one of its funding sources. In February, 2007, Department of the Interior officials agreed with the Tribe that the San Joaquin funding proposals would divert monies away from other CVP restoration activities.

In March, the Tribe submitted written testimony before the House Resource Subcommittee that demonstrated how the San Joaquin legislation would negatively impact the Trinity River Restoration Program. Chairwoman Grace Napolitano promised that all third party interests would be addressed by her subcommittee. In June, we learned that, despite the Tribe’s legal property rights in our water and fishery resources and the United States’ trust obligations to protect them, we were not included on a list of third party interests whose rights were to be protected before the legislation could pass.

We are deeply disappointed by Congress’ apparent disregard for the San Joaquin bill’s negative impacts on the CVPIA, Trinity River fishery restoration, and the United States’ legal trust obligations to our Tribe. We are also disappointed that the House and Senate Democratic leaderships’ unwavering support for the “blood oath” that no amendments be allowed to the San Joaquin settlement, even in light of its effect of undermining the CVPIA, which they so heroically and successfully championed in 1992.

Maybe the negotiators originally had the best of intentions with the San Joaquin settlement, but they appear to have lost their perspective by isolating themselves and focusing only on the San Joaquin while neglecting the broader public interest in California water. Most notably, even the Federal agencies broke faith with the restoration of the Trinity River fishery and the trust obligations to our Tribe by promising to defend the “blood oath” even when doing so is in conflict with their environmental responsibilities and trust obligations to our Tribe.

Passing the existing form of the San Joaquin legislation will mark the first step in march to reduce or eliminate the landmark provisions for environmental restoration embraced in the CVPIA. California is fortunate to have six of 10 members on the Water and Power Subcommittee: Chair, Grace Napolitano (D-38th), Jim Costa D-20th), George Miller (D-7th), Joe Baca (D-43d), Hilda Solis (D-32d) and Ken Calvert (R-44th). We ask all who read this to urge them to amend the San Joaquin bill to protect the Trinity River and all other environmental restoration programs in the CVPIA.”