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On the Water Front blog: Central Valley Project contracts make no allocation promises

Posted by: Maven on February 26, 2010 at 7:47 am

From Mark Hitchcock at the Environmental Defense Fund’s On the Water Front blog:

“As a first-year attorney, my understanding of the intricacies of California water law is limited. Still, I am always bothered by the fact that the battles over Central Valley Project (“CVP”) exports regularly allude to the idea that water users have seen their contractual rights to Bay-Delta water decreased by environmental protection laws. In her recent op-ed proposing an Endangered Species Act rider, Senator Feinstein wrote about the percentage of a “contractual allocation” available to Central Valley users. The New York Times referenced percentages of “normal allocations,” and the Fresno Bee used that same term. Even the rebuttal letter questioning the wisdom of Senator Feinstein’s proposed rider sent by Representative George Miller and ten other members of Congress referred to water users receiving percentages of their “contract supply.”

In fact, there is no contractual right to any set or “normal” amount of CVP water. Exporters do not receive varying percentages of a set amount of water that they have continuing contractual rights to; it is the amount of water that they are contractually entitled to that varies from year to year. … “

Read more from the On the Water Front blog by clicking here.

February 26, 2010 · Filed Under Central Valley Project

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