Deal on Delta suit goes to Congress

The nation's largest irrigation district would take partial ownership of an important dam, canals and pumping plants in exchange for giving up claims to water and relieving the federal government of its obligation to drain tainted water from the western San Joaquin Valley under a proposal presented to members of Congress on Thursday.

It is the latest attempt to settle a decades-long conundrum of how to dispose of selenium-tainted farm runoff that was once destined to be dumped in the Delta near Antioch. The broad outline of the lawsuit settlement has not been endorsed by any federal agency and requires approval of Congress, where key members on Thursday sounded guarded about its implications.

"We need to learn much more about this proposed settlement," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in an e-mail. "Whether this settlement is just or not, I simply cannot answer at this time."

from the Contra Costa Times