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United States of America Congressional Record PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 100th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 134 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1988 No. 50 NEVADA'S WATER RESOURCES Mr. HECHT. Mr. President, Nevada is a very dry State, and that is probably why we put such a great store of value in our lakes and wetland resources. Yesterday I spent 4 long hours at the Department of the Interior being briefed on how the Department proposes to deal with some of Nevada's most precious water resources: the water of the Carson and Truckee River basins in northwestern Nevada. The briefing was on the Department's proposed operating criteria and procedures, or OCAP, for the Newlands reclamation project. The OCAP is supposed to provide for the efficient management of water in the irrigation project, in order to make greater amounts of water available for the fishery resources of Pyramid Lake. Now I think it's fair to say that more ink, dollars, and I imagine blood has been spilled over the knotty water resource conflicts in the Carson and Truckee River basins over the last 70 years than over just about any other water resource issue in Nevada's history. My purpose today is not to pass judgment on the Interior Department's proposed OCAP. It is very complicated and will require considerable analysis by all the parties affected. My purpose today is to focus the attention of the Senate on one incredibly significant side effect of the proposed OCAP; namely, the destruction of the Lahon-tan Valley wetlands, including Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge. The Department admits that the OCAP will dry up about 18,000 acres of this prime waterfowl habitat, that also supports fishing in my State. When the Department distributed an earlier version of this OCAP last December, some 8,000 acres of vitally important Pacific Flyway wetland habitat appeared to be at risk. Although this overall OCAP proposal is clearly superior in a number of ways, the wetlands get the short end of the stick once again. Interior does realize that it has some responsibility to prevent a National Wildlife Refuge and large State-managed wildlife areas from drying up and blowing away. It is less obvious to me that the Department truly understands that its OCAP is likely to reproduce at Stillwater, in larger and more grotesque fashion, the contaminant catastrophe that has already made the network television news at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in California. In recognition of the wetlands problems, Interior has indicated its intent to seek congressional permission to re-program $1.2 million in appropriated funds to make some physical improvements to the water delivery system at Stillwater. This is commendable, but I think everyone who is familiar with the condition of the wetlands realizes that they are eventually going to need more and cleaner water, and I can't help but wonder whether this $1.2 million might not be better spent in acquiring water rights from willing sellers, pursuant to Nevada State water law, for the benefit of the refuge and the adjacent State-managed wetlands. In the next few days I will be consulting with the leaders of conservation organizations in Nevada, to solicit their views on this subject. At this point, Mr. President, I want to publicly indicate my support for the grassroots efforts being made by the La-hontan Audubon Society, the Nevada Wildlife Federation, the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club, and other conservation groups in Nevada, to raise funds from private sources to buy water rights for this valuable wetland wildlife habitat. Mr. President, it is simply unacceptable in this day and age that the U.S. Government should knowingly and willingly destroy such crucial environmental resources. I have opposed the destruction of the Lahontan Valley wetlands in the past, and I will continue to fight to protect them in the future. Mr. President, I ask that a letter to Interior Secretary Hodel from Mr. Peter Bontadelli, chairman of the Pacific Flyways Council, and a resolution of the council on this issue, both be printed in the Record.