Peace Voyager
09-17-2010, 09:46 AM
Hi Folks,
In my efforts to find balance and security regarding issues concerning water, waste water and watershed protection, I'm certain that transparency is essential.
I may not always agree with every perspective Dan Bacher has; though I appreciate his passion to protect the fish, and the rights of indigenous people. I wholeheartedly agree with his call for open meetings on these issues. If you agree; please lend your voice where it counts.
You may find his articles at fishsniffer.com enlightening.
Whether your region's water supply is abundant or scarce; finding an equitable balance for California requires the cooperation and accountability of every city and county in the state.
Hope you all have an enjoyable weekend.
:fishy:
Colleen Fernald
Candidate for Peace
Sebastopol City Council
Posted by: "Dan Bacher" [email protected]
Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:17 pm (PDT)
Elected Officials Urge Closed-Door Delta Meetings Be Opened to Public
by Dan Bacher
In response to news of closed-door meetings to discuss the future of
the imperiled California Delta, Members of Congress and the
California legislature today urged California Resources Secretary
Lester Snow and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to open the talks to
the public and include Delta representation.
State Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis), who represents four of the five
counties in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, pressed for
transparency and openness in the meetings on the Bay Delta
Conservation Plan (BDCP) being convened by the offices of the
California Natural Resources Agency and the Department of the Interior.
Many Delta advocates view the BDCP as a thinly veiled plan by the
Schwarzenegger administration to build a peripheral canal and new
dams to facilitate water exports from the Delta to southern corporate
agribusness and southern California. They fear that the canal would
likely lead to the extinction of collapsing populations of Delta
smelt, longfin smelt, Central Valley salmon, Sacramento splittail,
young striped bass and other species devastated by massive water
exports in recent years.
Wolk, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, and Congressional
Representatives John Garamendi, Doris Matsui, Jerry McNerney, George
Miller and Mike Thompson officially requested that the meetings be
more inclusive and transparent. State Senator Mark DeSaulnier and
State Assembly Members Bill Berryhill, Joan Buchanan, Alyson Huber,
Tom Torlakson and Mariko Yamada also signed the letter.
"This most recent exclusion only serves to further frustrate and
anger those within the Delta community who are genuinely interested
in working constructively with the state and federal agencies and the
newly formed Delta Stewardship Council," the letter reads. "In short,
this new Delta Principals Group process represents a return to the
closed-door deal-making that has historically resulted in further
degradation of the Delta."
"The meetings show a lack of commitment to achieving the coequal
goals established by the 2009 legislative package on water,"
commented Wolk. "As defined by that package, the state's goals are to
provide a more reliable water supply for California and protect,
restore, and enhance the Delta ecosystem 'in a manner that protects
and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and
agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place.' Without Delta
representatives at the table, this group cannot credibly ensure that
negotiations live up to these goals."
The letter includes a series of questions of Snow and Salazar,
including:
• What is the role and objectives of the Delta Principals Group? Is
this a new group or a separate new process?
• Who are the principals?
• How were the principals identified and what criteria used in
determining which groups/representati ves would be allowed to
participate?
• Are the proposals being discussed based on the best available science?
Mike Wade of the California Farm Water Coalition supports these
closed-door meetings, claiming that that they "may lead to
significant understandings between various groups that might move
California closer to a reliable water future and an environmentally
restored Delta."
"The result would be a benefit to all Californians, " he stated. "Yet,
those who continue to hold fast to a 'me-first' attitude at the
expense of others throw temper tantrums because they are not
included. It is this type of (re)action that prevents California from
moving forward."
However, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the
Delta, said that the closed-door meetings now taking place among top
water agency officials, regulatory agencies and three corporate
environmental groups "threaten every bit of progress made in the past
year to curtail pumping from the California Delta and give imperiled
fish populations a chance to recover."
Lester Snow is now taking a 'non-public' proposal to the group,
according to Barrigan-Parrilla. It includes a proposal for Delta
operations and governance that allows flexibility but requires only a
'best effort' from agencies to avoid additional water impacts.
Barrigan-Parrilla also said the proposal also allows DWR and the
Bureau of Reclamation to veto any changes to the range of operations.
"This could effectively prevent adaptive management intended to
protect fish," said Barrigan-Parrilla. "In fact, it appears that the
proposal would allow the feds to gut the biological opinions."
The proposal would also require only token funding from water users
for habitat restoration, as well as exclude an analysis of the Water
Board's new flow criteria.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has gone out of his way since assuming
office in 2003 to exclude California Indian Tribes, Delta residents,
recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, environmental justice
communities and grassroots conservation groups from all of the talks
and meetings deciding the fate of the Delta and the California's
water plans. These latest closed door meetings are only in one in a
series of secret sessions that Schwarzenegger has used, such as the
back room negotiations last year to craft the water policy-water bond
package in the Legislature, to push through his plans to build a
peripheral canal and new dams.
It is appalling that the Obama administration, in the steps of the
Bush administration, is collaborating with Schwarzenegger' s plans to
build his "Big Ditch" to benefit big corporate agribusiness magnates
like Stewart Resnick, owner of the 120,000 acre Paramount Farms in
Kern County, so they can sell water back to the public at an enormous
profit.
Just as appalling is the role of the three "Gang Green" environmental
groups who are participating in these back door sessions. It will be
interesting to see which groups these are, but I suspect that two out
of the three are the Nature Conservancy and the Natural Heritage
Institute, top-down organizations known for their continual
greenwashing of Schwarzenegger' s war on fish, fishermen, Tribes and
the environment.
In my efforts to find balance and security regarding issues concerning water, waste water and watershed protection, I'm certain that transparency is essential.
I may not always agree with every perspective Dan Bacher has; though I appreciate his passion to protect the fish, and the rights of indigenous people. I wholeheartedly agree with his call for open meetings on these issues. If you agree; please lend your voice where it counts.
You may find his articles at fishsniffer.com enlightening.
Whether your region's water supply is abundant or scarce; finding an equitable balance for California requires the cooperation and accountability of every city and county in the state.
Hope you all have an enjoyable weekend.
:fishy:
Colleen Fernald
Candidate for Peace
Sebastopol City Council
Posted by: "Dan Bacher" [email protected]
Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:17 pm (PDT)
Elected Officials Urge Closed-Door Delta Meetings Be Opened to Public
by Dan Bacher
In response to news of closed-door meetings to discuss the future of
the imperiled California Delta, Members of Congress and the
California legislature today urged California Resources Secretary
Lester Snow and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to open the talks to
the public and include Delta representation.
State Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis), who represents four of the five
counties in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, pressed for
transparency and openness in the meetings on the Bay Delta
Conservation Plan (BDCP) being convened by the offices of the
California Natural Resources Agency and the Department of the Interior.
Many Delta advocates view the BDCP as a thinly veiled plan by the
Schwarzenegger administration to build a peripheral canal and new
dams to facilitate water exports from the Delta to southern corporate
agribusness and southern California. They fear that the canal would
likely lead to the extinction of collapsing populations of Delta
smelt, longfin smelt, Central Valley salmon, Sacramento splittail,
young striped bass and other species devastated by massive water
exports in recent years.
Wolk, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, and Congressional
Representatives John Garamendi, Doris Matsui, Jerry McNerney, George
Miller and Mike Thompson officially requested that the meetings be
more inclusive and transparent. State Senator Mark DeSaulnier and
State Assembly Members Bill Berryhill, Joan Buchanan, Alyson Huber,
Tom Torlakson and Mariko Yamada also signed the letter.
"This most recent exclusion only serves to further frustrate and
anger those within the Delta community who are genuinely interested
in working constructively with the state and federal agencies and the
newly formed Delta Stewardship Council," the letter reads. "In short,
this new Delta Principals Group process represents a return to the
closed-door deal-making that has historically resulted in further
degradation of the Delta."
"The meetings show a lack of commitment to achieving the coequal
goals established by the 2009 legislative package on water,"
commented Wolk. "As defined by that package, the state's goals are to
provide a more reliable water supply for California and protect,
restore, and enhance the Delta ecosystem 'in a manner that protects
and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and
agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place.' Without Delta
representatives at the table, this group cannot credibly ensure that
negotiations live up to these goals."
The letter includes a series of questions of Snow and Salazar,
including:
• What is the role and objectives of the Delta Principals Group? Is
this a new group or a separate new process?
• Who are the principals?
• How were the principals identified and what criteria used in
determining which groups/representati ves would be allowed to
participate?
• Are the proposals being discussed based on the best available science?
Mike Wade of the California Farm Water Coalition supports these
closed-door meetings, claiming that that they "may lead to
significant understandings between various groups that might move
California closer to a reliable water future and an environmentally
restored Delta."
"The result would be a benefit to all Californians, " he stated. "Yet,
those who continue to hold fast to a 'me-first' attitude at the
expense of others throw temper tantrums because they are not
included. It is this type of (re)action that prevents California from
moving forward."
However, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the
Delta, said that the closed-door meetings now taking place among top
water agency officials, regulatory agencies and three corporate
environmental groups "threaten every bit of progress made in the past
year to curtail pumping from the California Delta and give imperiled
fish populations a chance to recover."
Lester Snow is now taking a 'non-public' proposal to the group,
according to Barrigan-Parrilla. It includes a proposal for Delta
operations and governance that allows flexibility but requires only a
'best effort' from agencies to avoid additional water impacts.
Barrigan-Parrilla also said the proposal also allows DWR and the
Bureau of Reclamation to veto any changes to the range of operations.
"This could effectively prevent adaptive management intended to
protect fish," said Barrigan-Parrilla. "In fact, it appears that the
proposal would allow the feds to gut the biological opinions."
The proposal would also require only token funding from water users
for habitat restoration, as well as exclude an analysis of the Water
Board's new flow criteria.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has gone out of his way since assuming
office in 2003 to exclude California Indian Tribes, Delta residents,
recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, environmental justice
communities and grassroots conservation groups from all of the talks
and meetings deciding the fate of the Delta and the California's
water plans. These latest closed door meetings are only in one in a
series of secret sessions that Schwarzenegger has used, such as the
back room negotiations last year to craft the water policy-water bond
package in the Legislature, to push through his plans to build a
peripheral canal and new dams.
It is appalling that the Obama administration, in the steps of the
Bush administration, is collaborating with Schwarzenegger' s plans to
build his "Big Ditch" to benefit big corporate agribusiness magnates
like Stewart Resnick, owner of the 120,000 acre Paramount Farms in
Kern County, so they can sell water back to the public at an enormous
profit.
Just as appalling is the role of the three "Gang Green" environmental
groups who are participating in these back door sessions. It will be
interesting to see which groups these are, but I suspect that two out
of the three are the Nature Conservancy and the Natural Heritage
Institute, top-down organizations known for their continual
greenwashing of Schwarzenegger' s war on fish, fishermen, Tribes and
the environment.