A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 9, 2007
3. Watersheds
DELTA PUMPING:
Delta appeal buys time for pumps; Action allows state to continue delivering water to 25 million Californians, at least temporarily - Contra Costa Times
KLAMATH:
Guest Column: Defeatist philosophy on Klamath dams -
DELTA PUMPING:
Delta appeal buys time for pumps; Action allows state to continue delivering water to 25 million Californians, at least temporarily
Contra Costa Times – 5/9/07
By Mike Taugher, staff writer
SACRAMENTO -- State water officials say they cannot meet a court-imposed deadline to comply with the state endangered species law by next month but hope to buy enough time while the case is on appeal to get California's biggest water pumps out of legal jeopardy.
Skeptical state senators listened to the plan at a hearing Tuesday, a day after the Department of Water Resources announced its appeal and other steps to avoid a shutdown of the State Water Project.
The water agency is under a court order to get regulatory approval required by the California Endangered Species Act by mid-June but said this week it will be unable to get that approval until April -- a full year after an Alameda County judge ordered the agency to comply with the law in 60 days.
By filing the appeal, state officials have taken away the ability of the lower courts to enforce the order to shut off pumps that deliver water to 25 million Californians, at least temporarily.
Instead of asking state regulators to issue endangered species permits, something the water resources department has been consistently reluctant to do, the water agency is relying on a handful of federal agencies to quickly rewrite flawed federal endangered species permits intended to protect Delta smelt and salmon from being killed at the pumps.
Then they will ask state regulators to endorse the rewritten federal permits.
"Our plan is to get this in place before the court of appeals acts," Jerry
It is possible, however, that the appeals court could take action before the state's plan is complete. And
Meanwhile, skeptical state senators quizzed water officials about why they declined to apply for a state permit and instead are opting to get a state endorsement of the federal permits.
One possibility: State law mandates permits that are stricter than permits written under federal law.
"Is the real motivation here to gain compliance through the weaker federal law?" state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, chairman of the senate Natural Resources and Water Committee asked. "Is that what's really going on here?"
Lester Snow, the water department director, denied that was the reason. He said relying on the federal permits was a better way to coordinate water deliveries and environmental protection measures with the Central Valley Project, a somewhat smaller federal water project in the Delta.
And, he said, applying for a state permit would hinder efforts to concentrate on a longer-term solution to improving the environmental health of the ailing Delta and the water needs of the growing state. Snow's department is in the early stages of developing a massive new master plan for the Delta, a process that could propose building an aqueduct akin to the highly controversial
"If we go to a (state) permit, that will be the focus of all our energies," Snow said, adding that the long-term Bay-Delta Conservation Plan was the more important goal.
Steinberg, though skeptical, said he was reluctant to intervene while the issue is in the courts.
"What really matters now is whether or not a three-judge panel agrees with your strategy," he said, adding that he doubted it would.
The new agreement between the water agency and the Department of Fish and Game also was doubted by Michael Lozeau, the lawyer who successfully represented the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance in court last month.
"We're going to agree to violate state law for another year?" he asked rhetorically.
TIMELINE
Pumping water out of the Delta has been controversial from the start, but the issues have gotten more complicated in recent years. Here are some key developments.
- 2002: Widespread decline of open water Delta fish species begins without notice.
- 2005: Scientists confirm the Delta is in an ecological crisis, with Delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad and young-of-the-year striped bass at extremely low population levels.
- July 2006: Federal water agencies ask that endangered species permits be rewritten so that they allow massive Delta water pumps near
- March 22:
- April 18: Roesch finalizes his decision, requiring the state Department of Water Resources to comply with the state endangered species law in 60 days or face a shutdown of the pumps that deliver water to 25 million people.
- April 26:
- May 7: The state Department of Water Resources appeals the Alameda County Superior Court decision, which puts a hold on any enforcement of its order. This buys the agency time to comply with the endangered species law.
- What's next: The Department of Water Resources hopes federal officials will expedite their own permit revisions by April and that state wildlife regulators will endorse them. However, the appeals court could rule before then and throw the state pumping operations into more uncertainty. #
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_5853407
KLAMATH:
Guest Column: Defeatist philosophy on Klamath dams
By Leaf Hillman, serving his second term as the vice chair of the Karuk Tribe
With the debate over global warming heating up, power companies who have long sought to discredit the overwhelming evidence that humans are causing the planet to warm are now pointing to the same evidence to justify the destruction of our rivers.
Having lost the global warming debate, power companies such as Portland-based PacifiCorp now use the threat of global warming to justify their water pollution and destruction of our salmon runs.
We cannot afford such a defeatist philosophy to override our own common sense. Clean air, clean water, and healthy foods such as salmon are not in any way mutually exclusive. In fact, our children and grandchildren deserve all of the above.
PacifiCorp's lower four Klamath dams provide no flood control, divert no water for irrigation or drinking, and generate meager amounts of energy. What these dams do well is kill salmon and breed toxic algae blooms. This in turn has driven tribes deeper into poverty. No longer can we fish to sustain ourselves or make a living. Our very culture and religion is being degraded along with the river.
In 2004,
Next, they argued that reaches of river above the dams were so damaged that there was no point in reintroducing fish to the
Next, PacifiCorp claimed the dams were valuable assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The California Energy Commission as well as Federal Energy Regulatory Commission performed economic analyses that concluded that dam removal is actually cheaper than relicensing, given the necessary upgrades to meet modern environmental standards. This means that ratepayers could see power rates increase if PacifiCorp is allowed to relicense the dams.
Now PacifiCorp is jumping on the global warming bandwagon. It's especially galling to be lectured on the dangers of global warming from the largest carbon emitter in the entire
PacifiCorp's argument suggests that the best we can offer the next generation is a choice between clean air or clean water, but not both. For our part, the Karuk Tribe refuses to accept this dammed if you do, dammed if you don't approach.
To learn more about the economics of dam relicensing vs. removal, go to http://www.energy.ca.gov/klamath/index.html#documents.
Leaf Hillman is serving his second term as the vice chair of the Karuk Tribe. Hillman is a Karuk World Renewal Priest and White Deerskin Dance owner. He lives in
http://www.times-standard.com/allopinion/ci_5853650
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