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.

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