Restore the Delta is challenging the accuracy and value of the Public Policy Institute's controversial "report" on the Delta, "Transitions for the Delta Economy," funded by the Stephen Bechtel Foundation, Resources Legacy Fund and David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
In the report's summary, the Public Policy Institute (PPIC) proclaimed, "Enormous changes-from natural forces to management decisions-are coming to California's fragile Delta region and will have broad effects on its residents. This report finds that in the first half of this century, the Delta as a whole is likely to experience a loss of 1 percent of economic activity as a result of these changes. It also identifies planning priorities for managing the Delta's future."
After reviewing the report, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta (http://restorethedelta.org), commented, "It is disheartening that the report fails to fully and properly analyze Delta water quality, current project proposals, and the real Delta economy."
Barrigan-Parrilla emphasized that the PPIC report assumes that the new "dual conveyance" system, more commonly known to Californians as the peripheral canal/tunnel, will only divert 4.9 million acre feet of Delta water, despite the reality that water contractors will have difficulty justifying the sale of billions of dollars in new revenue bonds to finance the project if they are going to receive a significant smaller share of Delta water.
Conner Everts with the Southern California Watershed Alliance noted, "Southern California rate payers cannot afford to pay more and more to Metropolitan Water District for an unsustainable water supply. Regional self sufficiency, which can be achieved through conservation, storm water and reuse projects, is a much more affordable way to make more water for Southern California water users."
Restore the Delta policy analyst Jane Wagner-Tyack quipped, "The report is so out of touch with reality that it actually places the new Stockton water supply project under water because the authors have decided that the way to fix the Delta is to permanently flood it. By depriving Stockton of a water supply, it seems that someone has made a decision to relocate the Delta's largest urban population of 300,000 residents somewhere else."
Barrigan-Parrilla said that despite multiple attempts by Delta water agency representatives, Delta engineers, levee experts trained at other renowned universities, economists, and Delta advocates, the authors of the PPIC reports on the Delta have rebuffed attempts to incorporate local input into their research. The report's writers are Josué Medellín-Azuara, Ellen Hanak, Richard Howitt, and Jay Lund, with research support from Molly Ferrell, Katherine Kramer, Michelle Lent, Davin Reed, and Elizabeth Stryjewski.
"The PPIC models regarding salinity changes in the Delta and how such changes would alter our economy are flawed," Barrigan-Parrilla concluded. "If people in California want to know the real value of the Delta economy presently and how exporting water could destroy it, they should read the Economic Sustainability Plan recently published by the Delta Protection Commission - a rigorously reviewed document produced by experts who know the Delta best."
PPIC tries to hide funding by Bechtel, Packard and Resources Legacy
Barrigan-Parrilla noted that while the cover states the report was funded by The Watershed Science Center at UC Davis, page 62 of the report explains that the study was paid for by the Delta Solutions program funders, that once again includes the Stephen Bechtel Foundation, Resources Legacy Fund and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
"So it seems this time rather than checks going directly to PPIC from these pro peripheral canal foundations, checks floated through the University and then to UC Davis," said Barrigan-Parrilla. "Restore the Delta believes this is a worsening scenario because the average person will simply believe that the study was financed by an unbiased educational institution without a hidden agenda. And if there is nothing to hide, then why aren't the funders on the cover?
According to the Bechtel Foundation's website (http://www.sdbjrfoundation.org), "Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. created the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation in 1957 to improve the quality of life for Californians by addressing selected issues that challenge the health and prosperity of the state. In addition to his leadership of the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and the Stephen Bechtel Fund, Mr. Bechtel is Chairman Retired and a Director of Bechtel Group, Inc."
The Brown and Obama administrations are currently fast-tracking Arnold Schwarzenegger's Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal in order to export more Delta water to southern California and corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Delta advocates believe the construction of peripheral canal or tunnel would result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other imperiled fish species.
Do PPIC's authors live in a parallel universe?
The PPIC report's assumption that the new peripheral canal/tunnel will only divert 4.9 million acre feet of Delta water is mind boggling, considering that exports from the Delta have reached record levels well over 4.9 million acre feet annually over the past 10 years. The Brown and Obama administrations exported a record amount of water from the Delta in 2011.
The annual export total, including water diverted by the Contra Costa Canal and North Bay Aqueduct, was 6,633,000 acre-feet in 2011 - 163,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,470,000 acre-feet set in 2005, according to DWR data. The annual export total, excluding water diverted by the Contra Costa Canal and North Bay Aqueduct, was 6,520,000 acre-feet in 2011 - 217,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,303,000 acre-feet set in 2005.
Are we to believe that the state water contractors are going to agree to the building of an enormously expensive peripheral canal that would actually divert less water from the Delta than the record levels that were delivered to southern California and San Joaquin Valley agribusiness in 2011? The PPIC report authors apparently live in a parallel universe devoid of science, logic and facts.
The record pumping from the Delta in 2011 - used to fill billionaire Stewart Resnick's Kern Water Bank and southern California reservoirs - resulted in a huge, unprecedented fish kill at the Delta pumps. Agency staff "salvaged" a total of 11,158,025 fish in the Delta water pumping facilities between January 1 and September 7, 2011 alone. Scientists estimate that the actual amount of fish lost in the pumps is 5 to 10 times the "salvage" numbers.
A horrific 8,985,009 Sacramento splittail, the largest number ever recorded, were "salvaged" during this period. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006.
There is no doubt that the Brown administration has eclipsed the Schwarzenegger administration's abysmal environmental legacy by exporting a record amount of water from the Delta and killing record numbers of fish in the Delta pumps in 2011.
The MLPA/peripheral canal connection
Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird are not only continuing Schwarzenegger's mad drive to build a peripheral canal, but they have forged ahead with Schwarzenegger's privately funded Marine Life Protection Act" (MLPA) Initiative. The initiative is a corrupt process, overseen by a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, coastal real estate executive, agribusiness hack and other corporate operatives with many conflicts of interest, that creates so-called "marine protected areas" on the California coast.
And guess who is funding the MLPA fiasco? The Resources Legacy Fund and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, two of the three funders of the recent PPIC report promoting the construction of the peripheral canal, are also funding the MLPA Initiative! The initiative creates "marine protected areas" that fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture, wave and wind energy projects and all other human impacts on the ocean than fishing and gathering.
In one of the most overt conflicts of interest in California history, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the "august body" that designed the "marine protected areas" that went into effect on the Southern California Coast on January 1. Reheis-Boyd, a big oil industry lobbyist advocating for new offshore drilling off the California coast, the Keystone XL pipeline and the gutting of environmental laws, chaired the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast, as well as "serving" on the North Central Coast and North Coast Task Forces.
The Packard Foundation and four other "non-profits" donated a total of $20 million to fund the MLPA Initiative. The Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, a shadowy organization that North Coast environmental leader John Lewallen describes as a "money laundering operation" for corporate money, received the funds from these foundations to implement the unpopular MLPA process.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation contributed $8.2 million to fund the MLPA process. Julie E. Packard, the executive director and founder of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the foundation.
The Laguna Beach-based Marisla Foundation, founded by Getty Oil heiress Anne Getty Earhart, gave $3 million over several years. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation donated $7.4 million, the Keith Campbell Foundation contributed $1.2 million and the Annenberg Foundation contributed $200,000.
All of this money was dumped into the Resources Legacy Foundation to kick recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and seaweed gatherers, the most vocal advocates of fishery restoration and true environmental protection and the most fervent opponents of the peripheral canal, off the water in a disgusting case of corporate greenwashing. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/02/18/the-corporate-money-behind-the-mlpa-initiative)
Ed Begley Jr., a renowned actor and environmental advocate, will narrate Restore the Delta's groundbreaking documentary film Over Troubled Waters.
"The story of the Delta as told by Delta locals is a must-see for all Californians," said Mr. Begley, working with Media Creations, a regional production company.
"We need to know why this area is worthy of protection. It is a hidden treasure, and with enough water it is a place where fisheries and sustainable agriculture can thrive together once again," said Begley.
Begley's role in the film was announced as the Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal. Delta advocates oppose the peripheral canal's construction because it would likely result in the extinction of imperiled Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and Sacramento splittail populations.
Ed Begley Jr., a veteran stage, television, and film performer, first came to public attention for his portrayal of Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the long-running hit television series St. Elsewhere, for which he received six Emmy nominations. A few of his feature film credits include Batman Forever, The Accidental Tourist, The In-Laws, and most recently Pineapple Express (a movie that I loved!)
"Having served as the past chair of the Environmental Media Association, Mr. Begley's response to pressing environmental issues is one of action and engagement personally and publicly," according to Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta.
A winner of several environmental awards from national and regional conservation groups, Ed Begley Jr. has endorsed Restore the Delta's work and mission.
"While I am a resident of Southern California, I support the work of Restore the Delta, a broad coalition of Delta residents, farmers, environmentalists, concerned citizens, and business people from throughout California," said Begley. "Restore the Delta is a grassroots organization that advocates for adequate water flows into the Pacific Coast's largest estuary - the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta."
"Restore the Delta is fighting to protect the primary nursery for California's coastal fisheries, including salmon fisheries that support the food chain for Orca whales. Restore the Delta is also fighting to protect water needed by thousands of small family farmers within the Delta - including some of California's oldest farming families who helped to build this state," stated Begley.
Begley emphasized that over the last thirty years, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a once thriving ecosystem that sustains salmon and other fish populations up and down the California Coast, has been in steady decline.
"One of the main causes of the Delta's decline has been the excessive export of water to other areas in the state," he explained. "A great deal of this water has been sent to large-scale corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and in Kern County. But this part of the story regarding the Delta's decline is often overlooked by mainstream media."
As a Southern California resident, Begley noted that there are "many potential programs and resources" that can be put into place to increase their water supply reliability while reducing their dependence on water taken out of the Delta - and he pointed to his own personal efforts to conserve water.
"At my home, I have installed catchment basins so that I can collect rain water each winter for reuse in my garden throughout the year. But we also need to support larger scale water conservation and recycling programs that will enable us to have the water that we need while protecting one of California's most important ecosystems," Begley added.
Over Troubled Waters, the story of the Delta told by Delta locals, is scheduled for release in Spring, 2012. "This project has been initially endorsed by over a dozen individuals and groups, spanning from John McCrae with the rock group CAKE to Congressional representatives, from California legislators to Delta business leaders, and from professional fishermen to regional musicians," said Barrigan-Parrilla.
For more details on Cake's endorsement of Restore the Delta, go to my article in the Sacramento News and Review: http://www.newsreview.com/sacr...
To see the endorsements and learn more about Over Troubled Waters visit http://overtroubledwaters.org/... Staff with Restore the Delta and Media Creations are available for interviews. For more information, contact: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 10100 Trinity Pkwy, Suite 120, Stockton, CA 95219, Email: Barbara [at] Restorethedelta.org, Phone:209-479-2053
2011: a record year for water exports and fish kills
The announcement by Restore the Delta follows a record year for Delta water exports. The annual export total, including water diverted by the Contra Costa Canal and North Bay Aqueduct, was 6,633,000 acre-feet in 2011 - 163,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,470,000 acre-feet set in 2005, according to DWR data.
The annual export total, excluding water diverted by the Contra Costa Canal and North Bay Aqueduct, was 6,520,000 acre-feet in 2011 - 217,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,303,000 acre-feet set in 2005.
The record pumping from the Delta - used to fill the Stewart Resnick-controlled Kern Water Bank and southern California reservoirs - resulted in a huge, unprecedented fish kill at the Delta pumps in 2011. Agency staff "salvaged" a total of 11,158,025 fish in the Delta water pumping facilities between January 1 and September 7, 2011 alone.
A horrific 8,985,009 Sacramento splittail, the largest number ever recorded, were "salvaged" during this period, according to DFG data. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006.
The fish "salvaged" at the "death pumps" of the state and federal water projects also include hundreds of thousands of threadfin shad, striped bass, American shad, white catfish and other species. DFG data reveals that 742,850 threadfin shad, 514,921 American shad, 496,601 striped bass and 100,373 white catfish were "salvaged" between January 1 and September 7 of this year.
Agency staff also "salvaged" 35,560 Sacramento River spring run and fall run chinooks, 1,642 Central Valley steelhead and 14 green sturgeon in the project facilities during the same period.
Although the salvage counts are certainly alarming, the overall loss of fish in and around the State Water Project and Central Valley Project facilities is believed to be much greater than the salvage counts. The actual loss could be 5 to 10 times the salvage numbers, according to "A Review of Delta Fish Population Losses from Pumping Operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta," prepared by Larry Walker Associates in January 2010 for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (http://www.srcsd.com/pdf/dd/fishlosses.pdf).
At the same time Governor Jerry Brown and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird are forging ahead with the plan to build the peripheral canal after a year of record fish kills and water exports, they are continuing Arnold Schwarzenegger's privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, a process overseen by a big oil industry lobbyist, marina developer, coastal real estate executive, agribusiness hack and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interest.
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has personally commissioned at least three statues of himself that depict the star of Terminator, Predator and other action movies in his "body-building prime."
The scandal-ridden 64-year-old, who served as Governor from November 2003 to January 2, 2011, has ordered three bronze statues that will stand eight foot high and weigh 580 pounds each, according to the UK Telegraph on September 27.
The Telegraph reported one statue is destined for the recently-opened Schwarzenegger museum in his childhood home of Thal, Austria and another will be shipped to Columbus, Ohio, where the annual Arnold Fitness Weekend is held. "The actor will keep the third one, and is considering commissioning further likenesses," the publication noted. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8791928/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-commissions-statues-of-himself.html)
Schwarzenegger said he chose a bodybuilding pose because that's what launched his movie and political career in the United States.
"It was the bodybuilding that got me to America, that got me into movies, that got me the governorship," he told the Telegraph. "That's where I learned about reaching out and helping other people."
Tim Parks, the owner of Oregon-based TW Bronze, who was hired to pour the metal for the statues, told the New York Daily News that as many as seven of the behemoth statues may be created. (http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/09/26/2011-09-26_arnold_schwarzenegger_plans_to_have_at_least_three_buff_bronze_statues_of_himsel.html)
"Parks, whose sculpture-casting business is located in the small town of Enterprise, says the statues are based on a 22-inch sculpture that Idaho artist Ralph Crawford created in 1980. The artwork immortalizes Schwarzenegger during his 'Pumping Iron' days when he won six straight Mr. Olympia titles from 1970-75 and added a seventh in 1980," the article continued.
The publication notes that the statue, costing roughly $100,000, "depicts a fat-free Schwarzenegger flexing in a classic body-builder pose that flaunts his football-sized biceps, chiseled abs and granite quads."
The new castings have been super-sized to "heroic" scale - roughly one-and-a-quarter times life size, according to the Wallowa County Chieftain newspaper in Oregon.
While Schwarzenegger wants the statues to commemorate the star in his body building prime, I recommend that he and the sculptor also design three statues to celebrate Schwarzenegger's "green" legacy as governor of California. There is no doubt that Schwarzenegger "reached and helped other people" - providing they were Wall Street executives, oil industry and other corporate lobbyists, agribusiness leaders, southern California water agency directors, other corrupt politicians and the rich and powerful!
The first statue, the "Fish Terminator," would portray the "action hero" standing triumphantly in a pile of thousands of dead Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steellhead, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other fish species. This statue would commemorate Schwarzenegger's leadership role in killing millions of imperiled species in the state and federal Delta pumping facilities by exporting record amounts of water to southern California water agencies and corporate agribusiness from 2004 to 2006.
The second statue, the "Green Governor," would feature Schwarzenegger and Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, shaking hands as he congratulates her on her appointment as chair of Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative for the South Coast. The statue could either be a sickly green or oil brown color to celebrate the greenwashing that occurred under Schwarzeneggger's marine "protection" fiasco.
The big oil industry lobbyist, who has repeatedly called for the opening of new offshore oil drilling off the California coast, oversaw a privately funded process that failed to protect ocean waters from oil drilling and spills, pollution, corporate aquaculture, military testing, wave and wind energy projects and all other human impacts other than fishing and gathering.
The third statue, "Arnold, the Canal Builder," would depict Schwarzenegger outfitted in a hard hat, with a shovel in one hand and a copy of the water policy/water bond package that he rammed through the Legislature in November 2009 in the other. Schwarzenegger would be addressing a rally of the agribusiness Astroturf group, the Latino Water Coalition, at the State Capitol to campaign for the construction of the peripheral canal to divert more Delta water to agribusiness and southern California.
These "larger than life" statues should be shipped to Thal, Austria to be displayed prominently in the museum celebrating Schwarzenegger's life.
Unfortunately, Schwarzenegger's abysmal environmental legacy continues. Governor Jerry Brown and Nature Resources Secretary John Laird, rather than doing the right thing and reversing Schwarzegger's war on fish, fishing communities and the environment, have decided to forge ahead with some of the worst of Schwarzenegger's "green" policies.
The Brown administration has presided over a fish kill at the Delta pumps this year that surpasses even those that took place during the Schwarzenegger administration. Since January 1, over 11,000,000 fish, including nearly 9,000,000 Sacramento splittail, have been "salvaged" in the Delta death pumps. This year is expected to set a new record for water exports via the state and federal pumping facilities.
Likewise, rather than suspending or halting the corrupt MLPA process and implementing a policy of true, wholistic marine protection, the Brown administration has continued forward with a process that has violated numerous state, federal and international laws. In fact, the Coastside Fishing Club, United Anglers of Southern California and Bob Fletcher have to date won three legal victories in a lawsuit against the initiative.
Finally, the Brown administration has joined Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) process to build a peripheral canal to meet the so-called "coequal goals" of water supply and ecosystem restoration. A coalition of Delta residents, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, family farmers, the Winnemem Wintu and other California Indian Tribes, local officials and environmental justice communities is opposing the peripheral canal's construction because it would lead to the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other imperiled fish species.
Not only will the BDCP lead to the extinction of endangered and threatened fish populations, but it will take large tracts of Delta farmland, among the most fertile and productive on the planet, out of production in a fake "habitat restoration" scheme so that water can be delivered to irrigate drainage-impaired land on the San Joaquin Valley's west side.
So while Schwarzenegger may now commission statues to commemorate his "heroic" status, his legacy of corporate greenwashing and environmental destruction sadly continues in the water and environmental policies embraced by the Brown and Obama administrations.
An Associated Press report on Tuesday, August 9 revealed that Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Governor from November 2003 through 2010, could face legal action for recently smoking a cigar at Salzburg Airport in Austria.
"Was it lit or was it cold?" the article asked. "The status of a cigar in Arnold Schwarzenegger's mouth at an Austrian airport could decide whether or not he faces legal action."
"Smoking at airports is banned in Austria and an anti-smoking lobby said Tuesday it plans to launch a suit against the former California governor for puffing on a stogie after arriving in June at Salzburg Airport," AP continued (http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/09/3826143/was-it-lit-arnie-could-be-charged.html).
It is doubtful whether anything will come of this latest episode of the long, sordid saga of the "Governator," arguably the worst Governor in California history for fish, fishing communities and the environment.
"Salzburg municipal legal expert Josef Goldberger told state broadcaster ORF that Arnie can ignore any requests from authorities in his homeland to respond since the charge is not covered by treaties," AP noted.
Mainstream media refused to cover Schwarzenegger regime's biggest scandal
While the mainstream media makes a big deal out of this latest "scandal" about Schwarzenegger and the covert relationship with his maid that resulted in the birth of a son, AP and others persistently neglected to cover the much more newsworthy and scandalous war that Schwarzenegger waged against Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations, fishing communities and Indian Tribes during his regime.
Instead, the mainstream media and corporate environmental NGOs falsely portrayed Schwarzenegger as the "Green Governor," greenwashing his abysmal environmental policies that violated numerous state, federal and international laws.
Schwarzenegger in 2010 received awards for his "green" leadership from NRDC, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the "Beautiful Earth Group," and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper, and others in a carefully orchestrated campaign to greenwash his legacy before he left office.
In spite of the claims of his collaborators, Schwarzenegger's true legacy is the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, young striped bass, Sacramento splittail and other fish populations spurred by record water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from 2003 to 2006.
Rather than taking the necessary measures to restore these imperiled fish populations, Schwarzenegger tried to make things even worse by attacking the biological opinion protecting Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River spring and winter run chinook salmon, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whales, along with the biological opinion protecting the endangered Delta smelt.
He relentlessly campaigned for a peripheral canal through the Delta Vision and Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) processes and the November 2009 water bond/water policy package. Meanwhile, he fast-tracked a corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative that does nothing to "protect" the ocean from water pollution, oil drilling and spills, military testing, corporate aquaculture, habitat destruction and other human uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
When Schwarzenegger left office on January 2, 2011 after waging an unprecedented war on California fish populations and fishing communities, millions celebrated his departure.
Arnold's true environmental record exposed
Schwarzenegger's real environmental legacy is much different from how Schwarzenegger and his collaborators portray it. What was his actual environmental record? (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/05/18/schwarzenegger-screwed-fish-fishermen-and-tribes/)
• Schwarzenegger allowed the Department of Water Resources to pump record levels of water out of the Delta from 2003 to 2007, resulting in the Central Valley salmon and California Delta pelagic species collapses.The largest annual water export levels in history occurred in 2003 (6.3 million acre feet), 2004 (6.1 MAF), 2005 (6.5 MAF) and 2006 (6.3 MAF). Exports averaged 4.6 MAF annually between 1990 and 1999 and increasing to an average of 6 MAF between 2000 and 2007, a rise of almost 30 percent, according to the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
• He constantly attacked two federal biological opinions, released in 2009, protecting Delta smelt, Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whales.
• His administration did nothing while tens of thousands of striped bass, Sacramento blackfish, Sacramento splittail and other species perished during a levee repair project at Prospect Island in the California Delta in November 2007.
• He vetoed numerous environmental bills, including vetoing a badly needed bill sponsored by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) in 2008 that would provide for emergency fish rescue plans on the Delta.
• He consistently slashed funding for game wardens in the field while California has the lowest ratio of wardens to residents of any state in the nation.
• His administration directed the Central Valley Regional Water Control Board to continue to grant waivers to agricultural polluters, in spite of the dire condition of Delta fisheries.
• Since 2004, he fast-tracked the controversial, privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, a fiasco ridden with conflicts of interest, institutional racism and corruption. Rather than creating marine protected areas that truly protect the ocean, this initiative kicks sustainable fishermen and gatherers off the water while refusing to deal with pollution, coastal development, military testing, wave energy projects and other human uses of the ocean that imperil marine life and ecosystems.
• As Schwarzenegger fast-tracked the privately-funded MLPA fiasco, he twice vetoed two crab pot limit bills needed to preserve California crab fisheries.
• Schwarzenegger introduced a bill that would allow the lame-duck Governor to choose 25 development projects each year that would be exempt from the state's strict standards under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (http://www.ecovote.org/blog/?p=1674).
• The Governor's Office of Pesticide Regulation on December 1, 2010 inexplicably approved methyl iodide to replace the soil fumigant methyl bromide, even though methyl iodide is even more toxic to animals, fish and people than methyl bromide (http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/04/3231811/inexplicably-state-approves-new.html).
Schwarzenegger's water policies led by peripheral canal campaign
However, the "crown jewel" of Schwarzenegger's water policies was his campaign to build a peripheral canal/canal and new dams through his Delta Vision and Bay Delta Conservation Plan processes. This construction of a canal/tunnel, estimated to cost anywhere from $23 to $53.8 billion, is likely to lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other species.
In his zeal to build the canal, Schwarzenegger tried to sabotage the campaign by the Klamath, Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes, fishermen and environmentalists to remove four Klamath River dams by including $250 million for Klamath River dam removal in an unpopular water bond that creates the infrastructure for a peripheral canal and new dams. Because it would have faced certain defeat at the polls last November, Schwarzenegger and the Legislative leadership postponed the water bond until November 2012.
In addition, the Schwarzenegger administration granted agribusiness permits to divert water from the Scott and Shasta rivers, resulting in the de-watering of these Klamath River tributaries at tremendous risk to endangered coho salmon. Schwarzenegger's "scorched earth" policy towards the Scott and Shasta forced Earthjustice to file a lawsuit against the Department of Fish and Game on behalf of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, Klamath Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club, the Quartz Valley Indian Tribe, Northcoast Environmental Center and Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC).
While his record regarding fishery and water issues is arguably the worst of any Governor in California history, Schwarzenegger's portrayal by the mainstream media and corporate environmental NGOs as a relentless advocate for "clean energy" is also very deceptive. Former Senator Sheila Kuel eloquently exposed the myth of the "Jolly Green Giant" in her article, "A Lame Duck Governor Fabricates A Hoped-For Legacy," in the California Progress Report on July 29, 2010 (http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/8010
Brown administration continues Arnold's policies
Unfortunately, Governor Jerry Brown and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird are forging ahead with the three most notorious environmental policies of the Schwarzenegger regime - the Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build a peripheral canal, the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative to create questionable "marine protected areas," and the massive export of northern California water to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies that has resulted in record numbers of Sacramento splittail and other fish species perishing at the state and federal water project Delta pumping facilities this year.
An astounding 8,966,976 splittail, 35,556 chinook salmon, 430,289 striped bass, 54,412 largemouth bass, 69,383 bluegill, 76,570 white catfish, 28,301 channel catfish, 233,174 threadfin shad, 264,171 American shad, 1,642 steelhead and 51 Delta smelt were "salvaged" in the state and federal water export facilities from January 1 to August 2, 2011, according to Department of Fish and Game (DFG) data.
However, the overall loss of fish in and around the State Water Project and Central Valley Project facilities is believed to dwarf the actual salvage counts, according to "A Review of Delta Fish Population Losses from Pumping Operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta," prepared by Larry Walker Associates in January 2010 for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (http://www.srcsd.com/pdf/dd/fishlosses.pdf).
The staggering losses of Sacramento splittail and other fish species in the death pumps of the state and federal water projects on the California Delta are taking place as the Brown and Obama administrations export record volumes of water to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies, continuing the fish killing legacy of the Schwarzenegger administration.
To read an excellent investigative piece by Patrick Porgans and Lloyd Carter about the legacy of Gov. Edmund G. "Pat" Brown and his two children, current Gov. Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown and Kathleen Brown, and their connection to public bonds, budget deficits, the Bay-Delta Estuary conflict, and the November 2012 water bond measure, go to: http://www.lloydgcarter.com/co...
Representatives of the Metropolitan Water District, State Water Contractors Association and San Luis Delta-Mendota Water Authority are holding closed-door meetings with Brown and Obama administration officials to create a finance plan for construction of the peripheral canal or tunnel, Restore the Delta revealed today.
This canal/tunnel, a key component of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), will divert Sacramento River water away from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to corporate agribusiness interests on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water agencies. Schwarzenegger relentlessly campaigned for the canal through the BDCP and Delta Vision processes while he was Governor - and the Brown and Obama administrations have decided to continue Schwarzenegger's abysmal environmental legacy.
In a public meeting of the BDCP in Sacramento on April 25, John Laird, Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, committed the agency to making the BDCP more inclusive of all of the stakeholders - and acknowledged the problems with the Schwarzenegger administration's requirement that participants sign an agreement agreeing to support the construction of the peripheral canal/tunnel.
"I believe that we cannot move forward without listening to the stakeholders around the state," said Laird. "The status quo on the Delta is unsustainable. There is no one from any group that believes in the status quo."
As recently as June, Jerry Meral, who has been given charge by the Brown Administration to lead the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, assured public participants that all processes underway through the BDCP were "open and transparent," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta.
However, video from the June 28, 2011 Metropolitan Water District Special Committee on the Bay Delta confirms that water contractors, including Metropolitan Water District's General Manager Roger Patterson, are already working with Department of Water Resources and Bureau of Reclamation officials to create the finance plan for new conveyance, said Barrigan-Parrilla. The meeting can be heard athttp://mwdh2o.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=12&clip_id=1630 , minute 36.
Barrigan-Parrilla points out, "The BDCP website describes work on project financing as not beginning until the fall of 2011 after determinations are made regarding benefits of new water deliveries for State and Federal Water Contractors. However, as we have always suspected, those who want to take additional water away from Northern California and the Delta are crafting a finance plan without California tax payer and/or rate payer input."
"How much more are urban water users in San Diego and Los Angeles willing to pay for water in order to finance this project?" asks California Delta Chambers Executive Director Bill Wells. "Can Central Valley farmers afford to farm if the price of water triples and quadruples to pay for a canal? And how much of the financial burden will be shifted to tax payers to cover the astronomical costs for environmental mitigation to the Delta?"
Barrigan-Parrilla maintains that Californians are being "hit very hard with cutbacks in education and essential services due to budget cuts." Therefore, Californians should have a say when it comes to large expenditures like building a canal or tunnel through the Delta - even if they will be asked only to finance a part of the project.
"The conflict between the Brown Administration's assertion that the Bay Delta Conservation plan is an open and transparent process and the real ongoing practice of dealing with the most important aspects of the BDCP in private is alarming," she states.
Barrigan-Parrilla asks, "Shouldn't these types of meetings on financing the Bay Delta Conservation Plan be noticed and open to the public? Why the secrecy if there is nothing to hide?"
As an independent investigative journalist who has uncovered conflicts of interest and violations of numerous laws under Schwarzenegger's BDCP, Delta Vision and Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative fiascos, I concur with Barrigan-Parrilla. If the water contractors indeed have nothing to hide, they should abide by Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, the Brown Act and other state laws and open all of their meetings to the public.
A broad coalition of recreational and commercial fishing groups, Indian Tribes, grassroots environmental organizations, family farmers, environmental justice advocates and Delta residents oppose the construction of the peripheral canal - "Arnold's Big Ditch" - because it would likely lead to the extinction of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations.
"Most Delta farmers and residents oppose the BDCP not only because it would devastate fish populations and the fishing industry, but because it puts ALL of the burden on the Primary Zone of the Delta and Sacramento River watershed for habitat restoration and mitigation for Southern California's diversion of water," added Karen Medders, a resident of Clarksburg in the North Delta and peripheral canal opponent.
The BDCP process to build a peripheral canal is a parallel process to the MLPA Initiative to create a network of controversial "marine protected areas" off the California coast. The promoters of both processes claim that they are "open and transparent" - when they are anything but.
The Brown and Obama administrations are going ahead with Arnold Schwarzenegger's plans to build a peripheral canal/tunnel by meeting with water exporters in closed-door meetings. Meanwhile, the Brown administration continues to forge ahead with the MLPA Initiative, in spite of the violations of state, federal and international laws that have occurred under the process, funded privately by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation.
George Osborn, spokesman for a coalition of recreational fishing organizations, presented a 25 page document documenting illegal private, non-public meetings of Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) officials to the California Fish and Game Commission during its meeting on February 2 in Sacramento. United Anglers of Southern California, the Coastside Fishing Club and Bob Fletcher, members of the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), filed suit in San Diego Superior Court in late January, seeking to overturn South Coast and North Central Coast MLPA closures, alleging violations of the State Administrative Procedure Act.
During his brief public testimony, Osborn exposed the corruption and violations of law by the MLPA's Blue Ribbon Task Force (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7_04BC1acA).
"After reviewing the documents turned over to us, which previously the BRTF had improperly withheld from the public, we now have evidence, indicating that the public meetings of the BRTF have been an elaborately staged Kabuki performance, choreographed and rehearsed down to the last detail, even to the crafting of motions, in scheduled private meetings held before the so-called public meetings of the BRTF," said Osborn. "Clearly, this has not been the most open and transparent process, as it has so often been described."
In both the case of the BDCP and the MLPA, we are definitely seeing a classic case of, "Meet the new boss - same as the old boss," as The Who sang many years ago.
As these two controversial processes proceed, the carnage continues at the state and federal water export pumps on the Delta. An alarming 8,538,859 Sacramento splittail and 35,202 Central Valley chinook salmon were "salvaged" in the Delta pumping facilities from January 1, 2011 to June 26, 2011. The number of splittail, a native minnow, salvaged to date is greater than in any previous years since the federal and state governments started keeping records on splittail in 1993.
For more information, contact: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Phone: 209-479-2053, Restore the Delta, 10100 Trinity Pkwy, Suite 120, Stockton, CA, 95219, web: www.restorethedelta.org, email: Barbara [at] Restorethedelta.org
The quote of the week goes to Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, which is just out with a poll that shows Arnold Schwarzenegger with a 75% disapproval rating among voters and with 90% of Los Angeles residents rejecting him.
Today California's Democratic state lawmakers announced a budget plan to keep their paychecks coming that included one of the worst ideas Arnold Schwarzenegger had since impregnating his kids' nanny.
Gov. Schwarzenegger has been pretty quiet since he left the Horseshoe. However, that doesn't mean the muscle builder doesn't have some pretty interesting thoughts running around that very interesting brain. Fortunately, after his first interview went to Entertainment Weekly about his Governator cartoon/comic book project. He sat down for another interview in London recently, and Newsweek got some interesting dish out of the the "Governator" on a few more items of interest to us here.
While this is basically rehashing what we already know, that this is coming from Arnold makes it interesting, I suppose:
"She kind of took herself out of the game," Schwarzenegger said. "What she did was play to the right, and she couldn't come back for the general election to grab the center .... Brown was very smart to do exactly the opposite of what she did - which was to say, 'I'm not a rich guy, all I have is my knowledge and experience, and I don't need to cater to anyone, I will do what is right for California.' She was not as effective as a communicator, and her ideas were too extreme." (Newsweek, via LAT)
What he is basically saying is that Whitman just didn't manage expectations as well as he did. Now, by the end of his time in the Horseshoe, the people of California were pretty much done with him. Perhaps it would have been interesting to see a showdown between Brown and Schwarzenegger, but the odds would surely be as least as stacked against the incumbent as they were against his perceived logical ideological heir, Whitman. While we all now understand that Arnold was kind of hissing at her behind her back, the Brown campaign did an extraordinary job at tying her to the incumbent.
Elsewhere in the interview, beyond the effusive praise from former Secretary of State and longtime Arnold confidante George Schultz and the suggestion that he become the next President of the European Union, he tried to explain the situation with former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez's son and the fact that Arnold commuted his sentence down to seven years.
"I understand people's disappointments. I understand the parents' anger. I would probably feel the same way," Schwarzenegger tells me in his first public comment on the commutation, which he granted hours before leaving office, arguing that his friend's son didn't inflict the fatal wound. "My office definitely made a mistake in not notifying the parents beforehand ... and I'm ultimately responsible." But, Schwarzenegger adds, "I feel good about the decision ... I happen to know the kid really well. I don't apologize about it ... There's criticism out there. I think it's just because of our working relationship and all that. It maybe was kind of saying, 'That's why he did it.' Well, hello! I mean, of course you help a friend."
In the end, Arnold was close to Fabian, so it's no real surprise. He did it on the last day, well, because that's when that sort of stuff happens. But at this point, unless something extraordinary comes along, I just can't see Arnold getting back into politics. He'd have to be some sort of superstar executive. Perhaps the only place left for him is the EU presidency, because he's sure not going to win any elections around here anytime soon.
Since 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger repeatedly used wildly inflated claims of a "drought" to campaign for the peripheral canal and new dams to facilitate the export of California Delta water to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies.
Schwarzenegger and the agribusiness lobby also used the "drought" and the alleged creation of a "New Dust Bowl" on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley as a major talking point in attacking the federal government plans (biological opinions) to protect Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River winter and spring-run chinook salmon, green sturgeon, Delta smelt and the southern resident population of killer whales from extinction.
Now Schwarzenegger's successor, Jerry Brown, today finally proclaimed the official end of the drought.
"Following significant increases in statewide rainfall and mountain snowpack this season, Governor Jerry Brown today proclaimed an end to the state's drought, but urged Californians to keep conserving water as we move into the spring and summer months," according to statement from the Governor's office.
"While this season's storms have lifted us out of the drought, it's critical that Californians continue to watch their water use," Brown said. "Drought or no drought, demand for water in California always outstrips supply. Continued conservation is key."
Brown said today's announcement follows the fourth snow survey of the season, conducted by the Department of Water Resources (DWR), which found that water content in California's mountain snowpack is 165 percent of the April 1 full season average.
A majority of the state's major reservoirs are also above normal storage levels. Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project's principal reservoir, is 104 percent of average for the date (80 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity).
Lake Shasta north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project's largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is at 111 percent of average (91 percent of capacity).
DWR estimates it will be able to deliver 70 percent of requested State Water Project (SWP) water this year. The estimate likely will be adjusted upward as hydrologists make adjustments for snowpack and runoff readings.
"Given the heavy water inflow from the series of storms that have swept across California, the state's flood managers are monitoring high river flows and making flood control releases from reservoirs to maintain storage space," Brown noted.
Governor Brown's Proclamation officially rescinds Executive Order S-06-08, issued by Schwarzenegger on June 4, 2008 and ends the States of Emergency called by Schwarzenegger on June 12, 2008, and on February 27, 2009.
Now that Brown has officially declared the drought over, corporate agribusiness, southern California water agencies and their political allies will no longer have the "drought" to use in their fear-based campaign to build the peripheral canal/tunnel and new dams, to strip Endangered Species Act protections from Central Valley salmon and Delta fish and to increase export pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
Now that the drought is officially over, they will have to use a new excuse for building the peripheral canal and new dams at a time when California is in its greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. What will be their new battle cry in their campaign to build the canal and new surface storage: the "urgent" need to stop the threat of catastrophic flooding from too much water going down the Central Valley and other rivers? Will their new slogan be: "Prevent Flooding: Build the Peripheral Canal And New Dams"?
For additional information on California's water supply, please visit the Department of Water Resources website at: http://www.water.ca.gov.
The Governor's proclamation, signed today, is copied below:
A PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
WHEREAS on June 4, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S-06-08, which proclaimed a statewide drought, and ordered executive branch entities to take immediate action to address the water shortage; and,
WHEREAS on June 12, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger proclaimed a State of Emergency for nine Central Valley counties because the drought had caused conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property; and,
WHEREAS on February 27, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger proclaimed a State of Emergency for the entire state as the severe drought conditions continued and the impacts were well beyond the Central Valley; and,
WHEREAS the Department of Water Resources today conducted the fourth snow survey of the season and found that water content in California's mountain snowpack is 165 percent of the season average; and,
WHEREAS a majority of California's major reservoirs are above normal storage levels; and,
WHEREAS Lake Oroville, the State Water Project's principal reservoir, is 104 percent of average, and Lake Shasta, the federal Central Valley Project's largest reservoir, is at 111 percent of average; and,
WHEREAS the Department of Water Resources estimates it will be able to deliver 70 percent of the requested State Water Project water this year, and this estimate is likely to be adjusted upward after additional snowpack and runoff readings; and,
WHEREAS I am advised by the appropriate agencies of the State of California that current conditions warrant the termination of Executive Order S-06-08 and ending the States of Emergency called on June 12, 2008, and on February 27, 2009.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, in accordance with the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the State of California, do hereby PROCLAIM THE DROUGHT TO BE AT AN END.
I FURTHER DIRECT that state and public agencies cease all further activities in reliance on Executive Order S-06-08 and the States of Emergency called on June 12, 2008, and February 27, 2009, and that Executive Order S-06-08 and the drought State of Emergency proclamations are terminated.
IT IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED that all Californians continue to minimize water usage and engage in water conservation efforts.
I FURTHER DIRECT that as soon as hereafter possible, this proclamation be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and that widespread publicity and notice be given to this proclamation.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 30th day of March 2011.
__________________________________
EDMUND G. BROWN JR.
Governor of California
ATTEST:
__________________________________
DEBRA BOWEN
Secretary of State
This special Delta "Stewardship" Council report by Brett Baker, along with editorial comments by Restore the Delta staff, is very enlightening about what is going on with the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. "It certainly shows that if Delta residents don't speak up about their homes, farms, communities, fisheries, Delta related businesses and their way of lives, all could be lost to a bunch of people more interested in selling water and growing low value crops and crops for export at our expense," said Roger Mammon Restore the Delta board member.
Fishermen, family farmers, Indian Tribe members, environmentalists and other concerned people are fighting efforts by the Brown and Obama administrations to build a peripheral canal to export more water to southern California water agencies and corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. We must not allow the state and federal governments, under pressure by water privateers, developers, agribusiness and other corporate operatives, to build a canal that is likely to result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other imperiled species.
Dan
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World"
-Tears for Fears
Special DSC report by Brett Baker; Editorial comments by RTD staff
Grab a cup of tea. This is a detailed rocounting of what is happening with the Delta Stewardship Council. We have tried to define acronyms to best of our ability.
Choose your words carefully
The Delta Stewardship Council held its most recent meeting in the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg. Maybe they heard that it was a cool hangout.
From the Council side of the discussion it was apparent that they were still trying to come to grips with their time line and legislative directive to produce a meaningful, defined and beneficial Delta Plan. There is still a substantial amount of uncertainty regarding the Council's role in regulating California's water system, and folks on both sides of the table are struggling to gain a better understanding of the scope of the council's authority under the language of the legislation.
Two panel discussions were scheduled for the Thursday meeting. They were listed as "Focused Panel Discussions" on the agenda, so I will try and keep this summary and analysis as focused as possible.
The morning panel's discussion was to focus on the Ecosystem of the Delta. The discussion in my opinion was more focused "around" the ecosystem as panelists were questioned, rather explicitly, on building a northern intake, determining the agricultural value of the Delta as a place, and deciding how best to carry out restoration efforts in the Delta.
The Panel consisted of Roger Patterson (Metropolitan Water District), Carl Wilcox (California Department of Fish and Game), Bill Bennett (UC Davis), Gary Bobker (The Bay Institute), and Leo Winternitz (The Nature Conservancy). Russell Van Loben Sels, a local Delta farmer, was listed on the agenda, but wasn't able to attend.
(Van Loben Sels has been out of the country and doesn't recall being invited to participate. He doesn't appear to have been a confirmed speaker, and there doesn't appear to have been any attempt on the part of panel organizers to find another Delta farmer for the panel. That's too bad. Plenty of Delta people in-the-know could have provided a local perspective on the Delta ecosystem to balance all those outside-the-Delta views.)
Fish Guru Bill Bennett of UC Davis Spoke most freely and directly addressed the flawed premises behind much of the science the BDCP and other faux scientific reports that have been coming out about the Delta. Each individual body has a view of the Delta in the future, and that view biases their reports. Bennett told the Council that they need to define what it is that they want for the Delta.
Bennett prefaced his remarks with a statement of his own assumption that we intend to have Chinook Salmon in the system in the future. He was serious, and I commend him for it. He suggested many areas where there is room for improvement. As an example, he mentioned the current status of our hatchery techniques and the potential for improvement, citing a need for expanding the diversity in techniques for releasing and acclimating fish into the river system.
Some of the panelists brought outlines of their talking points.
Carl Wilcox (CDFG) brought in a list of Fish and Game's top three priorities:
Change the point of diversion for water exports from the Delta to the Sacramento River
Improve and increase tributary inflow to provide more natural hydrology within the Delta
Increase the amount of intertidal and floodplain habitat within the Delta as identified in Bay Delta Conservation Plan and Ecosystem Restoration Program Plan (ERP, formally CALFED ERP).
But when council members noted that both BDCP and CALFED seemed to lack justification for their goals and objectives, and asked Wilcox for some scientific or biological justification for DCFG's objectives, Wilcox responded that these were longstanding policies of the Department. When asked for a graph, figure or page number where such justification could be found in any of the millions of pages of scientific literature or bureaucratic reports, he could provide none. "It doesn't exist" was his only response.
Leo Winternitz (The Nature Conservancy) brought in some "Draft recommendations to address Delta Habitat Restoration Needs (Based on BDCP Habitat Restoration Objectives)." The two pager contained numerical acreage targets for restoration, with timelines for implementation, but was silent on the mechanism by which the lands should be obtained and what the justification for the targets was. They may just as well have been conjured out of thin air. It also made me question their math skills.
But let's go over the targets for kicks:
90,000 acres of aquatic habitat:
65k acres tidal marsh
10K acres floodplain
5K acres Riparian Habitat
40 miles of channel margin habitat
at least 10K acres Seasonal and Managed Wetlands
up 200 acres vernal pool complex
As for terrestrial habitat:
· 2K acres Grassland communities
· up to 32K Agricultural habitat, mitigation and preservation
At one point in the discussion, the Council solicited examples of regulations the panelists would implement if they were in the Council's position. Oddly enough, panelists struggled and balked. When asked for some scientific backing for the recommendations he had spent the last half hour expounding upon, Winternitz was only able to point to a picture from the Delta Vision Report (as if he had forgotten that the DSC chair's name was on the by-line of the report) and spout some thoughts on what could be extrapolated from the photo, which seemed hardly enough to justify continuing the conversation.
I find it worth noting that when questioned about the appropriateness of the Legislatively-created Delta Conservancy being the exclusive body to carry out restoration projects, it was quickly pointed out that the law said "a" and not "the" body responsible for the work. This was supported by CDFG saying they didn't see the Conservancy as being the "exclusive" body either.
[Restore the Delta is vehemently opposed to the governmental taking of lands for the use of habitat restoration or mitigation for past or future project operations. We believe that Delta communities are as deserving of protection as Delta fisheries. We maintain that the best plan for the Delta is the creation of a world class region where profitable, sustainable agriculture and habitat thrive together. The Delta holds the blueprint for sustainability within its past and its future.
Government agencies and other non-governmental agencies involved in the "Delta planning industry" bring nothing but economic harm to the Delta community by talking endlessly about taking 100,000 acres of Delta farmland out of production and by waving their maps and plans around at press conferences and agency meetings. Perhaps this is their intent - transforming the Delta from a unique and thriving region with need for some improvement (like most places)-into a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. But we also know that this approach will backfire on its promoters.
We recommend to the DSC and other governmental agencies that existing state lands (about 60,000 acres) be used first for wetlands habitat for fisheries. In addition, we find much merit in Dr. Robert Pyke's idea that sunken islands like Frank's Tract should be restored for fish habitat purposes.
Beyond those efforts, which would go a long way toward creating habitat, Restore the Delta believes that opportunities exist over time for habitat creation as part of upgraded levees. (It seems that most other countries in the world have figured out how to put habitat on secure levee banks along rivers; we should be able to do the same.) And if local farmers voluntarily make land sacrifices for habitat creation on their levees or elsewhere, they should be compensated.
We have spent years and may millions of dollars supporting Central Valley farmers with cheap water deliveries and other subsidies for growing cotton and almonds for export. Compensating farmers for helping with the restoration of Chinook Salmon, which we once canned at 5 million pounds per year in the Delta, seems to us a better use of public money. After all Delta fruit and veggies, wine, and salmon is the food of the gods - or at least the food of California culture - and are essential to a safe, secure, and sustainable local food supply.]
Back to the DSC story, Roger Patterson of Metropolitan Water district was on the panel as well, and as he was on the outer reaches of his expertise (I was unaware he qualified as an ecosystem expert), he kept his comments limited but focused. He promoted the findings of the most recent PPIC report and repeatedly urged the council to "ensure BDCP get plugged in." He pointed out that there were restraints on the Council's Authority with respect to a conveyance recommendation, saying that in his view the Council's Delta Plan should be a backdrop for BDCP. You can't blame the guy for doing his job.
The gravity of the law in the enabling legislation brings this discussion back to Earth. The Council seems well aware of the fact that they have been handed a monumental task to be completed on a ludicrously truncated time schedule. The guiding legislation did not sufficiently empower the Council to tackle all of the issues that face California's water system
Solving California's water problems is a task some on the council have watched go uncompleted for the better part of three decades (CALFED) at an astronomical cost to the taxpayers of our state and nation. Solving them in less than a year just isn't possible, and if the initial drafts of the Delta Plan are any indication of what they intend to produce, I would suggest that they try and be a bit more selective with the quality of their words and less focused on the quantity. It would be a shame should all this time, money and resources go into yet another empty report that summarizes what is wrong with the system but offers no real world, on-the-ground.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
The afternoon panel contained five folks chosen to lead a focused discussion on their thoughts on Providing a More Reliable Water Supply for California. Although much of what folks had in the way of recommendations sounded good in theory, there was a real lack of specifics that could be utilized by the council.
Recommendations from Ellen Hanak (Public Policy Institute of California) were a bit too grandiose (i.e. regulate ground water use, urban/ag conservation, conveyance), shifting the focus away from tangible goals and dragging some of the discussion into an economic Never-Never Land. In this fantasy realm, as long as you can sell water at a profit, it is economically beneficial and therefore intrinsically "good."
So the Council should aid in facilitating the long-term sale of water from agricultural uses to urban allocations, phasing out and reducing the production of what Hanak describes as low value agriculture crops. Later on, Phil Isenberg pointed out that having government facilitate the transfer of water from one region to another to be sold to the highest bidder might just sound bad to some people.
Council member Randy Fiorini asked Hanak why she recommended the State Water Resources Control Board be the body to implement groundwater regulation as opposed to more local and voluntary compliance as in AB 3030. She responded that things would have to get really bad before there would be sufficient participation in voluntary compliance. She said that what she was proposing wasn't an adjudicatory action, but conceded that that might be the end result.
David Guy (Northern California Association of Water Agencies) spoke of optimization of public resources while adding that restoring a historic hydrograph was unrealistic. He called for "stabilization" of the Delta. I'm not sure what he meant by that, but I'm also pretty sure that isn't what the legislation called for. He promoted the most recent PPIC report, then went on to give some lip service to promoting regional sustainability and the role of "supporting actors" outside the legal Delta.
Guy also talked about stabilizing the Delta, this time on levees, and prompted an inquiry from Gloria Gray about levee prioritization, which made me wonder:
There is some logical difficulty for arguing that the Delta is such an invaluable hub of the vast network that is California 's water system, worthy of all the attention, public resources, and political debate and gridlock, while Delta Levee Maintenance funding sits in limbo. Improving the reliability of Delta levees and therefore the conveyance of water down our state could be achieved at a fraction of the cost of all the studies, reports, theoretical discussions, and public outreach.
The panel agreed that nothing is going to happen on the ground in the way of constructing conveyance for some 15-20 years at the very least (I'd say indefinitely, but everyone's entitled to their own opinion). Delta levees need maintaining in the future, so I would think that it would be in everyone's best interest to continue the funding of ongoing projects in the Delta. I hope to hear the Council recommend the same.
Jonas Minton (Planning and Conservation League) spoke well on his outlined "Top Four Actions To Achieve Co-equal Objectives."
Get the SWRCB to start updating flow standards now for existing conveyance and set standards for new conveyance.
Prioritize Delta levees for improvement and approve funding consistent with those priorities.
Call upon BDCP and other stakeholders to conduct due diligence review of a 3,000 c.f.s. conveyance.
Work with Delta interests and other including Metropolitan Water District and Westlands on phased restoration projects.
Kamyar Guivetchi (DWR) spoke on the need for increased government oversight and data in pursuit of actually getting something accomplished. Good Luck! He also went on to lobby for the creation of what he referred to as the "Water Resources Investment Fund" to increase system wide efficiency and leverage funds in Integrated Regional Water Management Planning (IRWMP) to promote regional self-sufficiency.
Jason Peltier (Westlands Water District) took time to critique the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and regulatory cutbacks of water deliveries. He had a graphic showing CVP Storage vs Agriculture Service Allocation (1952-2010). Initial and final agriculture service allocations lined up nicely until 1989.
Then the effects of a drought kicked in; winter run salmon were put on the ESA list; and the Central Valley Project Improvement Act re-allocated over one million acre feet from historic uses to the environment. CVP operators and managers have been skittish ever since, delaying allocation decisions. On the surface, this seems to affect cropping decisions, but not enough to slow down Westlands' replacement of annual crops with permanent tree crops.
DSC member Patrick Johnson requested total water use (project and ground water) data and cropping patterns from Peltier, who agreed to provide them.
Peltier then started out with a promising commentary on Delta levees, conceding that there has never been a levee failure in the Delta due to an earthquake, that risk potential and figures in DRMS may have been exaggerated, and that a Do Not Resuscitate list of Delta islands was helpful only for the sake of discussion. Then he digressed to a contradictory discussion about the inevitability of a changing delta landscape and "letting islands go" in the future, just as we have in the past (i.e. Franks Tract).Peltier defended the construction and design of a 15K cfs facility because " We're settled on 15,000."
He went on to urge the council to divide their Plan into two sections: 1) a report and recommended actions in the Delta, and 2) other recommendations for areas outside the Delta. I believe that's where issues like groundwater regulation and selenium impaired agriculture run-off would get lost in the discussion if he were full in charge.
At the end, Peltier appealed to his base one last time. He called for existing agencies to "do their jobs," lashing out at fish agencies for having a narrow-minded pump-centric view of the world and expounding that the "little genius" to be found in BDCP was their earth-shattering ability to look at a suite of stressors. Genius? In BDCP? Well I guess, if genius is about holding onto dated ideas from the past. And, of course, we must consider the source.
This is fairly consistent with numbers that we've seen in the past, but PPP has just released their own data showing a majority favoring full marriage equality.
-The tide is turning in support of gay marriage in California. 51% of voters in the state now think it should be legal while 40% think it should remain illegal. It was just a little over 2 years ago that the state passed Proposition 8 but these numbers are reflective of a general liberalization in the views of Americans toward same sex marriage. (PPP)
The numbers get even better when you pull out senior citizens at 53-38. It is only a matter of time before we have full marriage equality in California and, eventually, the nation.
Oh, and they also tested a retrospective on the 2003 recall, and guess what, Californians wish they hadn't done that. By a 42-32 margin, voters would have refrained from recalling Davis. Too bad we can't take back the past seven years and the havoc the Governator wrought.
The results rolled out yesterday, finding to (hopefully) nobody's surprise that DiFi "stomps the field." The full pdf of results are here, where PPP doubled down on the dire, declaring "No hope for Whitman, Fiorina, Arnold, anyone."
Before abandoning us for the Emerald City, Robert had an excellent series breaking down the long-term realignment that's settling in in California, and these PPP numbers certainly reflect that. But it goes beyond simply an overwhelming lead for DiFi due to her perpetually superhuman support. PPP, through their own calculations and twitter suggestions, couldn't come up with a single potential Republican candidate that hasn't already run a statewide campaign.
And of all those tested- Tom Campbell, Carly Fiorina, Darrell Issa, Steve Poizner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Meg Whitman- only Campbell managed a net positive approval rating (+3). And he only pulled that off by being notably less known than the rest of the field.
Arnold's at negative 40. eMeg a solid minus-22 and Fiorina at minus-19. A bare majority have an opinion of Steve Poizner, putting him at 13 points to the negative. And of the 48% who have an opinion of Darrell Issa, it's an unfavorable one by a 2-1 margin.
In other words, it's impossible to run statewide as a Republican without alienating people faster than you win them over. It hasn't just left all recent GOP contenders in a deep hole, but it should scare off anyone thinking of using a doomed DiFi challenge as a boost to higher office- just running statewide from the right is a career-ender. The half-dozen California Republicans with leadership positions in the House have no reason to come back and end their careers, and the new House members ought to see these numbers as reason not to bother.
It's a cycle that'll feed on itself as long as the Republican party is set on a dead-ender agenda of hyper-conservative purity.
Sure, Arnold Schwarzenegger has left the Horseshoe, but that doesn't mean that we can just forget about him or what he did to the state. In this case, we're talking about the child care subsidies for parents who have recently left welfare. For this one, there at least seems to be a remedy that gets us through to the next budget. (hopefully)
Assembly Speaker John Pérez will announce today that state officials have found a way to save child care subsidies for 55,000 low-income families - a program that then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to eliminate last year.
The subsidies are available to parents who were formerly on cash assistance but now have jobs or are in school. Supporters had argued that eliminating the subsidies was shortsighted and could ultimately cost taxpayers more than keeping it, because many parents would quit their jobs and apply for welfare if they were unable to afford day care.
Under a plan Pérez will announce today, state officials will use $60 million in child care funds left from previous years to fund the subsidies through March. The program's funding would be restored April 1 under Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposal unveiled this week.(SF Chronicle)
Now, clearly this is a stopgap gimmick, but a necessary one. We really cannot afford to let this program just die for three months. If we are really attempting to get people off of welfare rolls and back in jobs, we can hardly pull the rug out on them so quickly. There has to be an effort to transition off of being a full-time child care provider as a parent to a place where the parent can reasonably afford child care expenses. We can't say we want people to work while at the same time presenting a net loss in money coming into the household if they are working a low-wage job.
CalWorks has been a pretty successful welfare to work program, and that's what the Right has been clamoring for. But, when times get tough, better to squeeze the poor than the rich, right?
UPDATE: Just got the word that the effort worked. Find the full press release (with a timeline) over the flip.
The deal would sell the building that houses the California Supreme Court
Arnold Schwarzenegger was quite keen to get the sale of buildings through before he left office. That's no surprise, considering that Jerry Brown was never really a fan of the deal. His latest statements have been somewhat ambivalent, essentially saying that he wants 30 days to review the deal before he does anything.
But the deal is now rapidly losing investors, and the Bay Citizen (a website you should be reading), notes that in addition to the shrinking pool of investors, there is also the question of who the investors are that are left paying the up-front costs. Well, turns out it isn't that easy to find out:
Most of the members of a shadowy investor group that agreed to finance the sale of tony state office buildings last year appear to have dropped out of the deal, and those that remain are tight-lipped about their involvement in the transaction, which is being challenged in court as an illegal gift of state assets to a group with political pull in Sacramento.
*** **** ***
The identities of the people and companies behind California First LLC have been a mystery. And the increased public scrutiny and court challenges have done little, thus far, to shed light on them. The group declined to participate in the legal battle to close the deal, a stance that Renne finds "extraordinarily unusual. I think, frankly, they cannot stand to see the light of day on their transaction."
The Bay Citizen reporter continued to follow the trail of money, but ended up with more questions than answers. People avoided her calls, said they weren't really helping, merely advising, and generally being unhelpful. That being said, the three "main partners" in the deal have long history in government and ties to past administrations.
Even if you were to look at this deal from a totally outside perspective, without this information, the deal would look like a bad one. We aren't really getting enough money to make this worthwhile. It's a short-term fix for a long-term problem. Oh, and it leaves us with a huge pile of debt to deal with over the next generation. Adding on the mysterious and rather shady nature of this deal, you really have to question Schwarzenegger's motives for this deal.
We still have a while before we get a decision from Gov. Brown, but one hopes that we can once and fully put this stinker of a deal behind us.
The Governor's Office has just announced Brown's appointments, including John Laird to the position of Natural Resources Secretary.
Dan
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Evan Westrup
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
(916) 445-4571
Governor Brown Announces Appointments
SACRAMENTO - Governor Jerry Brown today announced the following appointments.
John Laird, of Santa Cruz, has been appointed Secretary of the California Resources Agency. Most recently, Laird taught in the Environmental Studies Department at UC Santa Cruz. He served six years in the State Assembly, from 2002 to 2008, and was the Assembly Budget Committee Chair from 2004 to 2008. Previously, Laird was a member of the Cabrillo College Board of Trustees from 1994 to 2002. He was the Executive Director for the Santa Cruz AIDS Project from 1991 to 1993. Laird was Mayor and a City Councilmember for the city of Santa Cruz from 1981 to 1990. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $175,000. Laird is a Democrat.
Marty Morgenstern, of Oakland, has been appointed Secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Since 2003, Morgenstern has consulted for the University of California on labor relations matters. He was director of the Department of Personnel Administration from 1999 to 2003. From 1994 to 1999, he worked as a private consultant to various labor organizations. Morgenstern was the Chair of the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley from 1987 to 1994. From 1982 to 1987, he served as a member of the Public Employment Relations Board. Morgenstern served as the Director of the Department of Personnel Administration from 1981 to 1982. In 1975, he was appointed Director of the Governor's Office of Employee Relations by Governor Jerry Brown. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $175,000. Morgenstern is a Democrat.
Mary Nichols, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed Chair of the California Air Resources Board, where she has served since 2007. From 2004 to 2007, Nichols served as director of the Institute of the Environment (IoE) at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she also held faculty appointments as a professor in residence at the School of Law and the School of Public Affairs. Before joining UCLA, she served as secretary for California's Resources Agency from 1999 to 2003. Nichols served as chair of the California Air Resources Board from 1979 to 1983 under Governor Brown and was a member of the CARB beginning in 1975. She served as assistant administrator for Air and Radiation at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Clinton Administration. Compensation for this position is $142,965. Nichols is a Democrat.
Ronald Yank, of Oakland, has been appointed Director of the Department of Personnel Administration. He is a retired labor and employment law attorney. Previously, Yank served as a neutral arbitrator and mediator in the field of labor and employment law from 2007 to 2009 and was a partner at Carroll Burdick & McDonough from 1988 to 2007. Yank was a partner at Neyhart Anderson & Freitas from 1981 to 1988. Previously, he worked at Carroll Burdick & McDonough from 1974 to1981 and became a partner in 1979. Yank was an associate at Neyhart Anderson Grodin & Beeson from 1973 to 1974. He was an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric at UC Berkeley from 1967 to 1971 and worked at the Law Offices of R.J. Engel as an Associate from 1971-1973. Yank has represented bargaining units of state employees including the California Correctional Peace Officers' Association and the CDF Firefighters. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $142,965. Yank is a Democrat.
Brown today also announced the following State Board of Education appointments:
Dr. Carl Anthony Cohn, of Palm Springs, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. He has been a Professor and the Co-Director of the Urban Leadership Program at Claremont Graduate University since 2009. Previously, Cohn served as the Superintendent of Schools for the San Diego Unified School District from 2005 to 2007. He was a Clinical Professor with the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California from 2002 to 2005 and the Superintendent of Schools for the Long Beach Unified School District from 1992 to 2002. Cohn is a member of the Association of California School Administrators. Cohn is a Democrat.
Louis "Bill" Honig, of Marin, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. He has been President of the Consortium on Reading Excellence since 2005. Previously, Honig served as a Visiting Distinguished Professor at San Francisco State University's School of Education from 1993 to 1998. He was the Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1983 to 1993. Honig previously served on the California State Board of Education under Governor Brown from 1975 to 1983. Honig is a Democrat.
Dr. Michael Kirst, of Stanford, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. He currently serves as a Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, where he has taught since 1969. Previously, Kirst served on the California State Board of Education under Governor Brown from 1975 to 1982. Kirst also served as the Director of Program Planning for the U.S. Office of Education and was Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Manpower, Employment, and Poverty from 1967 to 1969. Kirst is a Democrat.
Aida Molina, of Bakersfield, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. She has served as the Executive Director on Academic Improvement and Accountability for Bakersfield City School District since 2005. Previously, Molina was a Commissioner with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing from 2004 to 2007. Molina was a principal with Bakersfield City School District from 2001 to 2005, an elementary school principal with the Sacramento Unified School District from 1999 to 2001, an assistant principal with the Galt Joint Union Elementary School District from 1997 to 1999, and a bilingual teacher from 1992 to 1997. Molina is a member of the Association of School Administrators and the California Association of Bilingual Educators. Molina is a Democrat.
James Ramos, of San Bernardino, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. Ramos has served as the Chairman for the San Manuel Band of Indians since 2008, having previously served as Treasurer, as a member of the Business Committee, and as Chairman of the Tribe's Gaming Commission. Ramos was re-elected in 2010 as a member of the San Bernardino Community College Board of Trustees, where he has served since 2005. He has served as a member and chairperson of the Native American Heritage Commission since 2007. Ramos is a Democrat.
Patricia Ann Rucker, of Elk Grove, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. Since 2008, she has worked as the Legislative Advocate for the California Teachers Association and was a consultant for the California Teachers Association on instruction and professional development from 1997 to 2008. She also served as a teacher in the Del Paso Heights School District from 1983 to 1997. Rucker is a Democrat.
Trish Boyd Williams, of San Jose, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. She has served as the Executive Director for EdSource since 1992. Previously, Williams served as a program consultant to the Director for the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth from 1983 to 1990, and as a Presidential Management Intern and then a Management Analyst for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1979 to 1982. Williams is a Democrat.
State Board of Education appointments require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $100 per diem.
Jerry Brown took office as Governor on January 3 after Arnold Schwarzenegger, the worst Governor for fish and the environment in California history, departed from the position at midnight. One of the major issues that Brown will have to address is Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
During his campaign and after being elected for his third term on November 2, 2010, Brown has remained silent, in the face of questions from reporters, about his plans for the controversial Schwarzenegger program. Will he continue, suspend or cancel the MLPA process? Nobody at this point really knows.
However, you can bet that there will be a big push by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation that funds the initiative and representatives of corporate environmental NGOs to pressure Brown to continue the MLPA on its fast track of environmental injustice.
Since Schwarzenegger privatized the MLPA process in 2004, MLPA officials and their supporters constantly repeated the mantra that the process is "open, transparent and inclusive" and "science-based" as part of a well-funded propaganda campaign to greenwash Schwarzenegger's abysmal environmental legacy.
The proponents of the process refuse to address the many criticisms that advocates of true ocean protection have leveled against the MLPA Initiative. I have challenged MLPA proponents to answer a series of hard questions that cut to the core of the current MLPA process.
However, no MLPA proponents have responded yet to my specific questions, but only continue to repeat their unsubstantiated claims that the Initiative is "open, transparent and inclusive" and that anybody who criticizes the initiative is an opponent of "ocean protection."
I also challenge Brown and the person expected to become the new Natural Resources Secretary, John Laird, to carefully read these questions before making any decisions about the future of the MLPA process.
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is a comprehensive, landmark law that was signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999. The MLPA, as amended in 2004, is very broad in its scope.
The law was intended to not only restrict or prohibit fishing in a network of "marine protected areas," but to restrict or prohibit other human activities including coastal development and water pollution.
"Coastal development, water pollution, and other human activities threaten the health of marine habitat and the biological diversity found in California's ocean waters," the law states in Fish and Game Code Section 2851, section c.
The law also broadly defines a "marine protected area" (MPA) as "a named, discrete geographic marine or estuarine area seaward of the mean high tide line or the mouth of a coastal river, including any area of inertial or sub tidal terrain, together with its overlying water and associated flora and fauna that has been designated by law, administrative action, or voter initiative to protect or conserve marine life and habitat" (Fish and Game Code 2852, section c).
Furthermore, the law also defines a "Marine life reserve," as "a marine protected area in which all extractive activities, including the taking of marine species, and, at the discretion of the commission and within the authority of the commission, other activities that upset the natural ecological functions of the area, are prohibited. While, to the extent feasible, the area shall be open to the public for managed enjoyment and study, the area shall be maintained to the extent practicable in an undisturbed and unpolluted state" (Fish and Game Code 2852, section d).
However, the implementation of the law under Schwarzenegger has become a parody of real marine protection. The MLPA process has taken oil drilling, water pollution, wave energy development, habitat destruction and other human uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table. The MLPA would do nothing to stop another Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon oil disaster from devastating the California coast.
Here are the questions:
Why did Schwarzenegger and MLPA officials install an oil industry lobbyist, a marina developer, a real estate executive and other corporate interests as "marine guardians" to remove Indian Tribes, fishermen and seaweed harvesters from the water by creating so-called "marine protected areas" (MPAS)? Isn't this very bad public policy?
Why was Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, allowed to make decisions as the chair of the BRTF for the South Coast and as a member of the BRTF for the North Coast, panels that are supposedly designed to "protect" the ocean, when she has called for new oil drilling off the California coast? Do we want to see oil rigs off Point Arena, Fort Bragg and other areas of some of the most beautiful coastline of North America?
Why is a private corporation, the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, being allowed to privatize ocean resource management in California through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the DFG?
Why do the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) and Science Advisory Team continue to violate the California Public Records Act by refusing to respond to numerous requests by Bob Fletcher, former DFG Deputy Director, for key documents and records pertaining to the MLPA implementation process?
Why do MLPA staff and the California Fish and Game Commission refuse to hear the pleas of the representatives of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association, who oppose the creation of any new MPAs until they have enough funding for wardens to patrol existing reserves?
Why did MLPA staff until recently violate the Bagley-Keene Act and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by banning video and audio coverage of the initiative's work sessions?
Why has the Initiative shown little or no respect for tribal subsistence and ceremonial rights? In fact, it was only because of massive opposition by North Coast Tribes and their allies that an amendment that would have terminated tribal fishing and gathering rights failed to pass during a special MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force teleconference meeting held in Fort Bragg, Crescent City and Eureka on December 9.
Since the MLPA was privatized in 2004, the initiative has violated the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Article 32, Section 2, of the Declaration mandates "free prior and informed consent" in consultation with the indigenous population affected by a state action (http://www.iwgia.org/sw248.asp).
The MLPA also violates Article 26, Section 3, that declares, "States shall give legal recognition and protection to these lands, territories and resources. Such recognition shall be conducted with due respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the indigenous peoples concerned."
The unified proposal adopted by North Coast MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force is the first MLPA proposal that acknowledges tribal gathering and fishing rights, a tribute to the hard work of the Tribal, fishing and environmental stakeholders. However, why did it take 6 years for this to happen?
Why were there no Tribal scientists on the MLPA Science Advisory Team and why were there no Tribal representatives on the Blue Ribbon Task Forces for the Central Coast, North Central Coast or South Coast MLPA Study Regions? Isn't this a case of institutional racism on behalf of MLPA officials?
Why does the initiative discard the results of any scientists who disagree with the MLPA's pre-ordained conclusions? These include the peer reviewed study by Dr. Ray Hilborn, Dr. Boris Worm and 18 other scientists, featured in Science magazine in July 2009, that concluded that the California current had the lowest rate of fishery exploitation of any place studied on the planet.
Finally, why did 300 Tribal members, fishermen, immigrant workers and environmentalists feel so left out of the MLPA process that they had to organize a march and direct action to take over a MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in Fort Bragg of July 21 so their voices would be finally heard?
Proponents of the MLPA Initiative have failed to address the many criticisms of the MLPA process by Indian Tribes, recreational fishermen, commercial fishermen, conservationists and environmental justice advocates.
Real environmentalists support true, comprehensive ocean protection as the MLPA originally intended, not the facade of protection that Schwarzenegger's MLPA Initiative provides.
Real environmentalists don't support a process that has gone to great lengths to take oil drilling, water pollution, wave energy development, habitat destruction, military testing and other human uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table in its perverse concept of marine "protection."
Finally, real environmentalists oppose the privatization of ocean conservation that has occurred under the MLPA Initiative.
The MLPA process must be seen in the context of the campaign by the Schwarzenegger administration, corporate media, some NGOs and political hacks to greenwash the environmental legacy of the worst Governor in California history for fish, water and the environment. This is the same Governor who presided over the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other fish species, relentlessly campaigned for the construction of an environmentally destructive and enormously expensive peripheral canal and new dams and vetoed numerous laws protecting fish, water and the environment.
Governor Brown has a chance now to do the right thing - cancel or suspend the MLPA Initiative and to conduct an investigation of the conflicts of interest, corruption and violations of state, federal and international laws that have occurred under the MLPA Initiative. Will Brown listen to the many criticisms of the MLPA by Indian Tribes, fishermen and grassroots environmentalists - or will he continue the failed ocean policies of the Schwarzenegger regime?
Arnold Schwarzenegger is packing up his office in the Capitol and finally, after 7 long years, leaving his post as governor of California. It comes not a moment too soon, as he has distinguished himself as the worst governor in California history by quite a wide margin. The Sacramento Bee's readers agreed there was one word that encapsulated his misrule: failure.
George Skelton has recognized that the recall of Governor Gray Davis in the fall of 2003, which brought Schwarzenegger to office, was a colossal mistake. John Myers of KQED offered a more in-depth assessment of Arnold's signature failure, his inability to fix the state's budget mess. And he leaves office with approval ratings at record lows - at or below the numbers Gray Davis had when he was recalled.
But why exactly did Arnold fail? Getting that story right matters quite a lot as Governor Jerry Brown and the Democratic legislature seek to fix not just the 7 years of misrule, but 32 years of destructive policies that were initiated by the passage in June 1978 of Prop 13. More below.
Well, and the ball is officially in the Governor (Once and Future) Jerry Brown's court. In a brief, one sentence ruling, the California Supreme Court (well, actually some appellate justices sitting in for the Supreme Court), left the stay from the lower court in place.
"The petition for writ of mandate and request for immediate relief from stay are denied." (Document here
So, Governor Schwarzenegger will now have to see how Jerry Brown feels about this particular gimmick. It is worth pointing out that Brown refused to defend these sales, take of that what you will.
Oh, the heady days of 2003; there was a perfect storm brewing that Gray Davis could do nothing to stop. Darrell Issa was busy tossing around his car security cash around in order to be elected governor in the recall election. Of course, that never happened, as Arnold Schwarzenegger jumped in to the race, and the rest is history. But what is the CW on that?
Well, if there is a source of Sacramento CW, certainly George Skelton is your man. And today, he declares that the recall was folly:
One thing should now be evident as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger packs up his office: It was a mistake to recall Gray Davis.
Davis didn't deserve it. He had just been reelected the year before. He would have been out of office in three years anyway.
Schwarzenegger wasn't an improvement except for, briefly, providing entertainment. He didn't make the state's money mess any better. In fact, it has gotten worse. (LA Times)
Of course, seeing where he is now in the polls, and the position the state is in right now, this takes no great source of conventional wisdom. During the last seven years, Arnold made some pretty important moves. But, ultimately, he was a failure because he didn't understand the system, and his only attempts to change it were at the margin where it is safe and cuddly.
He billed himself as a reformer, and the only reforms he could get through were do-nothing reforms like redistricting and Top 2. He billed himself as somebody who could sweep away the debt and deficit, but really, he was in no position to do either. And he never even seriously tried to work for real change on the budget system. He was content to further aggrandize the Big 5 system, making the system even more closed than it was in the past.
Gray Davis got rolled, but as we learned from Prop 8, the voters of this state can make mistakes. Some they learn quickly, and others it takes a few years. It seems with the Mistakinator, it took about 6 years.
Jerry Brown will replace Lester Snow, the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, after he takes office as Governor on January 3.
Brown's transition team has already informed Snow, along with other Schwarzenegger appointees, that he will not be asked to stay on in the incoming administration.
"A number of the current administration appointees have been informed that their appointment will conclude when the current Governor's term ends," said Evan Westrup, Brown's spokesman. "The Governor-elect will be assembling a leadership team and will make additional appointments in the weeks ahead."
"As is standard in adminstration changes, the services of many of the current Governor's appointees will no longer be needed," he noted. "Our focus is on making sure that most qualified candidates are chosen for leadership positions."
Westrup said the incoming Brown administration hasn't chosen a new Resources Secretary yet and a number of candidates are being considered to fill Snow's position.
California's Natural Resources Agency is responsible for the state's natural resource policies, programs and activities. It oversees 25 departments, commissions, boards and conservancies, according to the agency website.
Fishing groups, Indian Tribes and environmentalists have criticized Snow, as Schwarzenegger's head environmental official, for his support of the peripheral canal and new dams, the controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative and the annual dewatering of the Scott and Shasta rivers, key Klamath River tributaries, by irrigators.
As the director of the Department of Water Resources (DWR) until Schwarzenegger appointed him as Resources Secretary earlier this year, Snow presided over the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, young striped bass, threadfin shad and other Delta fish species. Under his leadership, the state exported record amounts of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from 2004 to 2006.
"Lester Snow's removal from the Natural Resources Agency gives me hope that Jerry Brown will work on Delta issues with an open-minded attitude," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director for Restore the Delta. "I am hopeful that Brown that won't perpetuate the party line that the Delta is nothing other than a transfer site for California water. I am hoping that Snow's termination is a sign that Delta fisheries and Delta communities will be given equal weight in the discussion of California water policies."
"Our hope is that Governor Brown will take heed of what Tribal people and recreational anglers are saying about the MLPA and other water issues," said Georgianna Myers, organizer for the Klamath Justice Coalition and Yurok Tribe member. "I encourage the Governor-elect to have not just big oil and corporate interests at heart, but to listen to the real Californians who use the ocean."
