Luz Rivas Presses Interior Secretary Doug Burgum On Funding Cuts To Drought Resilience Infrastructure Program

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During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing last week, Rep. Luz Rivas (D-CA) spoke about cuts to water recycling and drought resilience programs under the Trump administration.

Transcript

00:00The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California Ms. Rivas you're

00:03recognized for five minutes. Thank you Mr. Chair for recognizing me. My district is

00:09in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California. That region continues to face

00:15persistent drought a growing population and increasing water demands straining

00:22already dwindling water supplies. I'm giving given these challenges Southern

00:28California has been a leader in advancing water recycling and reuse projects many

00:34of which have been made possible through the Bureau of Reclamation's water smart

00:39program. Despite water smarts success this administration is seeking to zero out

00:46this funding. Can you explain the decision process that goes along with ending this

00:52program specifically a successful federal program that has a proven track record

00:58and invest in communities and supports drought resilient infrastructure.

01:04First of all representative I want to you know thank you and those in your

01:09district for working on this important issue of water recycling and water

01:12conservation. It's a since the inception of the Bureau of Reclamation it was you

01:18know really was what allowed I mean the vision of Theodore Roosevelt really opened

01:23up agriculture in California and Arizona and appreciate your advocacy for the Bureau of

01:29Rec. As we looked across trying to reduce budgets across the thing one of the things

01:38that we looked at was grant programs and we and when you're trying to make the kind

01:42of reductions we are against the tremendous budget deficit we have sometimes even programs

01:48that are solid programs end up on the list. So it's nothing in particular about this program.

01:55We it's just a trying to find a way to make sure that we do our part overall to help reduce

02:02the size of the deficit of the federal budget. But you know as you know the water and issues

02:09especially in in Southern California are something we're always struggling with and this program

02:16has proven to be successful in terms of building that infrastructure that we need is in that area

02:23with growing population you know I we need you know the the entities there really rely on this

02:31federal funding to build that infrastructure and so so it's just going to be zeroed out well it's the

02:41proposal that's in it right now but again I think we have to look for combinations at this you know the

02:46state the private sector and look for collaboration to try to come up with these solutions we when

02:52we have you know industries and entities and companies that come completely dependent on federal federal subsidies or

03:00federal programs it's probably worth a look but I I think that we need to just keep collaborating

03:06to see if we can find find solutions as has been brought up by others here today obviously with

03:11the the water issues across the Colorado extending into California there's some big issues that need to

03:19resolve there's going to be a lot of consultation there's going to be a lot of meetings or required by

03:23a lot I have a resolution by 2026 so we look forward to working with you as we work through that

03:29next 20 year Colorado River Compact okay Mr. Secretary yes or no do you believe that extreme weather

03:37including drought is real yes I mean yeah I mean yes I believe weather is real well thank you so

03:47yes or no will you commit to making sure that communities across the country especially black brown poor

03:54and indigenous communities have the resources that they need to address the effects of extreme

03:59weather and climate change I I support that we work to protect all communities but is the one of the

04:08things that I'm particularly sensitive to and as we've seen in around the country and in California the

04:14the the urban wild land interface as urban cities encroach into you know public lands forest service land

04:24California state lands and then working with the power companies I mean when we when we interject

04:29people into unmanaged forests and then throw a lot of power lines in there and then have high wind

04:34incidents you know we're just we're asking for challenges we haven't we've had a 30 percent growth

04:40in the last 20 years of urban areas growing into this wildland urban interface and I think sometimes we

04:47want to we jump to blaming or saying pointing to climate change when in fact it's actually human activity that

04:53changed and and human occupation of areas and then human decisions like power lines that are actually

04:59contributing to this fire danger definitely those are many of the challenge and that's why we're asking

05:03for your support in communities like this I wanted to focus my remaining time on on the topic of permitting

05:11but since I'm running out of time I will be submitting those questions and expect a response from the

05:17the department thank you and I yield back

05:23you

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