Free Republic

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A joint federal and state water program intended to unite farmers, city folk and nature lovers was hailed by water users Thursday, but criticized by environmentalists who said a congressional reauthorization bill did not do enough to improve habitat. President Bush is expected to sign the $395 million California Federal Bay-Delta Program bill passed Wednesday by the House of Representatives that aims to restore the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The system feeds the nation's most productive farm land while providing drinking water to 22 million Californians. The bill, which has been the subject of six years of...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Westerners fear they'll be the ones tapped to pay for a multimillion-dollar settlement with Westlands Water District farmers.</p> <p>So now unhappy California lawmakers intend to force the Bush administration to again find some other way to fund the land-retirement deal.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON -- Last week, when the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District was dedicating its new fish screen on the Sacramento River at Hamilton City, an old friend showed up for the festivities.</p> <p>The friend was Vic Fazio, the former 3rd District congressman and Democratic powerhouse who retired in 1998 after 10 terms. Now a Washington lobbyist, Fazio was invited to the ceremony so the irrigation district could thank him for making the $80 million project happen.</p>

<p>Nearly two years after all sides in California's notoriously fractious water conflict signed off on the compromise called CalFed, the state's congressional representatives still have not come to their own agreement on how to push the program forward.</p> <p>As a result, federal funding has been scant for a program that was supposed to spend $8.5 billion in state, federal and local money in its first seven years.</p>