WASHINGTON -- The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would become a national heritage area and receive federal funding and planning oversight under a controversial provision slipped into a massive spending bill that died a sudden death Thursday night.
Introduced by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the proposed Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Heritage Area would have been eligible for up to $10 million over the next 10 years. The five-county area would have gotten a new management plan, though private property owners could opt out.
"The provision directs modest funds to the delta to be used for programs like tourism promotion, economic development and community revitalization," Feinstein's press secretary Tom Mentzer said Thursday.
Some lawmakers remain leery of the national heritage area idea and what it portends for private property and water rights. The idea will continue to incite debate, even though Senate Democrats on Thursday night abruptly withdrew the giant funding bill to which it was attached.
"National heritage areas create another layer of government between water rights owners and the government who controls delivery," Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, declared in a statement.
Mentzer pointedly rebutted Nunes' concerns, stating that "we encourage Mr. Nunes to read the language in the bill." The legislation explicitly states that "nothing ... affects any water rights or contracts."
Independently, the Government Accountability Office concluded several years ago that national heritage areas "do not appear to have directly affected the rights of property owners."
Still, Feinstein's proposal and its seemingly abrupt appearance in a lame-duck Congress revived conservative anxieties that have previously blocked other national heritage area proposals in California.
Nearly a decade ago, Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, proposed assigning national heritage status to much of historic Highway 49 throughout the Sierra Nevada. Opposition from his fellow Republicans killed the plan.
Democratic Rep. Jim Costa of Fresno said Thursday that his position on a delta national heritage area depends on what planning results.
"It's never been clear," he added, how a heritage area plan might align with other delta planning under way, such as the ongoing Bay Delta Conservation Plan.
"If the (new heritage area) plan is fair and balanced, I can support that," Costa said.
On Wednesday, state and federal officials used the Bay Delta Conservation Plan to announce their support for constructing underground tunnels that would divert water around the delta. At an estimated cost of $13 billion, the water diversion plan is far more ambitious than anything anticipated for the proposed delta heritage area.
There are 49 national heritage areas, ranging from New York's Erie Canal to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. The areas receive planning and technical assistance from the National Park Service, but the park service does not manage them.
The long-term funding of national heritage sites is in question. This year, the Obama administration proposed cutting the budget by about half, to $9 million.
Even if the current spending level was retained, the proposed delta heritage area would almost certainly receive far less than the $1 million the bill authorizes annually.
The proposed delta heritage area would have included portions of Sacramento, San Joaquin, Contra Costa, Yolo and Solano counties.
Oversight responsibilities would be assigned to the Delta Protection Commission.
The overall bill collapsed suddenly Thursday night, in part because of Republican discontent over thousands of individual spending earmarks. As an alternative to the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill, some lawmakers prefer an earmark-free bill that simply keeps the government running for several more months.
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