Sounding the alarm on sneaky legislation threatening Stanislaus-area water
A sneaky legislative attempt to swipe water from Stanislaus-area farmers and Modesto homes must be stopped, right now.
The long and ongoing fight to prevent a so-called state water grab has been bad enough. At least that was put on hold while those who manage irrigation and drinking water from the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers try negotiating a fairer deal for our people.
But Assembly Bill 2639 represents a cynical end run around those talks. The bill, expected to come to an Assembly floor vote sometime this week, would cut off those negotiations, harming our farmers and our economy as well as a drinking water source relied on by Modesto, Salida, Empire, Manteca, Lathrop and Tracy; Turlock and Ceres will, too, in a few years.
Assemblyman Adam Gray, representing Merced County and part of Stanislaus County, says he will push for amendments aimed at negating that harm. Essentially, his amendments would block the water grab if it were found to hurt water supplies of disadvantaged communities — which aren’t hard to find in the Valley.
Throwing up such a potential roadblock could be considered something of a nuclear option, a surprising course of action for a Democratic legislator bucking his party leaders. Gray probably doesn’t care; he has suffered their wrath before, having twice been removed from committees for the sin of siding with constituents’ needs instead of top Democrats’ wants. They won’t be able to bully him any more at any rate because he’s running for Congress and will leave the state Legislature, win or lose.
“Environmental extremists are addicted to San Joaquin Valley water and they are tired of waiting for their next fix,” Gray said in a release. “Now their incredible hypocrisy is on full display. Despite their lip service about protecting vulnerable populations, they are fighting my amendments that would block their bill from going into effect, because it jeopardizes the drinking water supplies of the poorest communities in the state.”
In technical terms, AB 2639 would require that the State Water Board adopt a final update to the controversial Bay-Delta Plan by the end of 2023; in layman’s terms, the state water grab will have succeeded, and we could lose control over significant amounts of water in our rivers in the name of helping endangered fish — and wealthy water buyers in thirstier areas.
Hands off our water
Our forebears had the courage and foresight to capture snowmelt from mountains to our east and hold it until needed for crops later in the year. Descendants of others without that foresight hope to give some of that water to those who have plenty of money and political clout.
All major water agencies in our area officially oppose the bill, including the Modesto, Turlock, Merced, Oakdale and South San Joaquin irrigation districts.
Democratic Assemblyman Bill Quirk of Hayward, the bill’s author, ought to be ashamed for quietly carrying legislation that does not affect his area while deeply hurting ours.
Friday is the deadline for bills to move out of their house of origin; in this case, the Assembly. So Quirk is expected to make his move quickly.
Time is short, but people alarmed at this news have a course of action. They can make their views known to Assembly representatives, including Heath Flora at 209-599-2112 and Quirk at 510-583-8818. They might also lend moral support by contacting Gray’s office at 209-521-2111.
The Northern San Joaquin Valley has been struggling for years to repel the infamous state water grab. The idea that it could soon be over because of an obscure bill by a Bay Area politician, with us losing everything we’ve been fighting for all this time, is unthinkable.
This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 5:00 AM.