Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Hearing
Good morning Chairwoman Murkowski,
My name is Cannon Michael, and on behalf of the
This testimony will illustrate the problems Western farmers and ranchers face in the current drought, outline what producers like me and other Westerners are doing to address these challenges, and provide policy recommendations that we believe lay the foundation for effectively addressing current and future droughts in the
Personal Background
I manage the Bowles family farming operation, which is a long-time member of the
I'm a farmer and I'm here to talk about what I know best: farming, and farmers and ranchers in
Water connects us all - farms, cities and the environment - and while drought presents unique problems for each sector, our solutions should be interconnected and mutually beneficial --not divisive. That requires a willingness of all parties, including federal agencies, to be creative and flexible. That is happening in some places. In other places, it's not. The most helpful thing that
I will discuss drought conditions and problems in a few different areas of the West, as well as some examples of successful solutions and potential solutions. I'm a Californian so I'll begin there.
Coping with the California Drought
My home state of
Currently, 44% of
Individual farmers and irrigation districts with the oldest water rights in the State are experiencing severe reductions this year. On the
For the second year in a row, many agricultural water users are receiving no allocations at all from the federal
Table 1. Central Valley Project Water Allocations (2014 & 2015)
Contractors Percent Supply
North of Delta
Agricultural Contractors (Ag) 0% 0%
Urban Contractors (M&I) 50% 25%
Wildlife Refuges 75% 75%**
Settlement Contractors / Senior Water Rights 75% 75%**
American River M&I Contractors 50% 25%
In Delta-
South of Delta
Agricultural Contractors (Ag) 0% 0%
Urban Contractors (M&I) 50% 25%
Wildlife Refuges 65% 75%**
Settlement Contractors / Senior Water Rights 65% 75%**
Eastside Division Contractors 55% 0%
Friant - Class 1 0% 0%
Friant - Class 2 0% 0%
** -May be reduced if dry conditions persist
Source:
Almost as large as the federal CVP,
In most areas where surface water supplies have been severely reduced or eliminated, farmers have turned to groundwater to maintain their permanent crops - grapes, tree fruits, nuts, citrus - that represent a lifetimes' investment. But groundwater supplies are not infinite and were severely depleted in 2014 in areas that received no surface water. Groundwater also isn't cheap. Wells cost upwards of
In 2014 our family fallowed more than 15% of our farm. This year, we have a quarter of the farm abandoned or fallowed. When one hears that land is "fallowed" it might only seem that the impact is to the farmer, but that is definitely not the case. Every acre of farmed land generates jobs, economic activity and products. That is why the drought is so devastating to the rural agricultural communities of the
If I leave an acre fallow, my workers have less work and I use my tractors less. If I use my tractor less, I buy less fuel, lubricants and parts and tires, which means the local businesses that supply these things sell less and their companies suffer. When I don't purchase inputs for the land (fertilizer, seeds, amendments, etc.), the local companies that sell these items suffer reduced sales and the truck drivers who deliver these items have less work. With fewer trucks running fewer routes, fuel and parts purchases are reduced. If that one fallowed acre was intended to be a tomato field, those tomatoes would not be trucked to market or the processing plant.
As you can see, there is a huge interconnection between agriculture and many other industries. Recent press reports will acknowledge that
Fallowing 25% of our land has had a very significant impact on those who have worked on those lands in the past. My family is doing everything it can to keep our employees working. Right now, we are trying to keep farmworkers on the payroll by putting them to work on two new solar projects that will be used to provide more affordable power to drive the extensive drip irrigation systems we have installed in recent years. This year, we are installing even more drip systems.
This is a very scary time for me and my family, since substantial investments are being made, primarily with the intent of converting more of our operation to drip irrigation, which we hope will stretch limited water supplies. Those investments will be for naught if the current drought / regulatory paradigm persists into the future and there is no water to conserve.
My fellow
California Drought: Myth vs Reality
Five years ago, reservoirs in
"The reality is that farm water has already been rationed for more than two decades by the ascendant green politics, starting with the 1992 federal Central Valley Project Improvement Act", the
Here are some other facts that are often overlooked in recent media coverage of the
. Crop production per acre-foot of water has risen 43% in
.
.
Much of the initial media accounts since the Governor's announcement also advanced the decades-old myth that farmers consume 80% of water supplies in
Others in the media suggested that the shift in crops towards higher value crops like nuts and wine grapes have led to an increase in agricultural water use. For a few weeks, almonds were the preferred villainous target of these reports. But according to California DWR, the total amount of agricultural water use has held steady since 2000 and actually declined over a longer period.
I appreciate this opportunity to provide my first-hand observations of the drought challenges we are facing in my home state. However, the organization I am representing includes farmers and ranchers from across the West who are experiencing their own drought struggles, developing innovative solutions, and who are seeking assistance to create long-lasting fixes to allow them to better cope with future droughts.
The Western U.S. Drought Crisis
Unusually dry weather has dominated much of the West for the past three to four years, resulting in significant hydrological (low lake, reservoir, and stream levels) and agricultural impacts. Almost all of the
As noted previously,
In the
Snow packs in
It has been nearly five years since hydrologic conditions in
As of
A dry April compounded with warmer-than-normal spring temperatures is deteriorating
Extremely low snowpack continues across the state of
In
Key Challenges
The key challenges Western irrigators face in times of drought include competition for scarce water supplies, insufficient water infrastructure, growing populations, endangered species, increasing weather variability/climate change, and energy development. Across the West, several key water policy challenges stand out:
1. Water management in the West is becoming increasingly inflexible.
We need a new way of looking at how we manage our limited water resources, one that includes a broader view of how water is used, along with consideration of population growth, food production and habitat needs. The goal should be to integrate food production and conservation practices into water management decision making and water use priorities, creating a more holistic view of water management for multiple uses. We must begin to plan now in order to hold intact current options. Planning must allow for flexibility and consider all needs, not just focus on meeting future needs from population growth.
In many parts of the West, litigation stemming from citizen suit provisions of environmental laws including the ESA and Clean Water Act (CWA) is producing federal court decisions (or court approved "settlements") that direct federal agency "management" of state water resources.
Litigation and the manner in which certain federal agencies administer the ESA are very much driving water management decisions these days, at least in the West. And adversarial, single-purpose approach is not helping the agencies recover very many species. Recent research into litigation associated with federal environmental laws is beginning to uncover some unsettling facts: the federal government appears to be spending about as much money funding plaintiffs' environmental lawyers as it does to directly protect endangered species. Certain tax exempt, non-profit organizations have been consistently awarded attorney fees from the federal government, for suing the federal government. These same environmental groups are receiving millions of tax dollars in attorney fees for settling or "winning" cases against the federal government.
Droughts occur routinely in the West; that is why the
For example, during drought emergencies the
In some cases, water project operators are forced to release water in 'pulse flows' that may benefit fish species during normal times, but are of no value whatsoever during droughts when the species intended to benefit from the flows is not present in the river. Nevertheless, federal fishery agencies insist that the flows be made, the result being no benefit to the species and a great loss of scarce water that could be used by towns and farms.
Despite record-breaking dry conditions in
The Alliance also believes
2. Environmental water management needs to be held to a higher standard of accountability.
We must manage water to meet all needs but in a manner that "shares the pain," not creates winners and losers, especially when the losers are the very beneficiaries the federal water projects were originally built to serve. The past federal management of water in
To
Good water management requires flexibility, as well as adaptive management. More regulation usually reduces this flexibility. Federal agencies managing the competing demands for water in the West have in some cases failed in creating opportunities for more flexible water management during times of drought.
3. The Endangered Species Act needs to be implemented in a new way to better benefit species and rural communities.
The original intent of the ESA -stated in the Act itself -was to encourage "the states and other interested parties, through federal financial assistance and a system of incentives, to develop and maintain conservation programs which meet national and international standards." Of special importance to the
The authors of the ESA clearly believed in applying the ESA in a way that would foster collaboration and efficiency of program delivery, in an incentive-driven manner. Unfortunately, implementation of the ESA has "progressed" in recent years toward an approach that is now driven by litigation and sometimes the inappropriate, inconsistent and incorrect interpretation of the law by federal agencies. As far as the Act itself is concerned, little to no progress has occurred to keep this 40-year-old law in step with the modern era. The ESA has not been substantially updated since 1988.
At the heart of the
The ESA is an outdated law that is clearly not working as it was originally intended. It needs to be more about incentives and collaboration and less about litigation and regulation. Fewer than 2% of the species ever listed under the Act have been recovered and removed from the list, and the failures under the law far outstrip the successes. Meanwhile, the economic and sociologic impacts of the ESA have been dramatic. From the Alliance's standpoint, the law has really only inflicted harm and generated litigation that uses the Act as a weapon against our members' ability to use our natural resources for farming and ranching, while doing little to help the environment or the very species it was designed to protect.
4. Aging Water Infrastructure Must be Addressed to Protect Future Water Supply Reliability
More surface and groundwater storage is still a critical piece of the solution to water shortfalls.
Also, new tools to assist in financing major improvements to aging water infrastructure will be needed in the coming years to ensure that farmers and ranchers charged for these upgrades can afford repayment. Water infrastructure is a long-term investment, as are farms and ranches, and long repayment and low interest terms will be crucial in reinvesting in aging facilities to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Such improvements could include investments in everything from new water storage reservoirs (both on-and off-stream), regulating reservoirs, canal lining, computerized water management and delivery systems, real-time monitoring of ecosystem functions and river flows for both fish and people, and watershed-based integrated regional water management. With the advent of the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) in the WRRDA 2014, the Alliance believes a similar affordable loan program could be instituted at Reclamation to assist in providing capital for such investments. Also, more flexibility may be needed to allow for private investments at Reclamation facilities in order to attract additional capital to meet future water supply needs.
Western irrigators need flexible, streamlined policies and new affordable financing tools that provide balance and certainty to support collaborative efforts and manage future water infrastructure challenges. Solutions in all of these areas will be crucial to future enhanced agricultural production, conservation and community outcomes in the West.
Innovative Solutions
For family farmers and ranchers, finding solutions to constantly emerging challenges is just business as usual. Nature, the markets and the government are always finding new problems to throw at farmers, and farmers who are not determined, resourceful and innovative do not succeed --at least not for long.
Irrigators and their local water agencies are responding to the drought with determination, resourcefulness and innovation. They also are bringing those attributes to bear in planning for a future where "drought" may be a long-term or even permanent condition. Throughout the West, farmers, ranchers and irrigation agencies have undertaken creative measures to efficiently manage increasingly scarce water resources. Some of these actions are intended to address the immediate crisis; others have been implemented as part of the broad portfolio of actions that successful farmers are employing to stay profitable in today's fierce economic and regulatory climate. If federal agencies are willing to take lessons from how farmers and ranchers are coping with the drought, the result would likely be better management of water for both economic purposes and environmental uses.
The following are real-world examples that
Employing New Technology:
With less snow pack runoff and a more intense monsoon season, the
Collaboration, Ecosystem Restoration, and New Storage:
To help plan for expanding our access to more irrigation and M&I water storage capacity and to help relieve tensions in the basin over water supply management for all needs, a large cross-section of the water stakeholder interests and the
Prior efforts to increase water storage in the
Empower Locals to Develop New Storage:
Growing concerns about the delays and costs associated with the proposed Sites off-stream reservoir project in the
The Project would also provide improvements in ecosystem and water quality conditions in the
As the Sites JPA began working with the Bureau of
The JPA approached the Sites project with the goal of making the best possible use of limited resources, and in the end, local irrigators believe they have identified a project that is both affordable and will provide significant benefits. The proposed project maximizes ecosystem benefits consistent with the State water bond, which states that at least 50 % of the public benefit objectives must be ecosystem improvements. Other benefits include water supply reliability, water quality improvements, flexible hydropower generation, more recreation benefits and increased flood damage reduction. In short, the JPA approached the Sites project with the goal of generating water for the environment while improving statewide water reliability and regional sustainability in
Collaboration, Conservation, Energy and Water Reliability, and Regulatory Assurances:
Irrigation districts that comprise the
One of the first applications of ESA section 10(j) in
Raising wool and beef, and growing alfalfa, grass hay, carrot seed, wheat, and other products requires a sustainable supply of water. Improving instream flows for salmon, steelhead and other fish and wildlife species also requires sustainable supplies of clean water. The efforts underway in
Fish Reintroduction and Regulatory Assurances: Yuba Salmon Partnership Initiative (
The
Long-term Environmental Enhancement and Water Supply Reliability: Klamath Settlement Agreements (
The three Klamath Agreements -the
Understandably, the idea of removing dams is a sticking point for some in the agricultural community, and the Alliance does not universally endorse the removal of dams. In fact, the Alliance is a leading proponent of creating more surface water storage in the West. We are advocates for enhancing the benefits of existing water-supply dam-reservoir projects and for building new ones to meet the needs Western irrigated agriculture. The potential impacts and precedents of removing any dam are concerns to us as advocates for irrigated agriculture.
The Klamath Settlement Agreements are unique to the
To date, the local irrigators who have actually experienced a threat to their livelihood and way of life with water shut-offs, paying for litigation, and ESA pressures want these agreements in place. Proponents of these agreements believe they provide the most cost-effective, timely and politically viable solution.
Conservation and Drought Resilience:
In
The newest
Some of the farmers highlighted in the Alliance report are integrating efficient irrigation technology with soil health to increase both productivity and water savings. Others are navigating conservation within constraints outside of their control, such as the operations of the ditches which deliver water to farms. To paint a fuller picture of the complexities and nuances of agricultural water conservation in the West, the Alliance worked with the engineering firm
As the pressures of climate variability and drought increase, farmers and ranchers are at the forefront of our national adaptation strategy. Producers are coming together to help one another, but they also need support from consumers, policy makers, scientists, and service providers. The Alliance hopes that these case studies will provide policy makers and other stakeholders with a more nuanced understanding of the diversity and complexity of western agricultural water conservation and an appreciation of what continuing to take agricultural lands out of production might mean. A copy of the Alliance report is included as an attachment to this written testimony.
How the Federal Government Can Help
The
. State water laws, compacts and decrees must be the foundation for dealing with shortages.
. Water use and related beneficial use data must be accurately measured and portrayed.
. Benefits of water use must reflect all economic / societal / environmental impacts.
. Water conservation can help stretch water supplies, but has its limits in certain situations.
. Public sentiment supports water remaining with irrigated agriculture, and developing strategic water storage as insurance against shortages.
. Technologies for water reuse and recycling are proven effective in stretching existing supplies for urban, environmental and other uses.
. Urban growth expansion should be contingent upon sustainable water supplies; using irrigated agriculture as the "reservoir" of water for municipal growth is not sustainable in the long run.
. Planning for water shortage in the West must look to the long-term in meeting the goals of agriculture, energy, cities, and the environment.
. A successful water shortage strategy must include a "portfolio" of water supply enhancements and improvements, such as water reuse, recycling, conservation, water-sensitive land use planning, and water system improvements. New infrastructure and technologies can help stretch water for all uses.
. Temporary fallowing proposals should be approached in a thoughtful, thorough manner only after urban, energy and environmental users of water demonstrate a better management of their share of the finite supply.
. Unintended consequences associated with reducing productive agricultural land/groundwater recharge/riparian habitat benefits should be avoided and, if unavoidable, minimized and fully mitigated.
We offer the following specific actions that federal policy makers can address in new drought legislation:
Encourage accurate measurement and portrayal of water use and related beneficial use data.
As is often the case, what happens in
Find ways to streamlines regulatory hurdles assist in developing new environmentally-sensitive storage projects and other necessary infrastructure improvements.
There are several bills under consideration in the
The President and
The Alliance believes that the federal government needs to seriously consider adopting a policy of supporting new projects to enhance water supplies while encouraging state and local interests to take the lead in the planning and implementation of those projects. Local and state interests (see Sites JPA example, above) have shown enormous creativity in designing creative water development projects. Water agencies have at times obtained additional federal funding through the appropriations process; however, Reclamation could also supplement this effort by providing funding for local partnership agreements, especially where Reclamation and its water contractors are identified as potential beneficiaries.
Provide additional funding to support WaterSMART and/or other programs that provide incentive-driven cost share money for new water conservation projects.
Small federal investments in cost-shared, competitive grants help irrigation districts make larger investments in water conservation and management technologies that can help stretch water supplies to meet unmet needs. The Secure Water Act should be reauthorized to extend these grant programs into the future.
Sufficient funding should be provided to implement and expand the "More Water, More Energy, Less Waste Act of 2007."
This could lead to the treatment and beneficial use of excess produced water from oil and gas drilling and coal bed methane extraction. This law directs the
Improve ESA transparency and species recovery.
We know the ESA can play an important role in species protection, but it can only successfully do so with increased public input, stakeholder cooperation and new "outside-the-box" thinking on transparency and accountability. Unfortunately, the manner in which the ESA is being implemented in its current form discourages this sort of an approach. Private landowners should be viewed as potential partners in species recovery, not enemies. Incorporating the following four simple concepts into legislation or administrative directives would improve implementation of the ESA to recover and seek to remove species from the endangered list, and encourage public engagement and federal agency transparency and accountability:
. Require data used by federal agencies for ESA listing decisions to be made publicly available and accessible through the Internet. This would allow the American people to actually see what science and data are being used to make key listing decisions.
. Require the
. Require the federal government to disclose to affected states all data used prior to any ESA listing decisions and require that the "best available scientific and commercial data" used by the federal government include data provided by affected states, tribes, and local governments.
. Prioritize resources toward species protection by placing reasonable caps on attorney's fees.
Surely constructive and thoughtful parties can all agree that a law addressing the needs of species in trouble is important. There is no reason why we should not be able to have an open and candid discussion about fixing the law to make it work as intended.
Require fish and wildlife agencies to inject some reality, set priorities and be accountable in their effort to manage the environmental share of the water pie.
In the Western U.S., environmental enhancement and mitigation programs are increasingly competing for existing sources of water. In some these instances, these actions have caused major conflicts, costly lawsuits and delayed benefits for endangered species and the environment. It's time that environmental interests, fish and wildlife agencies and water managers begin to inject some reality, set priorities and be accountable in their effort to manage the environmental share of this water pie. Legislative language that puts the burden of proof on the fisheries agency to conclusively demonstrate benefits to targeted imperiled fish species would be helpful. An institutional structure that ensures true peer review and impartial decision-making relative to this objective would also be useful.
Conclusion
Some
It will be hard work to reach an agreement and enact a legislation to wisely manage the West's water now and in the future, but that's the kind of work we elected you to do. Farmers work hard, and we expect
Only together can we in
Thank you.
n1 http://giannini.ucop.edu/media/are-update/files/articles/V18N4_3.pdf
n2 USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service,
n3
n4
n5 WaterSMART Colorado River Basin Focus Area Study, USGS 2012
n6 Nevada Water Supply Outlook Report, USDA NRCS,
n7 Colorado Water Supply Outlook Report, USDA NRCS,
n8 Utah Water Supply Outlook Report, USDA NRCS,
n9
n10 Idaho Water Supply Outlook Report, USDA NRCS,
n11 Washington Water Supply Outlook Report, USDA NRCS,
n12
Read this original document at: http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=1786822e-5a9a-4d2b-be51-e474b8eaa9b4
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