Countywide : Seymour Predicts Sespe Creek Accord

Republican Sen. John Seymour predicted Friday that Congress will pass a bill this year to protect most of the Sespe Creek from future dams even though it may not be in the partisan interests of Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston.

The two California senators are negotiating protections for Sespe Creek. But some Democratic strategists have suggested that Cranston may not want to push the bill through Congress, thereby robbing Seymour of any accomplishments that could help him in his election this year.

“He doesn’t want to help me get elected for sure,” Seymour said. “But I think he has a stronger motivation: It is his last year and he would like to leave with two more accomplishments on the environment.”

Seymour was referring to Cranston’s longtime interest in pushing through his bill to protect vast stretches of California’s desert and separate legislation to preserve sections of the Los Padres National Forest as a wilderness area.

Last fall, the House passed a bill to protect 31 1/2 miles of the 55-mile Sespe Creek, but itwould leave two proposed dam sites open for development. An additional 10 1/2 miles of the creekwould be temporarily set aside for further study.

The legislation also designated nearly 400,000 acres of national forest as wilderness areas, including the 220,500-acre Sespe Wilderness in the rugged backcountry of Ventura County.

Seymour and Cranston have co-sponsored legislation in the Senate, but have yet to agree on how much of the Sespe Creek should be protected from future damming.

Cranston sides with environmentalists who want all 55 miles to be protected as a “wild and scenic” river. Seymour has yet to specify how much of the creek he wants to set aside for permanent preservation.

On Friday, Seymour said that Senate Republican leaders have created another problem by insisting on changing the bill’s section concerning state and federal rights to water in the wilderness areas.

Cranston is opposed to altering the section on water rights, said Alasdair Coyne, conservation director of Keep the Sespe Wild. And, Seymour said he told his Republican colleagues he would not go along with their proposed changes.

“These are not big issues,” Seymour said. “I’m optimistic that we will make it this year.”