Professor Frank Testifies Before U.S. Senate Committee on Proposed Drought Legislation

On October 8, Professor of Environmental Practice Rick Frank testified before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in Washington, D.C.  He did so in response to an invitation from Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and ranking Democratic Committee member Martha Cantwell (D-Washington). 

The subject of Professor Frank's testimony and the Committee's hearing was two competing bills designed to provide "federal drought relief" to California--H.R. 2898 (Valadeo) and S. 1894 (Feinstein/Boxer).  The focus of the Valadeo bill is to make more water available to agricultural users in California's Central Valley by amending various federal environmental laws and otherwise shifting finite water supplies from environmental purposes to agricultural purposes.  The Senate bill, by contrast, focuses on a more broad-based strategy of making more water supplies available through increased surface and groundwater storage facilities, conservation measures, storm water capture, and related options.  Professor Frank testified that the more comprehensive approach embodied in S. 1894 holds more promise than the narrower focus of H.R. 2898. 

The full text of Professor Frank's testimony may be viewed on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee website and on the King Hall Faculty Blog.

Frank, a 1974 graduate of King Hall, is a leader in the field of environmental law and the founding Director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis School of Law.

U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee website

Faculty Blog entry

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