House Approves New U.S. Water Distribution Bill : Legislation: Seymour vows to fight measure when it comes for a vote in the Senate. Governor and farmers also oppose provisions that allow diversion of supplies from Central Valley Project.

WASHINGTON — The House early today approved a new federal water reform package for California, a measure that has come under harsh attack from Gov. Pete Wilson and representatives of the state’s Central Valley.

“The measure approved by the House today marks the beginning of a new era in California water policy,” said Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), who has led efforts to modernize the state’s water delivery system. “This reform of the Central Valley Project is a fair-minded approach that takes the needs of all Californians into consideration.”

The legislation was unveiled Monday after weeks of secret negotiations by Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), chairman of a conference committee appointed to resolve differences between bills passed by the Senate and House.

The new legislation faces an uncertain fate in the Senate, where Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) has threatened to do everything in his power to stop it.

“If this latest bill were to become law, the losers would be tens of thousands of Californians whose jobs depend on agriculture,” Seymour said. “That’s why I will use every available means, including a filibuster if necessary, to see that this bill does not pass.”

In a letter to congressional leaders Monday, Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. said the Bush Administration remains opposed to the “many objectionable provisions” in the California portion of an omnibus water bill involving dozens of projects in 17 western states.

The California delegation is deeply split along territorial lines over how the federal government should operate the vast Central Valley Project, which controls 20% of the state’s developed water. Urban legislators from Los Angeles and San Francisco largely favor the bill because it would allow agencies such as Southern California’s Metropolitan Water District to tap water from the Central Valley Project while providing protection to threatened fish and wildlife in Northern California.

The new water package “is good for California in general and Southern California in particular,” said Carl Boronkay, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District. “It is California’s first major water policy advancement in decades and provides benefits for farmers, cities and the environment.”

The MWD, which provides nearly 60% of the water used by 15 million Southern California residents, would be allowed to purchase Central Valley Project water from any farmer willing to sell. Such transfers are not permitted now.

The conference committee proposal so angered Wilson that he fired off a letter to his former colleagues in Congress calling the measure “completely unacceptable.” The bill would “strike a vicious economic blow to California and create a second century of California water wars whose only winners will be the litigators,” Wilson said.

The legislation would make saving threatened fish and wildlife a top priority of the Central Valley Project. This would be accomplished by collecting $50 million annually in operation and maintenance fees to establish an environmental restoration fund and by providing 800,000 acre-feet each year for fisheries. This is 200,000 acre-feet less than Miller proposed in an initial conference committee offer last month.

The latest proposal contains two dozen other concessions to the agriculture industry, Miller said. These include lowering water-pricing formulas and extending the length of future water contracts to 25 years from 20.

But agriculture proponents said the revisions fall far short of what they want.

A Department of Interior study found that under the latest proposal irrigators in the Central Valley would not have received any water during the past two years because of drought conditions.

“This is not equitable compromise,” said Rep. Calvin Dooley (D-Visalia). “We have entire communities dependent on the Central Valley Project.”

Dooley said he and other Central Valley lawmakers worked through the weekend doing everything they could to delay action in the House. They succeeded in making it more difficult for Miller and his allies to obtain needed signatures from members of the conference committee.

“What we’re trying to do is increase the opportunity for Sen. Seymour to kill the legislation in the Senate,” Dooley said.

Both houses of Congress hope to recess this week for the rest of the year. Because the Senate is expected to be tied up dealing with objections to the energy measure by Nevada’s two senators, Seymour may be able to postpone action on the water bill.

But Seymour’s delaying tactics could meet resistance from fellow western Republican senators who support pet projects for their states that are included in the bill. Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah), for instance, wants the Central Utah Project to pass this year before he retires.