The federal government could gain control over how California uses it water resources under H.R. 23, the Gaining Responsibility on Water (GROW) Act, which was passed by the House today. The bill, sponsored by California representative David Valadao, would bring more water to the Central Valley for agriculture, but would impede the Endangered Species Act and preempt California’s water laws in doing so. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) said in an interview, the GROW Act “does not strike the right balance because there’s no reason that we have to accept a false choice and somehow weaken the Endangered Species Act in order to be smarter with water policy.”
California Trout is reaching out to our representatives urging them to oppose the bill, along with our partners, Golden Gate Salmon Association, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, and the American Sportfishing Association. We cannot allow regulations to weaken or eliminate protection for California’s rivers, salmon fishery, and the Bay-Delta estuary.
On behalf of all of us at CalTrout, our Executive Director, Curtis Knight, has issued the following letter to our reps. We encourage you to reach out to your Senators as well to ask that they vote no on H.R. 23. (Click here to find your representative’s phone numbers. For individuals, calling their offices is the most efficient way to get your voice heard. Write a short script to help you out, use language from our letter if that’s helpful.)
[gview file=”https://caltrout.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Opposition-letter-H.R.-23-CalTrout.pdf”]
