EDF Praises California Legislature's Passage of Historic Water Legislation

Group calls legislative package 'breakthrough' victory for ecosystem
protection

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Environmental Defense
Fund (EDF) praised the California Legislature for passing historic water
legislation in both the Senate and Assembly today. It will now be sent to
Governor Schwarzenegger to sign into law.

"This is a major breakthrough that sets a new framework for providing both
water supply reliability and protecting our fragile ecosystems," said Laura
Harnish, Regional Director of Environmental Defense Fund. "It puts California
on course for a smarter water future."

"Future generations will look back at this legislation as the first big step
on the path to a sustainable water future for California," said Cynthia
Koehler, EDF's senior consulting attorney, who helped to negotiate the
environmental safeguards in the legislation. "It is the most progressive
package of state water policy reform in the last three decades."

"This package is only the beginning of moving toward a secure water future for
the state," said Elgie Holstein, vice-president of EDF's Land, Water and
Wildlife programs and a former associate director of Office of Management and
Budget for Natural Resources, Energy and Science. "It sets an important
standard for other states and the nation, by establishing that protecting and
restoring the largest estuary on the West Coast - the irreplaceable
Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta ecosystem -- is a goal on par with providing
a reliable water supply."

The Environmental Defense Fund worked for more than a year to establish
several key environmental safeguards in the legislation. They include new
requirements to:

1) Help ensure that sufficient water flows for fish and other wildlife are
left in the ecosystem;
2) Reduce reliance on exports of fresh water from the Delta;
3) Require much greater water conservation; and
4) Develop good science on the state of California's underground water
reserves.

Disputes over water supply and environmental protections have been at the
forefront of vigorous and sometimes emotional debate in California. Drought,
economic hardship in farming communities, extended salmon fishery closures and
signs of imminent ecological collapse all combined to help convince the
California Legislature that it had to act to protect water supply for future
generations.

"No one got everything they wanted, but for the sake of our state's
environmental and economic future, we all felt that we had an obligation to
come together and keep working until we could reach an agreement," concluded
Koehler. "That's what we have done."

Environmental Defense, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents
more than 700,000 supporters. Since 1967, Environmental Defense has linked
science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create
breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems.
www.environmentaldefense.orgblogs.edf.org/waterfront/

Contacts:
Laura Harnish, EDF California Regional Director, lharnish@edf.org (510)
290-5794
Cynthia Koehler, EDF senior consulting attorney, ckoehler@edf.org (415)
515-0511
Jennifer Witherspoon, EDF California communications director,
jwitherspoon@edf.org (415) 378-1985 (c)

SOURCE Environmental Defense Fund

Laura Harnish, EDF California Regional Director, +1-510-290-5794,
lharnish@edf.org, Cynthia Koehler, EDF senior consulting attorney,
+1-415-515-0511, ckoehler@edf.org, Jennifer Witherspoon, EDF California
communications director, (415) 378-1985 (c), jwitherspoon@edf.org