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AP via the Fresno BeeThe chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee said Thursday he was concerned about the role two former Bush administration officials may have played in negotiating deals for the Central Valley water district where they now work.
Jason Peltier left his job as a top water policy adviser at the Interior Department on Friday to take a management post at the Westlands Water District, a coalition of giant agribusinesses that is the department's biggest water customer.
Westlands is currently discussing a settlement with the government that would give farmers a stake in a massive reservoir, millions of dollars in pumps and pipes and permanent water rights in exchange for cleaning up cropland tainted by toxic runoff in a botched federal project.
The department must ensure that those negotiations and other water discussions with the Westlands district aren't affected by Peltier switching sides, Committee Chairman Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said in a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.
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