Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham told the Fresno Bee the negotiations indeed were confidential and completely private. But the existence of the talks was no secret, he said.
Westlands has regularly briefed the federal court about the talks, Birmingham said, adding that environmental groups and others last year were told of the six-page “principles of agreement”from the negotiations.
The finished version of the agreement should become public in the next couple of months, he said. Then Congress will review it and decide how to proceed. The process is no surprise to anyone who has followed it, Birmingham said.
“It’s incomprehensible to characterize this negotiation as a secret,” he said. “We’ve been talking about a drainage settlement for the last two and a half years.”
http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/01/13/4328414_environmentalists-incensed-about.html?sp=/99/406/&rh=1