A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
February 4, 2008
3. Watersheds
DELTA ISSUES:
Guest Commentary: Time for a modern Delta policy - Contra Costa Times
Guest Commentary: It's our water; Delta report revives long-standing North-South feud -
Fish spotted using $9 million fish ladder -
INVASIVE SPECIES AND
Water district to hold meeting on boating - Ventura County Star
CEQA ABUSE:
Editorial: CEQA's being hijacked; where are the enviros?; Environmental groups watch silently as special interests misuse state's key statute - Sacramento Bee
DELTA ISSUES:
Guest Commentary: Time for a modern Delta policy
Contra Costa Times – 2/2/08
By George Miller, D-Martinez, represents California's 7th District in the U.S. House of Representatives
State and federal water policies have pushed the Delta to the breaking point by diverting hundreds of millions of gallons of water from the Bay estuary to giant agricultural operations and cities across the state.
Water policy has always been controversial, but until recently not many Californians paid attention to where our water went or how it was used.
But now that our native fisheries are in a tailspin and the government's plans for managing the Delta have been ruled illegal, people are more focused on the Delta than ever.
It's a fact that the government ignored scientific evidence and breezed past the devastating environmental impact of the water diversions from the Delta. It is clear that the fragile ecosystem has given all it can give, and something must be done.
A congressional hearing in
Before we launch any extremely expensive schemes to pipe more water from the Bay-Delta we should take a look at the antiquated policies that distort how we use this important resource.
We may find that we can reduce a lot of the strain on the system just by modernizing water policy.
To begin, we should immediately end the subsidies that have been promoted by the farm lobby since the early 1900s.
The way the system is set up, massive cotton farms in the
On top of that sweetheart water deal, the government adds millions of dollars in crop subsidies. But that's not all. In fact, taxpayers and the environment pay again and again: The water itself often becomes these farms' most valuable commodity, as water contractors make huge profits reselling scarce water to cities and counties that need it more than they do.
Why should the federal government sell through a middleman instead of directly to the real users of our precious water?
Choosing subsidized crops over the health of the Delta is illogical and unsustainable. Eliminating unnecessary and distorted subsidies will help us put the state's water to better use. With our diverse economy and growing population, we have better uses for this water than shipping it to where it's no longer needed at a price we can no longer afford.
In addition to ending these out-of-control subsidies, federal agencies that have helped hurt the Bay-Delta should be forced to comport with environmental protections and the state's vision for the region.
Until a recent court ruling, the Bush administration's attitude was that no matter the science, no matter the law and no matter the effect on fish and wildlife, the diverting of millions of gallons of water from the Delta would continue unabated. That approach must end.
We should instead emphasize the development of "new" water that doesn't put further strain on fragile watersheds.
As
One idea worth considering is to follow the model of the California Coastal Commission, which has the power to force federal agencies to comply with
Those of us who enjoy the natural resources of
http://www.contracostatimes.com/columns/ci_8149784?nclick_check=1
Guest Commentary: It's our water; Delta report revives long-standing North-South feud
By Pat Snelling,
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Blue Ribbon Task Force released its report this month, and it brought back to surface many of the same old problems we addressed back in the 1970s.
The task force, called "Delta Vision," said it would come up with new solutions to the dwindling population of Delta smelt, but instead it came up with the same old argument: Who is left to maintain the Delta if Los Angeles gets its fresh water from Northern California?
The Delta is a fragile ecosystem. It encompasses the major rivers that carry fresh water coming down from the Sierra snowpacks, channeled by a maze of aging levees which pool into some of the richest habitat critical for more than 500 species before it flows into the ocean water that fills the
The flow of fresh water coming through the Delta keeps the ocean saltwater from contaminating the surrounding land and the aquifer below the ground.
Schwarzenegger set up the Delta Vision Task Force after a court order shut down the
This interrupted a major source of water for Southern California, already feeling the effects of a shrinking supply of water from the Colorado River and
But
Needless to say when the
The task force's report said
The task force did everything to avoid calling it that.
In the late '70s, when Northern California was in the middle of a major drought,
In fact, Southern California called on its political influence to keep the
As a result, ocean water began seeping deeper into the Delta, and area farmers found salt water leaching into their water supplies.
The relationship between the north and south soured when Northern California residents, using water restrictors in their showers, putting bricks in their toilet tanks to reduce water and watching their landscaped yards die because for lack of water, would turn on their televisions and see a Malibu resident hosing down his driveway with the very water denied to Northern California residents.
The battle became so heated, there was even talk about splitting the state in half.
Now with the serious danger to the Delta smelt population and all of the wildlife that they support, the Blue Ribbon Task Force appears to be solely focused on alternative waterways for the residents in the south without looking at the environmental impact on this fragile ecosystem in the north.
Despite all the work this Blue Ribbon Task Force did, it failed to see the impact a different link would have on the salinity in the Delta channels if the water were captured upstream. It didn't discuss the impact less water would have on the sloughs. It didn't mention how to protect the valuable wildlife preserve.
Farmers are concerned about what will happen when government officials leave them to fight an aging levee system alone.
The report doesn't even address the farmers put out of business because salty water would be allowed to rise.
A few years ago, a major levee failed and
After all the struggles Solano County has gone through to protect its residents and environment, is it too much to ask that the Delta Vision Task Force give just as serious consideration to our concerns about the Delta as they have given those major cities downstream? #
http://www.thereporter.com//ci_8157273?IADID=Search-www.thereporter.com-www.thereporter.com
Fish spotted using $9 million fish ladder
An underwater camera snapped a photo last week of what biologists believe is the first steelhead trout of the year to pass through a fish ladder on the
The first of two fish was spotted swimming upstream on Thursday, through the $9.5 million fish ladder built to allow fish to go around the Robles Diversion, which sends water to
Though steelhead and rainbow trout are hard to differentiate, biologists think this was an endangered steelhead that came from the ocean because of its large eye size and its 21-inch length.
"This is exciting news," said Casitas Fisheries Biologist Scott Lewis.
A day later, a 25-inch fish also thought to be a steelhead was seen swimming upstream through the ladder.
After last year's dry weather, when no fish were seen swimming upstream, officials are hoping many more steelhead will swim up from the ocean and into the upper reaches of the
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/feb/03/fish-spotted-using-9-million-fish-ladder/
INVASIVE SPECIES AND
Water district to hold meeting on boating
The battle date has been set.
On March 4, the Casitas Municipal Water District will hold a hearing on whether to close
In anticipation of a large crowd, the meeting will be in the
The issue of closing the popular fishing lake has been a contentious one since the board started addressing the problem in the last few months.
Some members of the board fear that the mussels could be transported to the lake on boats and could do severe damage to the district's ability to delivery water.
One proposal to protect the lake is to close it to outside day-use boats. #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/feb/03/water-district-hold-meeting-boating/
CEQA ABUSE:
Editorial: CEQA's being hijacked; where are the enviros?; Environmental groups watch silently as special interests misuse state's key statute
Sacramento
With shameless abandon, lawyers and monied players are abusing the state's premier environmental law – the California Environmental Quality Act.
Lawmakers enacted CEQA in 1970 so citizens could identify development projects that posed an unacceptable environmental impact, and change them or challenge them. Over the years, various interests have hijacked this law for nonenvironmental purposes, and conservation groups have looked the other way.
All of us know about "neighborhood groups" that have exploited this law to prevent construction of affordable housing. Corporations have used CEQA in an attempt to stifle competition. An example is the Westfield Corp., the Australian owner of the
Labor unions are an even larger abuser of CEQA. In recent years, labor groups have used environmental lawsuits, or the threat of such suits, to stop or slow down power plant construction, hospital expansions and housing developments. The unions' lawyers always seem to disappear once a developer has signed an agreement to hire only union labor.
Critics call this practice "greenmail," a polite term for legal extortion. The combined effect is to drive up the cost of new houses, hospital beds and other projects, with little or no benefit for the environment.
Consider the example of William Kopper, a former mayor of
In the late 1990s, the Mid-Valley Trades Council hired Kopper to challenge the impacts of a proposed auto raceway in
A few years ago, Kopper sued to halt
Oddly, environmental leaders in
For several years, a group called California Unions for Reliable Energy has used CEQA to slow or block power plants, including a geothermal plant in
Defenders of CEQA should be outraged. They also should be worried. As the abuses and misuses mount, they create ammunition for industry groups that would like to see
Greenmail hurts CEQA's credibility. Why are leading environmentalists complicit with their silence? #
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/681073.html
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