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. 0015o'h) WESTERN STATES WATER , .....--,:, TIlE WEEKLY NEWSLETIER OF TIlE WES1ERN STATES WATER C'6 '.. ENVlRONMENTIWATER auAUTY Regulatllly Takings Economic issues have come to the forefront in Congressional debates on reauthorization of the Clean Water Act (CWA), Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and other environmental laws. One issue relates to compensation for the taking of property rights by government regulation. The U.S. Constitution prevents such takings without just compensation, although some diminishment of property values resulting from the exercise of federal powers has long been accepted by most of the regulated community. Recently, however, advocates of property rights protection have asserted the need to amend federal laws to enhance the protection of property interests. Such amendments are being considered in Congress. . Responding to the swell of support for protecting property rights, House Public Works and Transportation Committee Chair, Norman Mineta (D- CA), recently sent a letter to committee members pointing out that some groups are "advocating radical new views" to protect property interests that "would distort the true meaning of traditional property rights by requiring financial compensation to property owners far more frequently than the Constitution demands." Mineta concluded, "The idea that government has committed a taking and must pay compensation whenever it reduces the value of property in order to protect the public interest from damaging or dangerous activity is a potentially crippling assault on our society's values and in our ability to serve the public interest." A similar letter was sent by six democratic House members to all of their colleagues pointing out that compensation advocates have put forth "seductive arguments in favor of . co,:"pensatiol1 for. regulatory takings" . and urging . opposition tei"eff9rts to gutregulations in the name of private property rights. ". .' On the Senate side; Environment and Public Works Committee Chair, Max Baucus (D-M'i), and ranking minority member, John Chaffee (R-RI), have written the White House urging President Clinton to !;ign an executive order overturning an order signed byfoJTller President Reagan whicl1; they assert, interprets more broadly the "potential for takings of private property than any reasonable construction of the [Constitution]." In urging a reversal Of previous policy in response to current interest in the subject, the senators claim that property rights advocates have "come tei view protection of private property rights and governmental regulation, particularly for environmental protection, as mutually exclusive goals." Failure of Senate and House leadership to quell the intention of some members of Congress to add property- protecting amendments to various bills could slow CWA and SDWA reauthorization efforts. ENVlRONMENTIWATERRESOURCES Endangered Species Act/Columbia River The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has released its 1994 biologiclill opinion concerning operation of the Snake and COlumbia River systems. It calls for the dedication of 10.85M acre-feet of water in 1994, increasing to 11.5M acre-feet in 1998, to help speed juvenile salmon out-migration. This is about half of the federal storage in both systems. In 1993, 427,000 acre.feet of water was required from the Snake River system for the "salmon flush," and the biological opinion requires at least 527,000 acre-feet in 1994. The Bureau of Reclamation is to develop a