Laura Harnish is the California Regional Director.
The west side of the San Joaquin Valley suffers from two problems: soils that contain high levels of naturally occurring selenium and agricultural land that lacks proper drainage. This deadly combination led to a disaster in the 1980’s in which thousands of birds were poisoned by exposure to toxic levels of selenium in drainage water that had pooled at the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge.

EDF has long participated in efforts to find an environmentally sound and cost-effective solution to this drainage problem but it’s clear that the latest proposal by water contractors to assume the federal government's legal responsibilities comes with far too many strings attached. Read more »

Spreck Rosekrans is an Economic Analyst at EDF.

Monday's Fresno Bee reported that Westlands Water District has asked that its proposed "drainage settlement" be tied to legislation to restore the San Joaquin River. Senator Feinstein said the two plans should be evaluated separately. She is right. The two problems – zero releases from Friant Dam to the San Joaquin River and contaminated drainage from farms in Westlands - are related but each can and should be solved separately.

Everyone who remembers the grotesque images of deformed ducks at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge, caused by agriculturally-exacerbated selenium poisoning, agrees that the drainage must be cleaned up. The courts have ruled that the federal government (i.e. you, the taxpayer) bears responsibility for the multi-billion dollar price tag.

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