Delta Flows - Weekly Highlights from Restore the Delta
For the Week of June 11, 2007
A Great Disappointment for the Residents of the Delta
Yesterday, Governor Schwarzenegger called for the construction of the peripheral canal to move Sacramento River water around the Delta while in attendance at a town hall meeting in Bakersfield California.
Restore the Delta staff spoke to the Governor at a meeting on Wednesday in Sacramento (along with a dozen representatives from environmental, fishing, and tribal communities) and communicated to him that local Delta stakeholders felt that action needed to be taken on the following three issues for the Delta:
1)An immediate and sustained reduction in water exports.
2)A comprehensive flood strategy plan to protect the 400,000 residents of the Delta, and infrastructure and property within the Delta.
3)Enforcement of laws and policies so that Delta water would meet standards as set in the Clean Water Act.
Unfortunately, while Governor said that he understood the fragile situation within the Delta, the Governor’s response was that the situation had been studied to death and action needed to be taken. His public statement yesterday makes is perfectly clear that he unfortunately has accepted the peripheral canal as the “solution” for the estuary and is not fully acknowledging that even if a canal were built (which we oppose) it wouldn’t negate the need for action regarding these aforementioned critical areas of concern. His public statement was also inaccurate as he was the individual talking about five-year studies - not the coalition who was in communication with him.
What Restore the Delta finds even more disturbing is that the Governor would make such an announcement publicly prior to the completion of investigation and subsequent recommendations of the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task and the Delta Vision Stakeholders Panel. What are we to make of this process that he called for? Is it just a means for giving cover for decisions already made regarding the Delta?
Below, you will find a full article on the Governor’s comment by Dan Bacher, fishing activist, independent journalist, and editor or FishSniffer. While Mr. Bacher’s work reflects the views primarily of the fishing community, Restore the Delta applauds his questioning of the Governor’s claims and Mr. Bacher’s political analysis of the situation.
Last, to our supporters who are not part of the fishing and environmental community, it is becoming clear that our way of life in the Delta - Delta agriculture, Delta recreation, and healthy Delta urban communities - are as much under threat as the Delta Smelt. Now, more than ever, it’s time for us to speak with one voice for the future of our home.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla
Campaign Director
Restore the Delta
Making the Delta fishable, swimmable, drinkable, and farmable
by 2010!
PO Box 691088
Stockton, CA 95269
