California's thirst for R&D

"It's very possible that the merits of this project are not necessarily the biggest concern in the earmarking process but that reelection to Congress and what looks good in the ... member's home district are the real priority," he says.

Others question the fairness of such appropriations. "Is there a big need in most of the rest of the country – which doesn't have the scarcity that California does – for desalinated water?" asks Scott Frisch, author of "The Politics of Pork: A Study of Congressional Appropriations Earmarks," and professor of political science at California State University Channel Islands. "Is this research that is going to be used by everyone, or is it just going to help Long Beach in their water needs?"

So long as the desalination funds are earmarked, critics say, other projects can't compete for that money. That's why the cost of earmarks exceeds its dollar value. It also involves the opportunity cost of not funding other, worthy projects that didn't have the benefit of member sponsorship.

California lawmakers who support the Long Beach testing insist that checks and balances exist to guard against corruption.

"I cannot fathom why this project was identified as a 'pork project,' " says Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. She says the project has been peer reviewed by the American Water Works Association and others. "The [US] Bureau of Reclamation has been a partner in the project every step of the way. The federal contribution is more than matched by state and local funding. Apparently, some think that because a project is not requested by the administration, it is pork. However, the administration has been consistently underfunding the Bureau of Reclamation's Title XVI water reuse program, so the only solution is for Congress to add funding to the project."

It's appropriate for Congress to earmark funds for specific projects because if it doesn't, the executive branch gets to decide by default, says Chris Minakowski, legislative aide to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R) of California. Such requests, he says, must survive a vetting process several months long, including examination by the appropriations committees and subcommittees.

Earmarks, he adds, are not dreamed up for political purposes in congressional offices, but are based on requests from the home district.

"We don't seek any of this stuff out," Mr. Minakowski says. He rattles off a list of supporters from the California Resources Agency, California Coastal Commission, California Environmental Protection Agency, and others. And he puts the political motivation in a different light.

"Usually an earmark shows how popular an idea is," says Minakowski. "If they thought it was a bad idea, [members of Congress] wouldn't do it because having their name associated with it would be an embarrassment. That is the nature of democracy, rewarding the representative for doing the proper thing or voting them out if they don't."

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