A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 31, 2007
3. Watersheds
Fishermen decry political tampering - Eureka Times Standard
Money adding up for sea fix - Imperial Valley Press
Fishermen decry political tampering
By James Faulk, staff writer
Congress, beginning today, is investigating Cheney's role -- if any -- in denying sufficient water for salmon in the Klamath River to support farmers in the upper
On Monday, several fishermen called in from their boats to attend a conference call with the group Earth Justice and described the impacts such management decisions had on their livelihoods.
Dave Bitts, a salmon fisherman out of
”When our opportunity to fish is attacked in this manner, it's not just us but it's the future of the fish themselves that's under attack,” Bitts said. “For 30 years, we've been learning to be stewards of the resources and do what we can to make sure that these fish can thrive in the rivers and in the ocean -- if we're driven off the ocean, we're not going to be able to do that anymore.”
The House hearing, scheduled before the House Natural Resources Committee, is being called “Crisis of confidence: The political influence of the Bush Administration on agency science and decision-making.”
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall agreed to conduct hearings after Rep. Mike Thompson and 35 lawmakers from
The article covers Cheney's involvement in
Al Ritter, a fishermen out of
Those who have been in the business for a number of years can, maybe, withstand such a terrible season, but those younger fishermen who've just gotten into the business are really hurting, he said.
And there's already a limited number of young people in the business, he said.
”This is the closest we've ever come to losing this industry in all the years I've been doing this,” he said. “It'd be a crying shame to lose this.”
It's become political, he said.
”We're the ones that are paying,” Ritter said.
Larry Collins, out of
The mismanagement of water resources hurts the fishing industry, he said, and can hinder fishermen from keeping up with boat maintenance and making insurance payments. It can even force people to find land jobs to supplement their income, he said.
It also weakens the fishermen's associations, and dwindles
It's bad when the public loses access to its own resources, he said, “especially because of a cheap political stunt like this.”
Kristen Bolyes of Earth Justice, who moderated the teleconference, said political interference on matters surrounding endangered species has been a hallmark of the Bush Administration.
The 2002
Regulators then severely limited the amount of fish allowed to salmon fishermen to protect the dwindling stocks. Because authorities regulate for the least healthy river systems, fishermen had to dramatically curtail their catch -- especially in 2005 -- to protect Klamath salmon, despite the fact that salmon from other river systems were abundant.
For every Klamath fish saved by the fishing restrictions., fishermen had to pass up between 50 to 100 salmon from other rivers, Bitts said.
Fisherman Duncan MacLean of El Granada said he hopes the hearings aren't the end of the discussion.
”I think it's unreasonable and unfair and unjust what has happened here to us, and I think there should be more than just a hearing ... because what they've done to these coastal communities is criminal and somebody should have to pay for it,” he said.
The water management plan favored by Cheney, and eventually adopted for the
But a new plan is expected in 2008, and given the history, fishermen and others are worried about what will be proposed, she said.
Meanwhile, a broad group of parties with stakes in the
Tribes, irrigators, fishermen and others released a statement last week saying they have come up with a framework for addressing the wide-ranging issues. The groups should have a final agreement by November, they said. #
http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_6506664
Money adding up for sea fix
By Jonathan Athens, staff writer
One million here, one million over there … pretty soon we’ll be talking about big money.
That may be the refrain when it comes to what state and federal lawmakers are now willing to spend on restoring the decaying
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is the latest politician to join the list of those announcing more money to pay for restoration of the largest land-locked body of water in
The Democratic chairwoman of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee announced Friday there is $30 million available for restoration through the Water Resources Development Act.
That sum comes on top of a proposed $47 million in a bill sponsored by state Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego. Add in another $12.5 million that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing, $13 million proposed by state lawmakers, plus $2 million from U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Chula Vista, and the grand total being proposed at the state and federal levels amounts to $104.5 million.
“We’re on the cusp of exciting times,” said Rick Daniels, executive director of the Salton Sea Authority, one of the leading umbrella organizations pushing hard for the restoration to commence.
>From about early 2003 through May 2007, “a rough total of about $21.3 million has been spent on Salton Sea Restoration activities,” the California Department of Finance reported.
Finance Department Program Budget Manager Karen Finn, at the request of the Imperial Valley Press, provided a detailed list of what that money was spent on during those years.
“This figure represents both Department of Water Resources and Department of Fish and Game staff salary and wages and all costs associated with staff time. It includes a number of studies; data collection; meeting preparation, attendance and implementation; coordination with federal local and other state agencies; as well as public outreach meetings in and around the
Daniels said the proposed $104.5 million means lawmakers and stakeholders are reaching a major turning point in efforts to restore and revitalize the decaying body of water, considered in the 1950s to be
It means “the talking and studying is over and we’ll be able to start doing some the real work on the ground,” Daniels said.
State lawmakers, however, are at a budget impasse along party lines. Within the proposed $145 billion state budget is the $25.5 million for the sea proposed by Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers.
Daniels said he’s confident that money will be approved at some point. One side of the political divide will “blink” signaling the end of the showdown, he said.
The proposed $104.5 million, however, represents only a proverbial drop in the fiscal bucket when compared to the estimated $8.9 billion it will cost to completely restore and revitalize the
That plan, expected to take 75 years to complete, was crafted by the California Resources Agency, and is in the hands of state lawmakers. It outlines a long list of various mechanisms by which restoration efforts can be funded on the state and federal levels.
The first steps toward restoration include creating a wildlife habitat, reducing salinity of the water and building a dam to offset water transfers that are slated to begin in 2017. #
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2007/07/31/news/news04.txt
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