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<p><b><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;
font-weight:bold'>Environmental Working Group <br>
Published on September 14, 2005 <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;
font-weight:bold'>The federal government is about to make a deal to give a few
hundred California farmers control of more water than Los Angeles, San
Francisco and San Diego combined use in a year - at pennies on the dollar of
the price paid by urban water users. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;
font-weight:bold'>The Bureau of Reclamation is poised to sign a contract with
the giant Westlands Water District that will set the price and amount of water
the district gets from the Central Valley Project (CVP) for the next 25 to 50
years. An investigation by Environmental Working Group (EWG) calculated the
value of Westlands' federal water subsidy at $110 million a year - an amount
the new contract will boost by tens of millions of dollars a year. Over the
life of the new contract, Westlands stands to rake in billions of dollars from
federal taxpayers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;
font-weight:bold'>Terms of the Westlands contract will affect the supply and
cost of water throughout <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
for decades to come. EWG's investigation, available at <a
href="http://www.ewg.org" title="http://www.ewg.org/">http://www.ewg.org</a>,
found: <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;
font-weight:bold'>- The amount of water promised in the proposed contract is an
increase of more than 50 percent over Westlands' current use. Yet, in
violation of federal law, none of the additional water was considered in
studies of the new contract's environmental impact.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;
font-weight:bold'>- Westlands is being promised more water even though it's
getting $107 million from taxpayers in exchange for removing from cultivation
34,000 acres ruined by irrigation. To solve severe drainage problems, up to
half of the 600,000-acre district may be taken out of production - but the
contract implies that Westlands would get to keep its full current water
allotment. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;
font-weight:bold'>- Nowhere in the contract does it say what price Westlands
will pay for water in 2006 and beyond. With future prices a mystery, the
contract cannot guarantee that Westlands will, as required by law, pay off the
$386 million it owes the government as its share of the cost of building the
CVP, the largest federal irrigation system in the nation. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;
font-weight:bold'>"Westlands' new contract is a bad deal for urban water
users, for fish and wildlife in the rivers it draws its water from, for state
water planners - everybody but Westlands," said EWG Senior Analyst <st1:PersonName
w:st="on">Renee</st1:PersonName> Sharp, principal author of the report.
"The Bureau of Reclamation is signing over the future of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s scarcest and most valuable
resource to a group of rich agribusinesses who pay less than one-fifth the
water's market value. This contract should be flushed down the drain." <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><em><i><font color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Consultant, California Trout, Inc.</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 ph</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 9562 fx</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><u><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></u></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a><u>
</u></span></font><font color=gray><span style='color:gray'>(secondary)</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.fotr.org">http://www.fotr.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a href="http://caltrout.org">http://caltrout.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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