For Immediate Release/ Danny Weiss-202-225-2095

Miller: Congressional Hearing on Bay-Delta Crisis July 2

**Click here to watch video of the Congressional Hearing**

WASHINGTON -- A congressional panel will travel to California next month to investigate the causes of the Bay-Delta ecosystem collapse, Congressman George Miller (D-Martinez) announced Monday. Miller and several of his Bay Area colleagues requested the hearing.

The hearing will focus on the disappearing native fish populations of the Bay-Delta and the responsibility of federal agencies to prevent species extinction and properly manage California's water for homes, businesses, and farms. The hearing will be conducted by the House Natural Resources Committee’s Water and Power Subcommittee, led by Chairwoman Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk). It will be held in Vallejo on July 2.

“We have an emergency on our hands,” said Miller, a long-time champion of Bay-Delta fish and wildlife issues and Congress’ leading expert on California water issues. “California’s economy and its environment need a water policy that is not predicated on sacrificing the Delta. Right now state and federal agencies are lurching from crisis to crisis and failing to adapt to old problems and new challenges alike. This hearing will be an important step in establishing a more sustainable course before the whole system is taken over by the courts, to the detriment of both our economy and our environment."

California’s two main fresh water systems, one operated by state Department of Water Resources and the other the federal Bureau of Reclamation, supply water to homes, farms, and commercial and industrial entities throughout California. They were both temporarily shut down recently in response to the Delta fisheries’ collapse and court rulings that federal and state agencies have violated endangered species law. The recent court actions, coupled with new scientific reports, have drawn increased attention to the decline of the native fish populations of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, especially the threatened delta smelt, which scientists say is in increasing peril. The pumps have since restarted at lower levels than usual and with no certainty as to how long they will remain on.

On June 8, Miller led a congressional request for the hearing. Miller was joined by five other Bay-Delta area Members of Congress – Reps. Tauscher, Honda, Thompson, Woolsey, and Lantos – asking that the subcommittee examine the science of the failing estuary and determine how the federal and state agencies are responding to the crisis.

What:	House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power Hearing on "Extinction is not a Sustainable Water Policy: The Bay-Delta crisis and the implications for California water management"
When:	Monday, July 2, 2007 9:00 a.m., PST
Where:	Vallejo City Council Chambers 555 Santa Clara Street Vallejo, California 94590