Costa’s record is terrible on water
Responding to Michael Der Manouel Sr.’s letter (April 14) defending Congressman Jim Costa:
Let’s set the record straight on Costa’s record.
As a Valley assemblyman, senator and congressman for three decades, Costa supported Cal-Fed Bay Delta Legislation, reallocating our water to the Bay Area and permanently drying up Valley farmland.
Costa sponsored the 2009 San Joaquin River Restoration Act that’s flushing Friant Dam water to the ocean, causing more Valley farmland and jobs to dry up!
Under the original Central Valley Project, landowners in the Valley were offered contracted water deliveries in exchange for putting their land up as collateral to build CVP dams and water delivery systems. Valley landowners still pay while their water is dumped in the ocean. If the CVP Improvement Act and Costa’s river restoration act are not amended, our Valley water will continue to be flushed to the ocean.
Costa has failed to convince California’s Democratic U.S. senators, Dianne Feinstein or Barbara Boxer, to amend CVPIA legislation that changed the original purpose of the CVP water projects.
Costa is a Bay Area sympathizer who facilitated Feinstein and Boxer in diverting our water and jobs to the Bay Area.
John Rankin, Orange Cove
This story was originally published April 22, 2016 at 8:14 AM with the headline "Costa’s record is terrible on water."