Water Policy

The Times’ editorial March 22 (“Federal Water Policy Veers Off Course”) is another in a series of opinions that fails to accurately represent my efforts to help develop a solution to long-term water problems in California.

First, my Central Valley Project bill was not “drafted largely by rural interests,” as The Times says. The cornerstone of the bill--voluntary water transfers from the Central Valley Project (CVP) to urban users--is the result of a compromise reached last fall between Central Valley water contractors and the Metropolitan Water District. It takes two parties to reach an accord of this kind, and the longstanding animosities between these two groups make their water agreement all the more historic.

Second, the Senate Energy Committee’s decision to approve my legislation wasn’t a matter of partisan politics, as The Times suggests. It was a bipartisan matter of senators from reclamation states concerned that the federal government would someday try to dictate water policy to their states. Several Democrat members of the committee opposed the approach of New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley and Louisiana Sen. J. Bennett Johnston. Further, several California colleagues who happen to be Democrats have introduced legislation similar to mine in the House.

SEN. JOHN SEYMOUR

R-Calif.