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<br />In drafting S. 2659 and in subsequent negotiations, I attempted to ensure that the bill would not
<br />interfere with legitimate, unobjectionable farming and business practices, such as the sharing of
<br />equipment, execution of production contracts, farm management agreements, co-ops, trusts,
<br />partnerships, corporations, and so on, but would, at the same time, make sure that large fanners and
<br />operators, however they may organize themselves, receive subsidized water on no more than 960 acres.
<br />Above that limit, water should generally be available, but at the cost incuned by the taxpayer to deliver
<br />it.
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<br />Senator McClure and I reached agreement in the final days of the last Congress on a reasonable
<br />measure to achieve those ends. We have waited for some time for tbe Administration to produce its own
<br />recommendations for reform. I had looked forward to the Administration's best advice, and still hope to
<br />receive it. Nevertheless, I do not think that it is in the public interest to wait much longer. The Energy
<br />Committee needs to act soon on the entire slate of water project legislation as well as Reclamation
<br />reform, and I intend to bring those matters before the Committee in the near future.
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<br />You may be sure that I will continue to work to end the flow of subsidized water to the large
<br />farms and operations which have no fair claim to the taxpayer's help, while also continuing to work to
<br />clear the path for the Bureau of Reclamation to survive and grow in order to deliver the services that the
<br />western ponion of our Nation will require through the coming decades.
<br />
<br />As you consider the importance of protecting the Reclamation program from charges of abuse, I
<br />urge you to consider what kind of political environment the program is going to have to survive in over
<br />the coming years.
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<br />I think that most of you are familiar with the demographic information which reveals the degree
<br />to which the West is now the most urbanized region in the Nation. The 17 western States which host
<br />the reclamation program are home to about 76 million people, about 60 million of whom, or 80 percent,
<br />live in metropolitan areas. In California, the percentage is over 95. 81 percent of the residents o[
<br />Washington, Colorado, and Texas live in metropolitan areas. Overall, the West's cities grew at almost
<br />twice the national rate during the 1980's. To use Oregon as an example, between 1980 and 1987,
<br />Oregon's urban population grew at almost four times the pace of its rural population.
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<br />The cities' rise is matched by striking declines on the farm and in rural areas. A century ago,
<br />almost half of the U.S. population lived on farms. As recently as 1950, about 15 percent lived on farms.
<br />By 1988, only two percent of the total U.S. population and less than 10 percent of the entire rural
<br />population resided on farms. Farming is the third fastest declining job category in the Nation's labor
<br />force, just ahead of stenographers. Between 1979 and 1985, the number of jobs in rural areas grew by
<br />only 3 percent, while the number of jobs in urban areas grew by 10 percent. Rural areas have been
<br />losing population [or years. In fact, between 1982 and 1987, net outmigration [rom rural areas to urban
<br />areas totaled almost 2 million people, with the majority of those leaving being [he youngest and best-
<br />educated.
<br />
<br />Just as the population of the West is concentrated in its cities, western population has also
<br />gravitated to California. giving that State enormous national political power, and even greater power on
<br />western issues. Let's count heads in Congress. After the 1990 census, one Congressman in eight will be
<br />[rom California. The seventeen States which host the reclamation program will have a total of 129 seats
<br />in the House of Representatives. California will have 52 o[ those. Texas has another 27. Subtract
<br />California and Texas from the (Otal and you're left with just 50 seats distributed among the 15 other
<br />reclamation States. I'll spell it out: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
<br />Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming together --
<br />15 States -- will have fewer representatives than will California all by itself.
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