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San Joaquin River restoration bill postponed until 2009

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 17, 2008 at 2:15 pm

From the McClatchy News Service:

The Senate will postpone until early next year action on a big public lands bill that includes efforts to restore the San Joaquin River, lawmakers decided Monday. While not entirely unexpected, the delay disappoints those who had hoped to resolve the long-simmering river restoration issue sooner rather than later. It also gives supporters and opponents more time to maneuver.

“It’s unfortunate that the Senate could not move on this bill,” said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, adding that “it is my hope that the House will move quickly” in January.

The ambitious San Joaquin River plan is one of about 150 bills folded into an omnibus public lands package that’s designed to attract widespread political support. Other California elements include a Madera County groundwater bank project and a John Krebs Wilderness designation in the Sierra Nevada.

Lawmakers once spoke of moving the massive legislation during the lame-duck congressional session this week, but that schedule proved too ambitious amid ongoing negotiations over an economic stimulus deal and an auto industry bailout.

“Rather than move forward on the lands package, which is … so important to a lot of senators and certainly a lot of people around the country, we’re better off waiting until we come back,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced early Monday afternoon.