Feds Would Forgive Westland’s
$330 Million Debt

California—A U.S. Department of the Interior lawyer defended a settlement agreement this week that would relieve the Westlands Water District of $330 millionin debt that it owes the federal government and grant it a permanent water contract. The settlement deals with a 1960 federal agreement which extends fromthe Central Valley Projectto the San Joaquin Valley. The federal government built the region’s irrigation canals, but the arid land there is overloaded with a lethal mineral, selenium, which also destroys crops.

The government was supposed to construct drainage facilities to move toxic irrigation runoff into the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, but the venture was thwarted by protests from local communities. Contaminated waterpooled in the irrigated farmlands, “killed thousands of birds and led to gruesome deformities among chicks, an environmental catastrophe that shocked the nation. ”Recently, Westlands Water District sued the government for breach of the agreement to build the drainage. To settle the case, the parties have proposed forgiving Westlands of its $330 million still owed to taxpayers for its share of the CVP construction costs, and absolving the government of the requirement to build the Drainage.

In addition to debt relief, Westlands would take on the responsibility for the drainage and receive a permanent water contract. Westlands would retire “selenium-polluted land in the amount of 100,000 acres of farmland, most of which however is already retired.The agreement requires Congressional approval, and a bill to do sohas been introduced by Congressman Valadao (R-CA) as H.R. 4366 and a companion bill introduced by Congressman Costa (D-CA) as H.R. 5217. Both bills were consideredin a hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans on 24 May. Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA) blasted the deal and has launched a Congressional investigation into the agreement. In a press release, he said, “The Westlands Water District plays by its own rules, and trusting them with an agreement of this magnitude should give every member of Congress serious pause. .

[They] shouldn’t lightly be given a waiver of nearly $400 million owed to the U.S. Treasury, much less given a permanent water contract or carte blanche to manage the toxic discharge that could drain to the San Joaquin River and the Bay-Delta ecosystem. We need to know that the Westlands Water District didn’t get a sweetheart deal, and that the federal government is working to protect Americans’ financial and environmental interests.”