House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is siding with Sen. Barbara Boxer in a dispute with her California counterpart, fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein, over a provision in a water projects bill that would restore water to drought-stricken Joaquin Valley.
Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, said she opposes a Feinstein-backed provision that would allow water to flow into the valley, which has been water-starved in part because of EPA regulations protecting the Delta smelt, an endangered fish.
“I’ll oppose that provision,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday.
Pelosi said she opposes the language along with Boxer, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee and is retiring. “I have concerns that it undermines the endangered species act,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi said she has “respect for Sen. Feinstein and the time she put in it,” but also said Boxer’s opposition should have been respected because of her position on the environmental panel, which authored the water legislation.
“It’s her bill, it’s her position,” Pelosi said. “And she’s leaving Congress.”
The dispute over the provision caused a rare feud between Boxer and Feinstein, who are longtime Democratic colleagues.
Boxer help a press conference opposing the provision earlier this week. Feinstein said she backs the provision because it takes action to combat years of drought, which has hurt the farming community and the economy.
“Action is long overdue,” Feinstein said this week. “California is entering its sixth year of drought. Experts state it will take four or more years to recover. We are seeing water wells in the thousands running dry. At the same time, smelt populations have plummeted to historic lows and salmon populations are struggling.”
