Peripheral Tunnels Opponents to Protest at Vote:

Delta Plan Fails to Comply with the Law;

Protects an Unsustainable Status Quo

Sacramento, CA – Opponents of Gov. Jerry Brown’s rush to build Peripheral Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom salmon and other Pacific fisheries announced today they would protest at the Delta Stewardship Council’s vote to adopt a flawed plan on Thursday, May 16^{th at 9:00am.}

“The Delta Plan fails to comply with the law. BDCP is simply a scheme to perpetuate an unsustainable status quo that enriches a few powerful water brokers at the expense of reliable water supplies and healthy fisheries. It is a classic shell game to benefit special interests and, if implemented, would represent a death sentence for one of the world’s great estuaries,” said Bill Jennings, executive director, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.

Who:  Bill Jennings, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance;Restore the Delta Exec. Dir. Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla; Nick Di Croce, Environmental Water Caucus; Wendy Buckley-Stokes, Restore the Delta President, Stokes Family Farms; Kathy Miller, Delta Coalition, Stockton City Council; Dozens of Picketers and protesters

When: 9:00am, Thursday, May 16, 2013

Where: In the Courtyard Area at Ramada Inn & Suites, 1250 Halyard Drive, West Sacramento, 95691

In case you missed it…

The Sacramento Bee

Editorial: If BDCP were science-based, Delta flows would be a priority

By the Editorial Board

Originally Published Sunday, May. 12, 2013

For more than a decade, the big farm and urban districts that have grown dependent on water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have tried to discredit scientific findings that greater Delta flows are needed to recover endangered species.

…

Asked which stressors were most important in the degradation of the Delta ecosystem, 78 percent of scientists included flows in their top-two list, with 77 percent including habitat restoration. By contrast, water exporters ranked flows the least important, putting a high value on improving habitat and reducing discharges and invasive species, according to the report “Scientist and Stakeholder Views on the Delta Ecosystem.”

…

This editorial board has called on Gov. Jerry Brown not to approve any tunnel or other “conveyance” project for the Delta until there is a clear understanding among all parties on how much water would be available for the ecosystem, and how much is leftover for water exports. He and his aides want to study that question while the tunnels are built. That is unacceptable. It doesn’t mesh with sound science. It won’t pass legal muster, and if it is put to a statewide vote, there is a good chance Californians will reject it.
To read the full editorial, click here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/12/5411951/if-bdcp-were-science-based-delta.html#storylink=cpy

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla to Oppose Peripheral Tunnels at Senate Water Hearing

Why the Governor’s Peripheral Tunnels are the Wrong Answers to Fair Water Policy

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, a 10,000-member grassroots organization committed to making the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta fishable, swimmable, drinkable, and farmable benefiting all of California, will oppose the governor’s plan to build two Peripheral Tunnels on Tuesday, May 14th at the Senate Natural Resources & Water committee.

“We oppose the rush to build a project that would exterminate salmon runs, destroy sustainable family farms and saddle taxpayers with tens of billions in debt, mainly to benefit a small number of huge corporate agribusinesses on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “Governor Brown’s Peripheral Tunnel proposal is fatally flawed. It’s a bad investment. The total cost is unknown; the financing unsecured, and the only certainty is water customers will pay billions and billions in increased rates. There’s a better solution than to drain the Delta, burden taxpayers with tens of billions, and extinguish native salmon to mainly benefit a small number of huge corporate mega-farms that are unsustainable. This plan would increase water rates for Southern Californians, who would not get any increase in water but would subsidize San Joaquin farmers, who would get more water. The taxpayers of the south pay the debt for the water facilities, while much of the water is virtually donated to the agribusiness giants of Kern.”

WHO: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta Executive Director

WHERE: Sen. Natural Resources & Water Committee Hearing; Room 112, State Capitol

WHEN: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 9:30am, Rm. 112, Comm. Hearing

Restore the Delta’s Response to Congressman Jim Costa’s call to restrict the Endangered Species Act

By Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta

“Congressman Jim Costa’s call to restrict the Endangered Species Act gets to the heart of the problem with current management of the Delta, as well as Governor Brown’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan.  Five times more in water rights has been promised to water takers than what exists in the watershed.  Rep. Costa’s solution is to simply further deprive the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of the Americas, the Delta and the San Francisco Bay, of the water it needs to protect salmon, halibut, crab, and anchovy fisheries.   Governor Brown’s plan is to build twin tunnels to send the best water to water takers and to dress the plan up as a conservation plan.  In both instances, we see that our state’s political leaders do not have the courage to deal with the fact that we in California are pushing up against hard limits on our water resources.

“More than 50% of the Delta’s fresh water has been exported for years now, leading to the crisis with Delta fisheries.  Taking more water from the system, through the existing pumps or through Brown’s pipes, will deal the final death blow to the Delta.

“It is clear from his statement that Rep. Costa, like his Central Valley Congressional Colleagues and the Brown administration, has no regard for the water quality and quantity needs to support the 500,000 acres of prime Delta farmland which is farmed by California’s oldest family farms.  Delta farms produce a much wider array of produce to feed Californians than the corporate agribusiness growers on the Westside of the San Joaquin Valley who take 2/3 of the Delta’s fresh water supply each year to grow almonds to ship to China.   Depriving Delta farmers of the flows they need, through unlimited exports at the current pumps or Brown’s tunnels, will lead to the largest transfer of private wealth in the history of California as the corporate farm economy will be propped up at the expense of the Delta family farm economy.

“There is a better solution for California’s water crisis.  Reduce water exports from the Delta to protect Delta and coastal fisheries and farms; fix Delta levees so that the Delta can continue to share a sustainable water yield; fix the existing pumps so that fish populations can be better protected; and, most importantly, invest public dollars in a myriad of local water projects throughout California so that we can make more water to meet our many needs.”

Sacramento, CA – Opponents of Gov. Jerry Brown’s rush to build Peripheral Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom salmon and other Pacific fisheries today noted new criticism of the proposed tunnels for ignoring science and better alternatives.

“Restore the Delta is encouraged that independent experts are coming to see the Peripheral Tunnels as a project that ignores science to fit the BDCP’s outcomes into a pre-existing decision to build the tunnels,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla.

Doug Obegi’s NRDC blog: State’s Refusal to Use Sound Science Continues to Delay the Bay Delta Conservation Plan

“While the water contractors and the State of California may want to blame the Feds for the delays in preparing the BDCP, it is the State’s (and the water contractors’) refusal to utilize sound science in the BDCP that continues to delay and bedevil this process. We’ve wasted years in this process – and lots of money – because the state and contractors refuse to incorporate sound science into BDCP.” (emphasis added)

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dobegi/states_refusal_to_use_sound_sc.html

Dr. Jeffrey Michaels’s April 30^th Valley Economy blog

New PPIC Survey Makes A Strong Case for a No-Tunnel BDCP Alternative

The latest PPIC Delta report includes the results of an interesting survey of scientists and stakeholders on options to improve the Delta ecosystem.  ??Looking at the key table of findings (table 2, page 14), the tunnels are down in the bottom right of the PPIC table, low potential impact for fish, low scientific consensus, and high cost.  It is the worse possible outcome in this ranking (upper left quadrant is best, lower right is worst).  Nevertheless, the PPIC calls the BDCP “promising” even though it is completely focused on the lowest ranking, most controversial option, and unnecessarily ties many of the more valuable, less costly, and less controversial habitat measures into a package with the tunnels.

http://valleyecon.blogspot.com/2013/04/new-ppic-survey-makes-strong-case-for.html

Restore the Delta Responds to Peripheral Tunnels Update

Restore the Delta responded to today’s statements by Brown Administration officials at a legislative informational hearing regarding the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), the administration’s peripheral tunnels plan.

Delta exports vs. Regional self-sufficiency: “DWR head Mark Cowin has it wrong.  If we invest in regional water projects throughout the state, as we reduce water taken from the Delta, Southern California will gain greater self-sufficiency – which will keep them safer from catastrophic events.”

“The BDCP would use up all money available for investments in wise water management strategies, and thus interfere with moving California forward to more sustainable water resource practices.”

Who will pay, who will benefit? “The continued refusal to perform a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis means the water ratepayers are being set up to pay for Westlands’ Water District’s unsustainable schemes.”

“DWR Director Mark Cowin told the committees that a $14 billion investment that doesn’t create new water is a ‘hard argument to make to your neighbor.’ We agree, especially since two-thirds of the water would go to the mega-growers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.”

New pumps don’t solve reverse flows:  “New pumps will not eliminate reverse flows in the South Delta.  At best reverse flows could be reduced.  The potential exists, but depends on establishing and enforcing standards regarding reverse flows and positive outflow at Jersey Point on the San Joaquin River,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parilla, executive director of Restore the Delta.  “To date, enforceable standards have not been put into place.”

Habitat won’t restore Delta without reducing water exports: “Prior attempts to create habitat in the Delta have been unsuccessful because plants and animals respond in unpredictable ways to habitat that humans try to engineer.  Habitat creation is a huge, costly experiment that gives no assurance of actually restoring the Delta ecosystem.  About half the projects created under CalFed have not been successful due to lack of fresh water flows. No ecosystem restoration strategy can compensate for the loss of half to two-thirds of the flows of fresh water through the Delta.  Fish need water.  Taking more water out of the system cannot possibly help them.”

Fish screens: “Why are there noimproved fish screens in the South Delta, which have been promised for decades, as that is where 25% of water would be exported? The Brown Administration proposes to install experimental fish screens in the North Delta, and despite their utter failure in the South Delta, we are supposed to be confident these new, as-yet-undesigned North Delta screens will miraculously work.”

“Restore the Delta agrees with U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui, who told the committees that  ‘Under the BDCP, the water contractors hold all the cards.’  Representative Matsui has it right; the joint powers authority made up of Delta water exporters is alarming.”

In case you missed it…

The Los Angeles Times

Congressional Democrats demand resignation of Brown appointee

By Anthony York, April 25, 2013

SACRAMENTO — Five Congressional Democrats have demanded the resignation of a top official in Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration for comments the official allegedly made about the future of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The controversy surrounds Jerry Meral, deputy director of the state Natural Resources Agency, who allegedly told officials that Brown’s water plan was never about saving the delta and that in fact the delta could not be saved.

To view the full article, click here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/political/la-me-pc-jerry-brown-water-jerry-meral-delta-water-plan-resignation-20130425,0,2429643,print.story

Has Brown Administration Cancelled Cost-Benefit Analysis of Peripheral Tunnels?

No Cost-Benefit Analysis of No-Tunnels Alternative;

Hiding the Cost so Taxpayers Won’t Know What They’ll Pay, What They’ll Get in Return

SACRAMENTO, CA – Restore the Delta (RTD), a coalition opposed to the Brown Administration’s rush to construct massive Peripheral Tunnels to take millions of acre-feet of water from the Delta, today said the Brown Administration appears to have canceled a comprehensive benefit-cost analysis of its BDCP proposal for Peripheral Tunnels to export Sacramento -San Joaquin/San Francisco Bay-Delta water, mainly to benefit unsustainable mega-farms on the west side of the Central Valley.  The decision to hide the total costs from public scrutiny once again reveals how the Brown Administration is continuing to doctor up the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, a fatally flawed plan, in order to sell it as something that it’s not to Californians.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta said, “In refusing to conduct a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the Peripheral Tunnels, the Brown Administration is not following the guidelines established by its own agencies. In its rush to build a project that would exterminate salmon runs, destroy sustainable family farms and saddle taxpayers with tens of billions in debt, mainly to benefit a small number of huge corporate agribusinesses on the west side of the Central Valley, the Administration has yet to complete a valid cost-benefit analysis of its Tunnels and seriously examine a no-tunnels solution. It’s little wonder the Brown Administration is backing away from a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis. The only one done to date showed the costs were $7 billion short of the costs.”

Univ. of the Pacific economist Dr. Jeffrey Michael noticed the change and reported it on his blog. The Administration had contracted with the Brattle Group to perform a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the BDCP.  The Brown Administration is rigging analysis of the proposal by refusing to include a no-tunnels alternative, and excluding some costs that would fall on water ratepayers. Now, they have backed away from a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis and plan to dump partial and incomplete studies on the public. How many water ratepayers will examine 6 partial studies and synthesize their results into a full picture of who pays how much and who benefits how much? They are counting on no one doing that analysis – one that is their duty and obligation to conduct.

“This project will cost billions upon billions of dollars to give ever-increasing amounts of taxpayer and ratepayer subsidized water to corporate agriculture and real estate developers to make millions upon millions in profits. California will not go dry without these tunnels. There are no guarantees that southern California residents will even receive more water,” said Barrigan-Parrilla.

Barrigan-Parrilla said the Brown Administration doesn’t want the true cost of the project known, “The ‘tunnels’ represent more than simply a transfer of good quality water around the Delta. They also represent the largest transfer of private wealth in our history.”

The common people will pay for the tunnels and a few people will make millions. It will turn a Delta waterway, already in crisis, into a sewer pipe. It will be bad for the fish, the ocean and the people of California.

BDCP is still not considering any alternatives for meeting the coequal goals except the peripheral tunnels, although there are several that could be evaluated.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have released new “red flag” documents in response to the administrative draft of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). These documents identify issues with BDCP that would make the fisheries agencies unwilling to issue the necessary “take” permits for a habitat conservation plan under the Endangered Species Act.

For example, the NMFS response identifies a potential for increased salmon egg morality upstream resulting from release operations at Keswisk Reservoir at Shasta required by BDCP. Juvenile salmon in the Sacramento River would also be at risk under some scenarios.

The likely extinction of winter and spring run Chinook salmon is an inevitable consequence of shifting water exports to the Spring months, which is what BDCP wants to do. Reducing flows in the upper Sacramento River in Summer and Fall of dry years creates problems that are not going to go away.

As for habitat in the Delta offsetting the loss of fresh water for fish, the USFWS called the prospects for fish such as Delta smelt and longfin smelt “uncertain.”

Since the point of a habitat conservation plan is to make things better for threatened species, not worse, you’d think a problem like this would be a game-changer. And it would, if the game weren’t rigged. It would be just like BDCP planners to tweak the models to eliminate or disguise the obvious problems that keep arising when they look for ways to get lots of export water without harming fish.

While speaking with a representative from the California Water Impact Network at a recent meeting with Northern California’s Native American Tribes, Jerry Meral said, “BDCP is not about, and has never been about saving the Delta. The Delta cannot be saved.”

Now if Governor Brown and State officials would just stop pretending it’s a habitat plan to save fish when speaking with the press.