As happens every year, endangered coho salmon are being stranded in drying pools in the Scott River system, due to inaction by the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG), NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Forest Service and the California Water Resources Control Board.
An independent investigation by Klamath Riverkeeper Erica Terence reveals that in spite of the DFG "rescuing" 1,500 coho out of disconnected pools up Kidder Creek, a Scott River tributary, on July 25 and 26, hundreds of juvenile coho salmon were still trapped in Patterson Creek.
"At the rate the creek is drying up, those fish will be jerky by the end of today," Terence said in a note to DFG officials. "I suggest that in addition to rescuing what fish you can, your agency should open an investigation into nearby diversions and possible Fish and Game Code violations immediately."
CDFG Game Warden Steve McDonald responded to Terence's note within days, supplying a report that all three surface diversions upstream of the dewatered reach with the photographed dying coho were shut off or were returning all the water they diverted back into the creek after using it, according to Terence.
Although fish rescue in the Scott River fails to address the root causes of the dewatering such as irrigation dams, canals, ditches, groundwater pumping and soil deposition caused by irresponsible logging in the watershed, "it is a necessary tactic to prevent total extinction of the severely endangered Scott River coho population," Terence said.
The stranding of endangered salmon on Scott River tributaries occurs at a time when one of the largest fish kills in California history is taking place at the state and federal pumps on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
A horrific total of 8,942,347 splittail, 35,435 chinook salmon, 385,392 striped bass, 49,812 largemouth bass, 67,383 bluegill, 66,403 white catfish, 20,178 channel catfish, 91,956 threadfin shad, 166,336 American shad, 1,642 steelhead and 51 Delta smelt were "salvaged" in the state and federal water export facilities from January 1 to July 21, 2011, according to DFG data. The actual numbers of fish lost in the pumping facilities dwarf the salvage numbers.
Meanwhile, the state and federal governments are pumping record amounts of water out of the California Delta at a time when southern California reservoirs are full and the Metropolitan Water District of California is selling water at cut-rate prices.
As the Delta fish kill proceeds while Brown and Obama administration officials do virtually nothing to stop the carnage, the California Department of Fish and Game refuses to take a proactive and comprehensive approach to stopping the dewatering problem that takes place yearly on the Scott and Shasta rivers.
As the Who song said so well, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
I applaud the Klamath Riverkeeper to standing up for the fish and fighting against the diversions of water of the Scott and Shasta rivers that lead to the stranding of endangered coho salmon every year. For more information, go to: http://www.klamathriver.org.
Below is the news release:
Klamath Riverkeeper Press Release | For Immediate Release
Stranded Salmon In Dewatered Northern California Streams Trigger Rescues, Investigations And Alarm
Scott Valley, CA-- More than a thousand ESA-listed coho were reportedly "rescued" from dewatered creeks feeding a major tributary to the Klamath River by California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) personnel last week. The agency transferred the stressed baby salmon into the nearby mainstem Scott River where water diversions to grow hay and water cattle is likely to dewater the streambed in many reaches before October.
More than 1,500 coho were transported out of disconnected pools up Kidder Creek July 25 and 26, according to the Yreka CDFG Senior Scientist Mark Pisano.
An independent inspection documented in the attached photos by the non-profit organization Klamath Riverkeeper following initial rescue efforts found hundreds of juvenile coho salmon still trapped in Patterson Creek. Other reports suggest that young coho salmon were facing similar dead ends in neighboring Kidder Creek, and that total dewatering is also imminent for Shackleford and French creeks. All four Scott River tributaries offer key juvenile coho salmon rearing habitat.
Shortly after documenting the dewatered channel and stranded baby salmon, Klamath Riverkeeper Erica Terence notified CDFG officials in writing, effectively warning them that inaction by the agency would be inadequate under numerous environmental statutes.
"At the rate the creek is drying up, those fish will be jerky by the end of today...I suggest that in addition to rescuing what fish you can, your agency should open an investigation into nearby diversions and possible Fish and Game Code violations immediately," the note by Terence said.
CDFG Game Warden Steve McDonald responded to Terence's note within days, supplying a report that all three surface diversions upstream of the dewatered reach with the photographed dying coho were shut off or were returning all the water they diverted back into the creek after using it.
"What's sad about this situation is that this isn't just happening in Patterson Creek. It's happening in tributaries across this agriculturally dominated valley, and the worst actors on tributaries we weren't able to document that day are getting away with murder because CDFG isn't taking a proactive and comprehensive approach to coping with this dewatering problem," Terence pointed out.
Although fish rescue in the Scott River fails to address the root causes of the dewatering such as irrigation dams, canals, ditches, groundwater pumping and soil deposition caused by irresponsible logging in the watershed, it is a necessary tactic to prevent total extinction of the severely endangered Scott River coho population.
The bleak reality is that scientists have already declared two out of three generations (called year-classes or cohorts) as "functionally extinct." The only biologically viable run of coho came home to spawn in the Scott River last year.
These stranded salmon have been identified as the offspring of that final coho run, and their survival rates will decide the future of the species in the watershed. Fall Chinook salmon numbers are still slightly stronger than the coho counts in the Scott River, but their populations are also in steep decline.
"Fortunately, both 2010 and 2011 were wetter than average years. Unfortunately, even in extremely wet years, we're seeing total dewatering in many reaches of the Scott River and its tributaries," Terence said.
"Even more unfortunate is the fact that the agencies with the power to do something about the problem--California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Forest Service and the California Water Board--have all been unwilling to take meaningful steps to put water back in the river so far," she added.
A 1974 CDFG report on optimal in-stream flows for fisheries suggests that the mainstem Scott River should retain more than 100 cubic feet per second, yet the channel dropped to zero cubic feet per second in the summer of 2009 and was also dangerously low in 2010. The report is the best science currently available on the subject of in-stream flow needs of salmon in the Scott River.
Klamath Riverkeeper was the lead plaintiff in a court case challenging CDFG's California Endangered Species Act (CESA) permitting program aimed at bringing activities that could kill endangered coho into legal compliance. Riverkeeper and co-plaintiffs alleged that the program didn't do enough to protect in-stream flows or endangered coho salmon, and could even harm the species' chance of making a comeback there.
In April, 2011, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldstein sided with plaintiffs Klamath Riverkeeper, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, Quartz Valley Indian Tribe, Environmental Protection Information Center, Northcoast Environmental Center and the Sierra Club, stating that "Program participants start with an inadequately scrutinized clean slate that is purged of past illegal take and is more permissive of future take of a population already depleted by illegal take," (Klamath Riverkeeper et al v. California Department of Fish and Game et al, Page 13, Lines 10-12.)
Judge Goldstein's opinion refers to decades of past inaction by CDFG in response to illegal coho deaths known as "take" of an endangered species under CESA.
But rather than take steps to fix the flaws in that program, CDFG has decided to appeal the judge's ruling.
The Siskiyou County Farm Bureau is also currently pursuing a legal challenge to CDFG's authority to regulate water diversions in order to save listed salmon.
Members of the Yurok Tribe and other tribes will gather on the North Coast beaches Saturday, June 18 in protest of new coastal closures in "marine protected areas" proposed under the controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
"Armed with only tribal identification cards, Native Americans from Tolowa Country to the Wiyot Nation will be assembling on culturally critical beaches Saturday to harvest marine resources," according to a press release from the Yurok Tribe, California's largest Indian Tribe.
There will be tribal members at Patrick's Point State Park at 5:30 a.m., Clam Beach at 7:30 a.m. and Wilson Creek Beach near Klamath at 8:30 a.m. Tribal members are being encouraged to gather at their favorite spot.
Representatives of the Yurok Tribe and other tribes have met with John Laird, Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, regarding tribal gathering under the MLPA Initiative, but the state has to date failed to address tribal fishing and gathering rights.
"We don't perceive traditional tribal gathering of ocean resources to be some kind of delinquent activity, but the state and feds do," said Yurok Tribal Heritage Preservation Officer, Bob McConnell. "We harvest from the ocean for our ceremonies and physical health. It is time to decriminalize our culture."
"The Tribe's rights are nonnegotiable," emphasized Yurok Chairman Thomas O'Rourke Sr. "As long as we are here, we will continue to gather in culturally appropriate way that is beneficial to all species."
The tribe said state parks and national marine reserves and parks do "disproportionate and unjustifiable harm" to California's indigenous people who need access to marine resources in order to perpetuate complex spiritual practices and life ways.
"Our methods of take enhance these resources rather than harm them. We offer as evidence the abundance of coastal resources prior to European contact," McConnell said. "Prayer is an integral part of the process as no life can be taken without acknowledgement of that life. We thank the creator and the plant/animal for that life each and every time we gather a resource."
The tribe noted that decades have passed and public perceptions about Native Americans have changed since most of the rules that govern California's coast were signed into law.
"These government bodies have made criminals out of people for embracing their culture. We want the people of California to know that and join us in the process of reversing it," McConnell concluded.
For more information, contact: Matt Mais, Yurok Tribe, (707) 482-1350 ext. 306, (707)954-0976, www.yuroktribe.org.
The California Fish & Game Commission (CFGC) will meet in Stockton on June 29-30 to discuss and adopt the amended "unified" proposal for marine protected areas on the North Coast. For more details on the amended plan, please read Frank Hartzell's article, http://www.mendocinobeacon.com...
MLPA Initiative Background:
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is a law, signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, designed to create a network of marine protected areas off the California Coast. However, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 created the privately-funded MLPA "Initiative" to "implement" the law, effectively eviscerating the MLPA.
The "marine protected areas" created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the implementation of "marine protected areas" included a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other individuals with numerous conflicts of interest. Catherine Reheis Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association who is pushing for new oil drilling off the California coast, served as the chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast.
The MLPA Initiative operated through a controversial private/public "partnership funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. The Schwarzenegger administration, under intense criticism by grassroots environmentalists, fishermen and Tribal members, authorized the implementation of marine protected areas under the initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the foundation and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).
Tribal members, fishermen, grassroots environmentalists, human rights advocates and civil liberties activists have slammed the MLPA Initiative for the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. Critics charge that the initiative, privatized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, has violated the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, Brown Act, California Administrative Procedures Act, American Indian Religious Freedom Act and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
MLPA and state officials refused to appoint any tribal scientists to the MLPA Science Advisory Team (SAT), in spite of the fact that the Yurok Tribe alone has a Natural Resources Department with over 70 staff members, including many scientists. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force also didn't include any tribal representatives until 2010 when one was finally appointed to the panel.
"Whether it is their intention or not, what the Marine Life Protection Act does to tribes is it systematically decimates our ability to be who we are," stated Frankie Joe Myers, a Yurok tribal citizen and organizer for the Coastal Justice Coalition on July 21, 2010, during a historic direct protest against the MLPA's violation of tribal rights in Fort Bragg. "That is the definition of cultural genocide."
"It is our sovereign and sacred right to harvest coastal resources according to our customs," said Hoopa Tribal Citizen Dania Rose Colegrove, an organizer for the Klamath Justice Coalition. "We will no longer allow the state or the feds to criminalize our culture."
As an authentic investigative journalist, one who had the courage and integrity to expose Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's war on fish, fishermen and Tribes, I must say to the corporate media, "I could have told you so," in reference to the "relevation" that Schwarzenegger fathered a "love child."
The Los Angeles Times reported on May 17 that the former California governor admitted to Maria Shriver, his wife, that he'd fathered a child with the woman, who had worked for the family for 20 years. Schwarzenegger's admission to fathering a child with a household staff member resulted in his separation from Shriver.
"After leaving the governor's office, I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago," Schwarzenegger claimed in a statement. "I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry."
I bet Schwarzenegger is really "sorry" - as "sorry" as he was for his unprecedented campaign against the state's fish, fishermen and Indian Tribes!
Schwarzenegger, the worst Governor in California history, was shamelessly praised as the "Green Governor" by corporate "environmental" NGOS and political hacks for his support of corporate greenwashing efforts. The worst example of this pandering took place on April, 14, 2010, when Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper, honored Schwarzenegger for his "environmental advocacy" at the "Riverkeeper's Annual Fishermen's Ball" at Pier Sixty on the Hudson River in New York City (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/04/14/18644697.php).
Kennedy bestowed the award upon Schwarzenegger in spite of nationwide outrage by fishermen and environmentalists over honoring such an undeserving politician for his "environmental advocacy." Three courageous environmental activists including Robert Jereski were arrested for protesting at the event.
As corporate "environmentalists" and the media were praising Schwarzenegger for being the "Green Governor," the Austrian-born politician was screwing fish, fishermen, Tribes, the environment and all Californians. In reality, Schwarzenegger is a creature with no ethics or concern for other human beings or the environment.
He left a trail of destruction in his wake, ranging from his corrupt plans to build the peripheral canal and his privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative fiasco, to the destruction of the state's economy, to his collapsed marriage. Covering up the fact that he had a child with a staffer until now is just one example of a mountain of examples of his complete and total lack of integrity and ethics.
Schwarzenegger's real environmental legacy is much different from how Schwarzenegger and his collaborators portray it. What was his actual environmental record?
• 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.
• He constantly 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 a controversial, privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative filled 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).
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 attempted 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 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 the worst of any Governor in California history, Schwarzenegger's portrayal by the corporate 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 (http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/8010).
Where was the corporate media that is now so eager to talk about Schwarzenegger's "love child" scandal when Schwarzenegger's was waging his "scorched earth campaign" against fish and the environment?
The good news is that Schwarzenegger is gone from the Governor's office. The bad news is the terrible legacy that he left - the collapse of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River spring and winter run chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail and other fish populations, his many horrible appointments to state boards and commissions, and his consistent failure to enforce the state's clean water, fish restoration and other environmental laws.
While some are suggesting that Schwarzenegger, the former "Governator," has become the "Sperminator," he will always be the "Fish Terminator" and "Governor Greenwash" to me!
Two Delta legislators, Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) and Assemblyman Bill Berryhill (R-Ceres), have introduced legislation to ensure that the imperiled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is protected from potential conveyance projects to export water to San Joaquin Valley agribusiness and southern California.
Wolk's legislation, coauthored by Berryhill, establishes specific criteria and assurances that will enable the state to meet its "co-equal goals" for the Delta as established by a package of laws, enacted in November 2009, that canal opponents criticized for creating a "clear path" to the construction of the peripheral canal.
"Those goals are to provide a more reliable water supply for California-and to protect, restore, and enhance the Delta ecosystem," according to a news release from Wolk's office. "By law, these goals must be achieved in a manner that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place."
In 1980 during his second term as Governor, Jerry Brown negotiated the legislative package that included several important protections for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, according to Wolk. Thirty years later, Wolk and Berryhill are revisiting Brown's proposed safeguards for the Delta "as a means of protecting the region from future attempts to siphon off its water."
"When Californians voted down Governor Brown's proposed peripheral canal 30 years ago, they decided that the safeguards included in that package were not strong enough to protect this valuable and irreplaceable resource," said Senator Wolk, an outspoken advocate for the protection of the Delta's environment, economy, and communities.
"Now, a new canal or tunnel is being proposed with even weaker protections for the Delta then were promised before," Wolk explained. "Our legislation ensures that, at a bare minimum, if a new facility is built, critical guarantees are written into State law to provide real, enforceable protections for the Delta ecosystem and the Delta communities, while also enhancing water reliability statewide."
Wolk's Senate Bill 200 would provide unequivocal commitments to maintain water quality within the Delta in order to support vital Delta agriculture, recreation, and drinking water. Additionally, the bill would ensure that communities within the Delta have access to adequate water supplies-and would encourage the development of alternative water supplies in regions that rely on imported Delta water, and improvements in the efficiency of the State and Federal projects within the Delta.
The bill, supported by the Delta Counties Coalition, would also:
• Require planning, specific operational criteria, and other measures that contribute to the recovery of Delta fish species and protect beneficial uses of water within the Delta to be in place prior to construction of any new water conveyance infrastructure in the Delta.
• Establish enforceable water flows and reductions in Delta water exports to protect water quality and other environmental conditions in the Delta, the Suisun Marsh, and the San Francisco Bay.
One provision would authorize the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to administer a study to "determine the interrelationship between Delta outflow and fish and wildlife resources in the San Francisco Bay System and waste discharges into the San Francisco Bay system." For decades, federal and state officials have avoided studying this complex relationship that is essential for understanding the decline of Central Valley salmon and Delta pelagic (open water) fish species.
The bill would also require the Department of Water Resources to study the possible interconnection between the State Water Resources Development System and water supply systems serving the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, and San Mateo, and the City and County of San Francisco.
Dante Nomellini, a Stockton attorney and veteran of the battle against the peripheral canal in the previous Brown administration, hasn't reviewed the specific language of the current legislation, although he is familiar with the language of the original SB 200. He did emphasize that any protections can be overridden once the peripheral canal/tunnel is in place.
"All of these protections can be circumvented through the use of emergency powers both at the state and federal level," said Nomellini. "An isolated conveyance system, once in place, will take the water and destroy the Bay Delta ecosystem."
He also noted that the House of Representatives has passed a Continuing Resolution Bill that has stripped funding to protect Central Valley salmon under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This legislation would prevent the National Marine Fisheries Service from enforcing the biological opinions that protect the Central Valley salmon and steelhead from extinction, letting Delta export pumping go back to maximum levels.
"We think the intentions of the Senator and Assemblyman in sponsoring the legislation are good," commented Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta. "We look forward to Delta leaders working with them to strengthen the bill."
Barrigan-Parrilla added that Delta advocates need to work for the passage of an amendment to the State Constitution that protects flows in rivers and recognizes that water is a public trust resource.
Senate Bill 200 has been introduced at a time when the Delta ecosystem is in its biggest crisis ever. Central Valley salmon and Delta pelagic fish populations have collapsed to record low levels, due to increased water exports and declining water quality in recent years. Fishermen, members of Indian Tribes, environmentalists, family farmers and Delta residents fear that the construction of a peripheral canal/tunnel would lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, southern green sturgeon, southern resident killer whales and other species.
The Brown administration, like the Schwarzegger administration that preceded it, supports the construction of a peripheral canal/tunnel. The Obama administration has also officially endorsed the peripheral canal, being the first federal administration to do so. Even the G.W. Bush administration didn't endorse the canal's construction.
Wolk said she will also be introducing legislation this session intended to reduce reliance on water from the Delta, as well as another bill to reform water financing in California to make it "more efficient, transparent, and effective."
For more information about SB 200, call Craig Reynolds, Senator Wolk's Office, 916-651-4005.
Fishermen, environmentalists, Tribal members and the public will have to chance to speak to the Legislature about their concerns regarding the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative on the South Coast during a special hearing at the State Capitol in Sacramento in Room 4202 on Thursday, February 17 from 10 a.m. to noon.
Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata), the chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, Assemblymember ) said the hearing will focus exclusively on the South Coast Study Region.
"This is an opportunity for everyone who has an interest in the Marine Life Protection Act on the South Coast to talk to the Legislature," Chesbro said. "The Joint Fisheries Committee will be meeting its responsibility to provide oversight of the Marine Life Protection Act."
The hearing will start with brief presentations by staff of the MLPA Initiative and the California Department of Fish and Game. Public testimony will follow.
The hearing follows by a day the Committee's 38th Annual Fisheries Forum, scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16, at the State Capitol, also in Room 4202.
The Feb. 16 forum will include an update and public comment on the MLPA statewide.
The Feb. 16 forum and Feb. 17 hearing follow a Jan. 21 hearing the Committee held in Eureka on the MLPA's North Coast Study Area.
For more information, call Tom Weseloh, Legislative Fisheries Committee consultant, (707) 445-7014, Andrew Bird, Chesbro communications director, (916) 319-2001.
The Marine Life Protection Act was a law signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999 to protect California's marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems and marine natural heritage. The program is divided into five study areas. The South Coast Study Area starts at Point Conception in Santa Barbara County and stretches south to the border with Mexico.
MLPA critics point out that the MLPA Initiative under Schwarzenegger took water pollution, oil spills and drilling, habitat destruction, corporate aquaculture, military testing, coastal development, wave energy projects and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table in its strange concept of marine protection.
Critics have also charged the MLPA Initiative, funded privately by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, with the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. These include the Bagley-Keene Public Meetings Act, the California Public Records Act, the California Administrative Procedure Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
While MLPA advocates claim the initiative is based on "science," the process, has completely excluded Tribal scientists from the Science Advisory Teams that oversee the MLPA (blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/02/07/3020).
Conflicts of interests by MLPA officials have abounded in all five study regions. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that directed the process included an oil industry lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interest. In fact, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the South Coast MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF)!
However, the violations of law and corruption that underlie the MLPA process are finally being exposed. George Osborn, spokesman for the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), presented a 25 page document documenting illegal private, non-public meetings of Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative officials to the California Fish and Game Commission during its meeting on February 2 in Sacramento.
The PSO, a coalition of national and regional fishing organizations including the Coastside Fishing Club and United Anglers of Southern California, 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 the South Coast MLPA hearing, Osborn will be presenting the same 25 page set of documents that he distributed to the Commission. "We're pleased to have the hearing and we applaud the Chairman for calling it," said Osborn.
In 28 years of covering fish, water and environmental politics in the West, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative is the most corrupt public process I've ever reported on.
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), a landmark law signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999 to create a network of marine protected areas in state waters along the California coast, was designed to provide comprehensive protection to the marine ecosystem. However, the law was eviscerated under Schwarzenegger's privately-funded MLPA Initiative.
The initiative, overseen by oil industry, real estate, marina development and other corporate representatives, took water pollution, oil drilling and spills, wave energy development, corporate aquaculture, military testing, habitat destruction and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table in its perverse concept of marine "protection."
There are six major lessons to be learned from the MLPA fiasco so that the inherent flaws of the initiative are never repeated in any process anywhere.
1. Never fund a public conservation process with private, unaccountable money, especially in a case where you are in effect removing stakeholders from public access. The roots of the MLPA's problems largely derive from the privatization of conservation through the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, a private corporation.
2. Always consult with Indian Tribes on closures of areas and other regulations that may impact their ceremonial and gathering rights and sacred sites, as protected by state, federal and international laws, including the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This was NOT done in the Central Coast process, in a bad case of institutional racism. It was very poorly and minimally done in the North Central Coast and South Coast. It was not until the process came to the North Coast that language respecting the fishing and gathering rights of Tribes was included in a proposal for marine protected areas.
3. When designing MPAs, you must include other human uses other than fishing and gathering. Otherwise the "marine protected areas" become "marine privatization" areas that aren't protected from water pollution, oil spills and drilling, wave energy projects, military testing and other human impacts on the ocean.
4. Never appoint corporate hacks like oil industry lobbyists, real estate executives and developers to panels designed to "protect" the ocean. Having Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chair the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force was about as crazy a conflict of interest that you could ever come up with!
5. Make sure that you have a funding mechanism for enforcement in place BEFORE you even think about instituting a process like the MLPA Initiative. The wardens call MPAs "Marine Poaching Areas" because of the California, with the lowest per capita ratio of wardens to the population of any state in the nation, doesn't have enough wardens to patrol new marine reserves, let alone the existing marine protected areas.
6. We need to eliminate "Blue Ribbon Panels" and create "Blue Collar Panels" where grassroots people, rather than political hacks and corrupt big business interests, make decisions about public policy in an atmosphere of real democracy. To start off the MLPA process with a chair like Phil Isenberg, a well connected political lobbyist, is the absolute wrong way to do things. He then went on to chair the Delta Vision plan to build a peripheral canal, showing the direct link between the peripheral canal greenwashing and MLPA greenwashing.
In spite of the claims by MLPA officials and proponents that the process is "open, transparent and inclusive," it is anything but. Californians must pressure their Legislators and the Brown administration to suspend or cancel the corrupt MLPA Initiative - and to learn from its inherent flaws to avoid making the same mistakes in any future public conservation processes.
Outgoing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his collaborators have waged a campaign to greenwash his absymal environmental legacy through a plethora of press releases, photo opportunities and puff pieces before he leaves office. One of the most shameful examples of these efforts to rewrite history by casting Schwarzenegger in the role of "green governor" is Terry Tamminen's Huffington Post puff piece, "He'll Be Back" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-tamminen/hell-be-back_b_802128.html).
"In 'Terminator', Arnold Schwarzenegger famously utters 'I'll be back.' The world should hope that he'll be back to keep working on these issues with the unique style of public service that is the basis of his unprecedented green legacy," Tamminen claims.
In stark contrast, Patrick Porgans, a longtime advocate for the public trust, has written a superb piece exposing the Governor's last ditch petition to sell 11 state office properties to private corporations before leaving office. The plan was supposedly designed to pay off a portion of the state's multi billion deficit and increasing debt load.
"Ironically, the debt is partially the result of the Governor's 'don't raise taxes' rhetoric, while at the same time promoting and securing approval of record-amounts of General Obligation bonds," said Porgans. "Ironically, the governor's bond promotion scheme was one of the primary factors contributing to the state's sea of rising debt." (http://www.planetarysolutionaries.org [California Bondage])
However, it appears that the real motive behind the attempted sale of the properties and the passage of the General Obligation bonds was to benefit rich corporations at the expense of the California public.
"Raising nearly $144 million from private contributors implies there more than a coincidental link between the campaign contributions, the sale of the property and the windfall profits that have and continued to be realized by the Governor's supporters," said Porgans. "Critics argue that the sale of the 11 properties, along with the wholesale-General Obligation bond bonanza, which taxpayers are responsible to repay, makes the Bernie Madoff Ponzie scam look like mere child's play."
Schwarzenegger's campaign to build a peripheral canal/tunnel, a project projected to cost $23 billion to $53.8 billion, is nothing other than an effort by the outgoing Governor to enrich corporate agribusiness, southern California water privateers and corporate "environmental" NGOs such as the Nature Conservancy at tremendous expense to collapsing Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations, fishing communities, California Indian Tribes and family farmers. Those of us who have suffered under Schwarzenegger's war on fish and the environment hope that, contrary to Tamminen's wish that "He'll Be Back," that the "Fish Terminator" will never again play any role in public policy anywhere.
Dan
For Immediate Release: December 31, 2010
Press Release: Supreme Court Terminated Governor's Last Ditch Petition to Sell State Properties
For further information, contact Patrick Porgans at www.planetarysolutionaries.org, 916-833-8734
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his campaign supporters received a major setback Dec. 28, when the California Supreme Court's Acting Chief Justice Patricia Benke ruled against his petition and plan to complete the sale of 11 state office properties before leaving office.
The court's ruling was a correct one. Gov. Schwarzenegger's plan to sell 11 of the state's iconic properties - including the Ronald Reagan building in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Civic Center - supposedly was to help pay off a portion of the State's multi-billion dollar deficit and increasing debt load.
Ironically, the debt is partially the result of the Governor's "don't raise taxes" rhetoric, while at the same time promoting and securing approval of record-amounts of General Obligation bonds. Ironically, the governor's bond promotion scheme was one of the primary factors contributing to the state's sea of rising debt. (http://www.planetarysolutionaries.org [California Bondage].)
California's Legislative Analyst's Office, in two separate reports, characterized the deal as "poor fiscal policy." It also indicated that the sale of the 11 office properties will wind up costing California as much as $6 billion, as proposed in the lease-back option favoring the buyers. The $1.2 billion realized from the sale will only have a minimal effect on the overall deficit-ridden budget.
Critics argue that the budget cuts are just another means to make more room to issue the billions of dollars in Governor Schwarzenegger's sponsored GO bonds and to entice the bond syndicators and investors to purchase more GO bonds.
According to Louise Renne, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, "The deal has a smell that just won't quit." The complaint filed with the court states "this deal is not only 'imprudent'" but unwise. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer called the proposed sale "patently illegal." (http://www.publiclawgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/MPAs-ISO-Preliminary-Injunction1.pdf.)
Whatever the case, The Public Law Group firm of Renne, Sloan, Holtzman and Sakai, and its clients, Jerry B. Epstein and A. Redmond Doms are to be commended for filing the suit to stop this sale for all the reasons stated in their case. Intervenor Donald A. Casper and Stan Moy, were both members of the San Francisco Building Authority, they were purportedly fired by the order of Governor Schwarzenegger for raising questions about the sale of the 11 properties.
Casper was quoted in the press as being against the sale as it raised serious questions of waste of public property. The Authority is a three-person body established to plan, finance and oversee the construction and management of state office facilities in San Francisco.
According to a recent report in the Sacramento Bee, in 2006 the governor successfully promoted and got voters to approve $37.3 billion in publicly-financed General Obligation Bonds, for a myriad of "public" works projects and programs; i.e., water supply reliability, water for fish, drought and flood relief.
According to the State Treasurer's Office, the total debt repayment obligation to the public will exceed $50 billion, when interest payments are included. The money to repay this debt comes directly out of the state's General Fund; this is the same fund that has been subjected to the Governor's draconian budget cuts in jobs, essential services and safety-net programs.
In late 2009, the Governor and his campaign contributors were successful in getting an $11 billion "Water Package" passed by the Legislature, which, if approved by the voters in 2012, will cost the public an estimated $20 billion. There again, many of his supporters with be the recipients of windfall profits from the syndication, sale, and revenues realized from the issuance of those bonds. It doesn't end there.
In 2003, in his first year of office, the Governor persuaded voters to approve two General Obligation bond propositions, which involved borrowing $15 billion to pay off some of the state's budget debt, while purportedly placing a cap on spending. The end result was that the borrowing exacerbated the State's deficit problems and the cap on spending just did not happen.
According to the Office of the Treasurer, in November 2010, the State's total outstanding bond debt was $157.8 billion; $88.2 billion in principal and $69.5 billion in interest; about $128.4 billion are General Obligation Bonds. (http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/bonds/debt/201011/summary.pdf.) There is an additional $41.5 billion of authorized but unissued GO bonds.
It would be unfair to blame the Governor for all of the state's deficit-ridden debt woes; however, it would be equally disingenuous not to impose blame for the debt he created. In 2007 - before the serious major fallout of the subprime mortgage scam and the Wall Street $700 billion banking bailout fiasco - California ranked as the world's eighth-largest economy, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. (http://www.ccsce.com/PDF/Numbers-sep08-CA-Rank.pdf.)
California's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that year was around $1.8 trillion. The GDP is the value of all goods and services produced in California. The state's General Fund revenues in 2007 were around $120 billion. In 2008, the economic output of the state of California was $1.847 trillion; indicating a marginal increase in growth. During that period, the state's credit rating was one of the best in the nation. In 2009, California's credit rating was the lowest of all 50 states, amid the state government's failure to close a $26 billion deficit that left the most-populous state issuing IOUs to creditors.
In 2010, according to a report by Bloomberg, California became the lowest rated U.S. state as Standard & Poor (S&P) lowered California's GO bond rating one grade because Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the lawmakers failed to close a record budget deficit. S&P downgraded California's credit rating to A-minus. S&P maintained its negative outlook on the state's $63.9 billion GO debt, indicating more downgrades are possible. Currently, the state's credit rating is still ranked by S&P as A-minus. (http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/ratings/current.asp.)
As a result of the Governor's "fiscal austerity" and "GO bond saturation" California is paying more money each time the state issues GO bonds. For example, as of December 2009, California had $83.5 billion of outstanding long-term debt; 97.3% is fixed rate debt; $63.9 billion was GO bond debt. (http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/debt.pdf.)
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, the California State Treasurer's office estimated that the amount of revenue in the General Fund at $88.09 billion, and the estimated debt service on the existing $63.9 billion in outstanding bonds (includes principle plus interest), and estimated the debt service on those bonds at $6.09 billion; about seven (7) percent of the General Fund's annual revenue stream. However, in FY 2013, estimated revenue in the General Fund is projected at $91.6 billion, and the estimated total debt service on the on the GO bonds at $10.06 billion; 10.98 percent of the General Fund.
GO bonds are a form of long-term borrowing in which the state issues municipal securities and pledges the full faith and credit to their repayment. The California Constitution set repayment of GO debt before all other obligations of the state except those for K-14 education. (http://sam.dgs.ca.gov/TOC/6000/6871.htm.)
The repayment obligation associated with the issuance of such bonds is derived from the State's deficit ridden General Fund. Draconian budget cuts have and continue to be made as a result of increased debt load, fending off new taxes, and the overall downturn in the economy have fueled the budget crisis, contributing to the proposed sale of the 11 properties in question.
Still yet unclear are the links - financial, political or otherwise - between the increasing GO bond debt, annual repayment obligations, the increased costs associated with State borrowing, the primary promoters/backers/syndicators and beneficiaries involved in the proposed sale of the state properties.
However, a cursory review of Governor Schwarzenegger's campaign disclosure statement indicate that significant sums of money came from supporters that apparently benefited from the issuances of the GO bonds. Also, it appears that the Governor re-funneled a sizeable portion of his campaign funds back into the California Dream Team Budget Reform Committee; aimed at cutting the budget.
Critics claim that the Governor's motive to sell the buildings is a kickback to his campaign contributors. In his run for Governor, Schwarzenegger stated that he would not take campaign contributions from big vested interests.
The governor was quoted on August 31, 2003 as saying, "Any of those kinds of real, big, powerful, special interests, if you take money from them, you owe them something."
According to http://www.arnoldwatch.org, Arnold has raised $143,839,604 up through June 21, 2010, not including personal money given to his committees. (http://www.arnoldwatch.org/special_interests/index.html. ) The major contributors listed are real estate, development, construction, finance and insurance entities.
Raising nearly $144 million from private contributors implies there more than a coincidental link between the campaign contributions, the sale of the property and the windfall profits that have and continued to be realized by the Governor's supporters. Critics argue that the sale of the 11 properties, along with the wholesale-General Obligation bond bonanza, which taxpayers are responsible to repay, makes the Bernie Madoff Ponzie scam look like mere child's play.
One thing is certain. California's debt has Increased dramatically in the last decade. Since FY 1999-2000, annual debt service has increased 143% while General Fund revenues have increased only 22%. (http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/debt.pdf.)
Despite the extraordinary amount of debt issued in 2009, the State still has $47.48 billion of voter authorized but unissued GO bonds, and $10.2 billion of Public Works Board lease revenue bonds authorized by the Legislature and unissued.
On Dec. 29, Governor-elect Jerry Brown announced that the State's projected 2011-2012 budget deficit is estimated at about $35 billion, one-third of the projected General Fund revenues. It is apparent that one way to cut the budget is to stop issuing GO bonds or to simply stop issuing any more bonds until the budget crisis is remediated.
Also, in the case of estimated $19 billion in water- and water-related GO bonds issued between 2000 and 2006, the water beneficiaries, such as State Water Project contractors, should be required to repay the costs associated with water supply reliability, conservation, planning and mitigation, which are classified under the terms of their contracts, as reimbursable costs.
On December 15, the Obama administration officially announced its support for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal/tunnel, a project opposed by fishermen, Indian Tribes, environmentalists, family farmers and Delta residents.
A coordinated report issued by six federal agencies calls for the construction of a "new water conveyance system" - the peripheral canal/tunnel - to move water from north of the California Bay-Delta to corporate agribusiness on the side of the San Joaquin Valley and to Southern California water agencies.
The federal report, which complements a related report issued Wednesday by the Schwarzenegger administration, urges "continued progress toward completion of the California Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) and supports major elements of the plan as a promising means of addressing the critical needs of both the Bay-Delta ecosystem and the state's water delivery structure," according a news release from the Department of Interior.
"After years of drought, growing stress on water supplies, and with the Bay-Delta in full environmental collapse, it has become clear to everyone that the status quo for California's water infrastructure is no longer an option," said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
Salazar went on to praise Governor Schwarzenegger for developing "forward-thing solutions," in spite of the fact the Schwarzenegger administration has presided over the collapse of Central Valley chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and young striped bass populations by exporting record amounts of Delta water from 2004 to 2006.
"Governor Schwarzenegger and the State of California have worked tirelessly and in partnership with us to develop responsible, forward-thinking solutions that can help us break the cycle of shortages and water conflicts," Salazar gushed. "This is the moment to push forward with solutions, apply the best science available, and build a water future for California that is good for our economy, guards against the impacts of catastrophic earthquakes and other natural disasters, and helps restore California's Bay-Delta to health."
Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke also lauded the release of the "coordinated report," repeating the "co-equal goals" rhetoric that defined the failed CalFed process and now defines the BDCP.
"Through the Interim Federal Action Plan for the Bay Delta, the Obama Administration has made significant progress working with California to address the State's complex and long-standing water issues," stated Sutley. "However, there is still much more work to do. Finalizing a Bay Delta Conservation Plan is a key part of establishing a long-term sustainable future for California's water system. Any solution must address the dual goals of water supply reliability and ecosystem health, be science-based, and be developed with the full engagement of stakeholders. We look forward to working with Governor-Elect Brown to continue and accelerate our progress."
"Over the long-term, rebuilding the ecology of the Delta and securing the reliability of California's water delivery systems carries huge promise for growing jobs across California, from the salmon-dependent fishing communities of coastal California to the farming communities of the Central Valley to Los Angeles basin," said Locke. "We will continue to focus on critical next steps, including applying the best scientific research available to inform sound decisions and long-term planning."
Locke failed to indicate how two mutually exclusive goals - restoring salmon populations and the jobs that depend on them and providing increased, more "reliable" supplies of water for unsustainable corporate agribusiness on drainage impaired land and land developers in southern California - can possibly achieved at the same time.
"The progress we've made together is historic," gushed California Secretary for Natural Resources Lester A. Snow, the man who has prosecuted Schwarzenegger's "scorched earth" policy towards fish and the environment, welcoming the federal support. "No group of federal, state and local interests, diverse stakeholders and committed individuals has ever come this far with a strategy to restore the Delta ecosystem and develop a more modern way to deliver our water. This is another important step we take together, but there is more to be done."
Inexplicably in light of the collapse of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations, the federal agencies are completely abdicating their mandate to protect the public trust by supporting this peripheral canal/tunnel plan. They are doing this even though the best available science, including the federal biological opinions protecting Central Valley salmon and Delta smelt, point to the key roles that water exports and declining water quality play in fish declines.
The release also claims that "Preliminary modeling results summarized in the state's BDCP Highlights suggest that a new north-south water conveyance facility could be operated in a manner that would generate average annual water exports over the long term that are more reliable, and greater, than the average annual exports that would be achievable under current constraints. For context, this modeling also suggests that these quantities may be comparable to the average annual Delta exports that have occurred since the Bay-Delta Accord, 15 years ago."
The key word here is "greater." As environmentalists, fishermen, Indian Tribes and scientists have pointed out for many years, what the Delta needs is less water exported out of it, not more.
The Obama and Schwarzenegger administrations have instead committed themselves to increasing Delta exports, while calling for the "restoration" of tens of thousands of acres of marshes, wetlands, and habitat to greenwash the destruction of the Delta ecosystem. The building of the canal and this "restoration" farce will result in kicking many family farmers and Delta residents off their land in order to deliver water to rich water privateers like Stewart Resnick of Paramount Farms, who has made millions of dollars in selling subsidized water back to the public for an enormous profit.
The peripheral canal/tunnel will cost an estimated $23 billion to $53.8 billion, according to an economic analysis conducted by Steven Kasower and Associates in 2009. Fishermen, Tribes and grassroots environmentalists fear that increased exports of water from the Delta will lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail and other collapsing populations of fish.
As Mark Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, told me at a rally against the peripheral canal at the State Capitol in Sacramento in July 2009, "The peripheral canal is a big, stupid idea that doesn't make any sense from a tribal environmental perspective. Building a canal to save the Delta is like a doctor inserting an arterial bypass from your shoulder to your hand- it will cause your elbow to die just like taking water out of the Delta through a peripheral canal will cause the Delta to die."
The Obama administration has definitely signed on to "change" - change for the worse. Fishermen, Indian Tribal members, conservationists, family farmers and Delta residents must rise up and organize to stop this abdication of the public trust to serve the interests of agribusiness, southern California land developers and corporate water privateers.
The Superior Court in San Francisco on Wednesday, December 1 will hear a court challenge to salmon-killing water diversion permits approved by the California Department of Fish and Game on the Scott and Shasta Rivers on September 22, 2009.
Earthjustice Attorneys Wendy Park and Greg Loarie will be in court challenging the permitting programs that are driving endangered wild coho salmon extinct. The de-watering of the two major Klamath River tributaries has resulted in major fish kills over the years. During the past two years, DFG staff were forced to rescue juvenile salmon from certain death in drying pools on the rivers.
Earthjustice is representing 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) in the case.
"The permits would allow the 'incidental take' (i.e., killing) of coho by agriculture, so long as these water users abide by a list of generic, unstudied, and inadequate mitigation measures," said Park. "Ultimately, the permits allow the continuation of the destructive activities that resulted in the collapse of the coho fishery in the first place."
Local ranchers divert so much water from both rivers to grow hay that the rivers often dry up during part of the year, according to Park. Coho salmon that historically spawned in these two rivers are at, or close to, extinction.
"The California Department of Fish and Game is issuing permits to ranchers to continue dewatering the rivers based on historic diversion levels which leave baby salmon high and dry and block the return of adult fish to spawn," Park added. "Last year only nine adult coho salmon returned to the Shasta River to spawn."
In April 2010, water conditions on the Scott and Shasta became so inhospitable that DFG staff relocated what few endangered coho salmon could still be found in the two rivers, transplanting them dozens of miles down the mainstem Klamath River to supposed safety.
"At this point, coho are so close to extinction and the Scott and Shasta are so severely dewatered each year that this type of rescue action may be warranted, but it cannot be a substitute for rewatering, and in the long term it's not likely to be a viable survival strategy for coho in these basins," said Klamath Riverkeeper Erica Terence. "It's a band-aid solution at best on what has become a major water hemorrhage."
Wild steelhead have also perished in fish kills on the Scott and Shasta, most notably in 2001 under the Gray Davis administration. For example, Game Warden Renie Cleland said he was told to "back off" from citing ranchers on the Scott and Shasta for killing off fish, according to an article by Tom Stienstra and Glen Martin in the San Francisco Chronicle on June 22, 2001 (http://articles.sfgate.com/2001-06-22/news/17604602_1_shasta-rivers-major-klamath-tributaries-scott-and-shasta).
"This has gone all the way to Sacramento," Cleland was quoted. "It's extremely politically sensitive. I was told to take no enforcement action on it. These fish are dying. We've got five or six thousand steelhead trout dead on the Scott, and (dead juvenile steelhead) everywhere on the Shasta."
The latest permit to dewater the Scott and Shasta was granted by the DFG under the administration of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is the same Governor who has attacked the biological opinion protecting imperiled Delta smelt and Central Valley salmon, has relentlessly campaigned for a peripheral canal and new dams, and has fast-tracked his corrupt and unjust Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
Schwarzenegger, who is worshipped by the corporate media and some environmental NGO's for his grandstanding about "climate change" and "green energy" corporate greenwashing scams, has pursued a "scorched earth" policy towards California's fish populations that has resulted in the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail, young striped bass, and other fish species in recent years.
I applaud the Earthjustice attorneys for constantly standing up for the fish, fishermen, Tribes and grassroots environmentalists in court!
The hearing will take place at 9:30 a.m. at the Superior Court, 400 McAllister Street, Dept 618, in San Francisco. For more information, call Wendy Park, Earthjustice, 510-550-6792, or John McManus, Earthjustice, 510-550-6707, http://www.earthjustice.org.
Fishermen, conservationists, Delta farmers, Indian Tribal members, environmentalists and elected leaders from diverse political perspectives have slammed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) process over the past four years for being a thinly disguised plan to build a peripheral canal to export more water from the California Delta to agribusiness and southern California.
Now a new and surprising critic of the BDCP process - the giant Westlands Water District on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley - has emerged, although the district's critique is much different than those working to provide the estuary with more water for fish and Delta farms. Westlands and other water contractors fear that the plan may include reduced water exports to comply with studies by state and federal biologists recommending increased Delta flows for fish.
Jason Peltier, Chief Deputy General Manager of Westlands Water District and one of the principals in the process, shocked many with his strong criticism of the BDCP's current direction during his testimony at an oversight hearing held by the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife at the State Capitol in Sacramento on November 16.
Peltier blasted the work of "mid-level biologists" from the federal government for recommending increased flows through the Delta for salmon, Delta smelt and other fish and boldly recommended that political appointees, rather than scientists, make the decisions over how much water must flow through the estuary. Peltier said the water contractors have heard from federal agencies that the BDCP is on track to produce a document that the federal government does not consider permittable.
At the same time, Peltier slammed a recent report by unnamed federal biologists that said that at least one species of fish would be threatened with extinction if the BDCP went forward. The biologists concluded "overall habitat conditions under the proposed project are likely to be worse than present day conditions or future conditions (if the project is not built)."
"Yes, I would ask political appointees to weigh in to make a decision based on informed views - not just a little paper with no names," Peltier emphasized, referring to the recent report. "The world is bigger than the word of a few biologists."
"It is important that agencies get the best available science," Peltier stated. "It's unfair to ask biologists to choose the flows for fish."
He also claimed there is "scientific uncertainty" on the flows needed for fish, noting the "complex tidal swing" in Delta channels of 30,000 cfs on every tide change. "We have to listen to debate and to make the best decisions we can," said Peltier.
While responding to questions by Senator Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), chairman of the Committee, Peltier criticized environmental groups for "nasty rhetoric" and spreading a "mythology." Peltier voiced frustration about the "never-ending stream of letters" from environmental organizations both on and off the BDCP steering committee who ignore economic realities.
"They seem to envision a perfect world," claimed Peltier. "We can't find perfection in this process. If that is their demand, that rock doesn't exist, and we ought not continue spending money to try and find this perfect world."
Peltier also warned the Committee, "There's going to need to be some kind of a reset - some kind of a come-to-Jesus - about how all of our interests can be met, or not met, and tell people they're not going to get what they had been hoping for."
Peltier was on a panel of BDCP "stakeholders" including Laura King-Moon, California Water Contractors Association; Cynthia Koehler, California Water Legislative Director, Environmental Defense Fund; Jonathan Rosenfield, Ph.D., Conservation Biologist, The Bay Institute; Melinda Terry, Manager, North Delta Water Agency; and Don Nottoli, Delta Stewardship Council Member, Delta Protection Commission Chair, and Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.
Jonathan Rosenfield responded to Peltier's complaints about "scientific uncertainty" by stating that federal, state and independent biologists have all identified, in a number of reports, the flows needed to maintain healthy salmon and Delta fish populations. These reports include ones conducted by the State Water Resources Control Board, the National Academy of Sciences and the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).
"I don't know of any scientist who disagrees with the need for flows out of the Delta," Rosenfield emphasized.
Ironically, the report that Peltier, a member of the BDCP Steering Committee, criticized was part of the "effects analysis" of proposed operations authorized under the BDCP process.
"They (Westlands) are decrying this report that the BDCP Steering Committee asked for," said Jonas Minton, water policy advisor of the Planning and Conservation League. "Now Westlands is recommending the same policy of political interference that occurred under the Bush administration, a policy that allowed the collapse of the Delta ecosystem to occur."
Julie A. MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks under President GW Bush, resigned on May 2007 after a scathing investigation by the Inspector General found that she had "injected herself personally and profoundly" in a number of Endangered Species Act decisions, including the Sacramento splittail of the Delta, a violation of the Code of Federal Regulations.
The Legislature failed to ask members of California Indian Tribes, recreational fishing groups, commercial fishing organizations, or environmental justice groups to speak on the hearing panels, even though they will be impacted dramatically by the construction of a peripheral canal or tunnel. However, Dick Pool, administrator of Water 4 Fish, spoke in the public comment period about the urgent need for immediate action to save collapsing runs of Sacramento River chinook salmon.
"I have a major concern about the rapid decline in fall-run chinook salmon from 800,000 fish in 2002 to only 39,500 fish in 2009," said Pool. "We don't have a lot of time left - there won't be any fish around if we rely on the BDCP schedule. We need to implement early projects to recover fish populations."
Resources Secretary Announces Release of Delta Plan Reports
During the hearing, Natural Resources Secretary Lester Snow announced that two major reports on the controversial Bay Delta Conservation Plan, developed after 4 years of meetings and $140 million spent, will be released in the next few weeks.
"While the Delta has become the most politically contentious water management issue in California," Snow said, "our progress in developing the Bay Delta Conservation Plan speaks to a growing consensus that we must achieve a Delta ecosystem that is more resilient and improve the state's water supply reliability."
Snow said that the BDCP Steering Committee plans to finalize its "working draft plan" at its meeting on Thursday, November 18.
Snow lauded the draft as "a product of a collaborative process that has included the California Department of Water Resources, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, federal and state fisheries agencies, water contractors, environmental organizations and other stakeholders. It will reflect substantial progress towards a completed Bay Delta Conservation Plan, and identify remaining elements where scientific work and other analysis is needed."
Snow said a separate "status report and issues summary" on the BDCP will be released the week of December 6, 2010. This document will include the State of California's assessment of the issues, but will reflect the work of state and federal agencies, water users, and the environmental community.
"It will also identify issues that require further resolution, including additional scientific analysis to improve upon water operations for Delta fisheries, ecological metrics to measure progress, and ongoing development of an adaptive management plan," according to Snow.
Snow stated that a draft habitat conservation plan/environmental impact report will be released in mid-2011 and the final report will be released in 2012. He said the current plan could lead to the construction of the peripheral canal/tunnel by 2013.
Delta Advocates Blast BDCP Goals and Costs
Delta advocates who attended the hearing were very critical of the BDCP's failure to address how it can possibly provide both the water and habitat that imperiled fish populations need and the water that the exporters desire.
"After 4 years and $140 million, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan is going to release some kind of document this week, but it won't answer the central question of the exercise: how do exporters plan to get the amount of water they want while giving fish and habitat the water they need?" said Jane Wagner-Tyack, a policy consultant for Restore the Delta.
Wagner-Tyack also criticized the BDCP for its failure to address how it will come up with the money for canal/tunnel construction and habitat "restoration" at a time when the state of California is besieged with an unprecedented budget crisis.
"And no one knows how this will all be paid for," she concluded. "However, one thing that seems clear is that exporters are unlikely to continue to pay for a plan that will not give them the amount and reliability of water that they thought they were getting with their investment in the BDCP."
Committee member Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) also pointed out the "incredible disconnect" of the BDCP proposals and the actual financing available for the plan as the state budget has grown to $25.4 billion.
"We cannot as a society continue to dump the burden of the remaining cost of the BDCP on the counties and water ratepayers," said Wolk. "What the BDCP expects to do is simplify not feasible. There will be a revolution."
In response to Wolk's comments that the state can't afford the facilities, Peltier said, "My response is that we cannot afford not to invest in the future."
"The contractors will pay for construction of the facilities, but none of the farmers want a tunnel or canal just as an accomplishment. They want something out of it more than they get out of the current system. If this is not going to happen, we need to have a discussion on closing down the economy of the state or letting anarchy happen," concluded Peltier.
With the BDCP process now under attack by both Delta advocates and water contractors, it will be interesting to see whether the incoming Brown administration will move the BDCP forward under its current path or to start anew with a process that asks first how much water fish and the Delta need for full restoration before considering exports to corporate agribusiness and southern California water.
After all, the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) of 1992 mandated the doubling of all naturally spawning anadromous fish populations - Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, white sturgeon, green sturgeon, striped bass and other species - by 2002. Rather than the doubling of these fish populations occurring, many of these species have declined to record low populations, due to record water exports by the state and federal governments.
Immediate action must be taken to double these fish populations, as well as recovering Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other imperiled fish under the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.
Natural Resources Secretary Lester Snow on November 16 announced that two major reports on the Bay controversial Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), developed after 4 years of meetings and $140 million spent, will be released in the next few weeks.
He made the announcement during his testimony at an oversight hearing held by the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife at the State Capitol in Sacramento.
Snow described the BDCP as "a comprehensive conservation plan to protect species/habitat protection and improve the reliability of water supplies in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta."
However, many fishing groups, Indian Tribes, environmental organizations and family farmers say the plan is a thinly veiled plan to build a peripheral canal/tunnel to export more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to San Joaquin Valley agribusiness and southern California.
"While the Delta has become the most politically contentious water management issue in California," Snow said, "our progress in developing the Bay Delta Conservation Plan speaks to a growing consensus that we must achieve a Delta ecosystem that is more resilient and improve the state's water supply reliability."
Snow said that the BDCP Steering Committee plans to finalize its "working draft plan" at its meeting on Thursday, November 18.
Snow lauded the draft as "a product of a collaborative process that has included the California Department of Water Resources, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, federal and state fisheries agencies, water contractors, environmental organizations and other stakeholders. It will reflect substantial progress towards a completed Bay Delta Conservation Plan, and identify remaining elements where scientific work and other analysis is needed."
The 1,500 page draft report won't be available to the public until Monday, November 21.
Snow said a separate "status report and issues summary" on the BDCP will be released the week of December 6, 2010. This document will include the State of California's assessment of the issues, but will reflect the work of both state and federal agencies, water users, and the environmental community.
"It will also identify issues that require further resolution, including additional scientific analysis to improve upon water operations for Delta fisheries, ecological metrics to measure progress, and ongoing development of an adaptive management plan," according to Snow.
Snow stated that a draft habitat conservation plan/environmental impact report will be released in mid-2011 and the final report will be released in 2012. He said the current plan could lead to the construction of the peripheral canal/tunnel by 2013.
Snow said the process has come to six major conclusions, including the "need" for a peripheral canal/tunnel:
1. Large scale habitat restoration is necessary.
2. Dual conveyance - a combination of a peripheral canal/tunnel and in-Delta conveyance - is necessary.
3. An economic plan must be developed
4. The BDCP must develop a resilent ecosystem.
5. California needs an increasingly diversified water supply.
6. Water management in California has suffered from a "lack of of truly integrated resource management."
BDCP "stakeholders" who testified included Jason Peltier, Chief Deputy General Manager, Westlands Water District; Laura King-Moon, California Water Contractors Association; Cynthia Koehler, California Water Legislative Director, Environmental Defense Fund; Jonathan Rosenfield, Ph.D., Conservation Biologist, The Bay Institute; Melinda Terry, Manager, North Delta Water Agency; and Don Nottoli, Delta Stewardship Council Member, Delta Protection Commission Chair, and Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.
Westlands Water District: political appointees, Not biologists, should decide Delta flows
Jason Peltier, during his testimony and while responding to questions by Senator Jared Huffman, criticized environmental groups for "nasty rhetoric" and spreading a "mythology." Peltier voiced frustration about the "never-ending stream of letters" from environmental organizations both on and off the BDCP steering committee who ignore economic realities.
"They seem to envision a perfect world," claimed Peltier. "We can't find perfection in this process. If that is their demand, that rock doesn't exist, and we ought not continue spending money to try and find this perfect world."
Peltier also said the water contractors have heard from federal agencies that the BDCP is on track to produce a document that the federal government does not consider permittable. He blamed this on the work of "mid-level biologists" and boldly recommended that political appointees, rather than scientists, make the decisions over how much water must flow through the estuary.
At the same time, he blasted a report by unnamed federal biologists that said that at least one species of fish would be threatened with extinction if the BDCP went forward. The biologists conclude that "overall habitat conditions under the proposed project are likely to be worse than present day conditions or future conditions (if the project is not built),"
"Yes, I would ask political appointees to weigh in to make a decision based on informed views - not a little paper with no names," he emphasized. "The world is bigger than the word of a few biologists."
"It is important that agencies get the best available science," Peltier stated. "It's unfair to ask biologists to choose the flows for fish."
He also claimed there is "scientific uncertainty" on the flows needed for fish, noting the "complex tidal swing" in Delta channels of 30,000 cfs on every tide change. "We have to listen to debate and to make the best decisions we can," said Peltier.
Jonathan Rosenfield responded to Peltier by stating that federal, state and independent biologists have all identified, in a number of reports, the flows needed to maintain healthy salmon and Delta fish populations.
"I don't know of any scientist who disagrees with the need for flows out of the Delta," he emphasized.
The Legislature failed to ask members of California Indian Tribes, recreational fishing groups, commercial fishing organizations, or environmental justice groups to speak on the panels, even though they will be impacted dramatically by the construction of a peripheral canal or tunnel. However, Dick Pool, administrator of Water 4 Fish, spoke in the public comment period about the urgent need for immediate action to save collapsing runs of Sacramento River chinook salmon.
"I have a major concern about the rapid decline in fall-run chinook salmon from 800,000 fish in 2002 to only 39,500 fish in 2009," said Pool. "We don't have a lot of time left - there won't be any fish around if we rely on the BDCP schedule. We need to implement early projects to recover fish populations."
Delta advocates who attended the hearing were very critical of the BDCP's failure to address how it can possibly provide both the water and habitat that imperiled fish populations need and the water that the exporters desire.
"After 4 years and $140 million, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan is going to release some kind of document this week, but it won't answer the central question of the exercise: how do exporters plan to get the amount of water they want while giving fish and habitat the water they need?," said Jane Wagner-Tyack, a policy consultant for Restore the Delta.
Wagner-Tyack also criticized the BDCP for its failure to address how it will come up with the money for canal/tunnel construction and habitat "restoration" at a time when the state of California is besieged with an unprecedented budget crisis.
"And no one knows how this will all be paid for," she concluded. "However, one thing that seems clear is that exporters are unlikely to continue to pay for a plan that will not give them the amount and reliability of water that they thought they were getting with their investment in the BDCP."
Seventeen local government agencies have signed a resolution to the state of California urging the adoption without modification of the unified array for marine protected areas developed by North Coast Tribal, fishing and environmental stakeholders.
The resolution, sent to the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force and California Fish and Game Commission on October 20, says that if any changes to the proposal are considered, they must be developed in collaboration with Regional Stakeholders and North Coast communities.
The resolution emphasizes that "long term success of MPAs (marine protected areas) will required acceptance by local communities."
"Although many community members do not believe any new MPAs are warranted, the Unified MLPA Array represents a compromise acceptable to North Coast residents, including recreational fishermen, commercial fishermen and conservation advocates," the resolution says.
The resolution also includes strong language supporting Tribal fishing and gathering rights. "Any approved MPA array design will need to allow traditional, non-commercial, gathering, subsistence, harvesting, ceremonial and stewardship activities by California Tribes and Tribal Communities," the resolution states.
Government agencies endorsing the resolution include the Counties of Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte and the cities of Monterey, Point Arena, Fort Bragg, Willits, Ukiah, Fortuna Eureka, Arcata, Trinidad and Crescent City. Other agencies signing onto the resolution include the Shelter Cove Resort Improvement District, Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District and Crescent City Harbor District.
The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) will meet on Monday, October 25 and Tuesday, October 26 at the River Lodge Conference Center, 1800 Riverwalk Drive in Fortuna, to approve a proposal for a network of marine protected areas to send to the Fish and Game Commission for approval.
North Coast residents fear that the task force will try to change the proposal under pressure by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom many believe is using the controversial MLPA process to greenwash his environmental legacy.
"Even with this widespread support for the single proposal, we are worried that the BRTF may be interested in coming up with its own alternative," said Jim Martin, West Coast Regional Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance.
North Coast fishermen, Tribes and environmentalists have criticized the MLPA Initiative for violating the Bagley-Keene Public Meetings Act, California Public Records Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and other state, federal and international laws.
MLPA critics also point out that the Blue Ribbon Task Force that oversees the process includes oil industry, real estate, marina development and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interest. The process is funded by a private corporation, the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation overseen by executive director Michael Eaton.
On July 21, over 300 people including members of 50 Indian Nations, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, immigrant seafood industry workers and environmental activists peacefully took over the previous Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in Fort Bragg to protest the denial of tribal rights and greenwashing that has occurred under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's MLPA Initiative. This was the largest protest held on the North Coast since the Redwood Summer of 1990.
Proponents of the peripheral canal and new dams often complain that critics of these controversial water projects have no "solutions" to California's water and fishery problems.
Well, the Environmental Water Caucus (EWC), a coalition of 27 environmental groups, fishing organizations, environmental justice groups and Native American tribes, has crafted a comprehensive solution to how Californians can restore their fisheries and meet water needs at the same time.
The EWC recently presented a ground-breaking series of proposals to the Delta Stewardship Council, the newly-formed state agency that is charged with finding a balance between water reliability and Bay-Delta environmental recovery.
The caucus provided a series of recommendations on water that included an aggressive statewide water conservation program that can reduce water use by 8 million acre feet annually and the retirement of toxic farmlands that use almost 4 million acre feet of water per year, acccording to a news release from EWC. They paired their recommendations with a reduction of Delta pumping that will help restore the Bay-Delta ecology and fisheries.
"The Caucus recommendations have been boosted by the State Water Resources Control Board's recent report that concluded that more water must be allowed to flow through the Bay-Delta in order to protect the health and public resources of this critically important watershed," EWC noted.
The recommendations by the Caucus were presented as an alternative to the pending proposals by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The widely-criticized plan, now being discussed in secret meetings convened by the Schwarzenegger administration, is designed to construct either a tunnel under the Bay-Delta or a peripheral canal around the Delta
BDCP critics fear that the peripheral canal/tunnel, designed to facilitate water exports to corporate agribusiness and southern California, will lead to the extinction of collapsing populations of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other fish. The canal/tunnel would cost an estimated $23 billion to $53.8 billion, according to an analysis last year by economist Steven Kasower.
Bill Jennings, chairman/executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA); Jim Crenshaw, president of CSPA; Bret Baker, a Delta pear farmer, biologist and Restore the Delta board member; and I disrupted a secret meeting of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) in Sacramento on September 30 to protest the closed process. The 50 participants in the closed door meeting decided to leave rather than to allow the four of us listen to the proceedings (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2010/10/08/secret-meeting-participants-flee-from-delta-residents-fishermen).
Dr. Mark Rockwell, representing the fishing community for EWC, said, "This BDCP plan will continue the destructive water extractions from the Delta and block any hope of recovery for fisheries and the Delta environment. We have to find a new way to manage water that does not involve reliance on the Delta. The recently published EWC report, California Water Solutions Now, accomplishes this goal."
For many years, fishermen, Tribes and environmentalists have worked relentlessly to increase the amount of water flowing through the Delta and to San Francisco Bay in order to restore and protect the health of the estuary. Large water contractors south of the Delta, led by Westlands Water District, have fought just as incessantly to increase the amount of water pumped through the Delta in order to irrigate farms and accommodate a growing population.
"It's a classic California water battle and seems to have no end," said David Nesmith, EWC coordinator. "This battle for water must end if we are to ever achieve a balance between the State's need for water, and our desire to have a healthy environment and save our fisheries."
"The Environmental Water Caucus has presented this alternative proposal that stresses water use reductions and avoids the multiple billions of dollars that would be needed to construct a major tunnel or canal through the Delta," said Nick Di Croce, long time water advocate and EWC consultant. "It is a non-structural alternative (no surface storage or new Delta conveyance) that can meet the needs of our growing population at least until 2050."
This report documents numerous analyses of water efficient technologies and approaches that can save or reduce water consumption in urban areas by as much as 5 million acre-feet a year by 2030 compared with current trends - enough water to support population growth of almost 30,000,000 people.
"According to the California Water Plan Update 2009, the state's population can be expected to increase by 22,000,000 over the next 40 years if current population trends hold," the report's executive summary states. "Clearly, a well-managed future water supply to take us to 2050 is within reach with the current supplies and with an aggressive water conservation program."
Using the Strategic Goals and Recommendations from the Environmental Water Caucus' report, the Caucus showed in their presentation how the actions called for in the report will save or reduce enough water consumption to allow the Delta exports to be reduced, in keeping with the State Water Board's report on Delta flows.
"In the same way that California can no longer just continue to build highways to accommodate our population growth, we must find different kinds of technological and societal solutions to protect our most valuable, limited and life-giving resource: water," said Michael Jackson, EWC steering committee member.
The Caucus closed their proposal by challenging the Delta Stewardship Council to analyze their proposal as one of the alternatives to be considered in the future Delta Plan. Additionally, they proposed a council workgroup to further develop the recommendations in the EWC report, and to bring together people from all sides to discuss how this can be implemented.
Mark Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe and an EWC member, pointed out the absurdity of claims that building a peripheral canal, as envisioned by BDCP officials, will somehow "save" the Delta.
"The peripheral canal is a big, stupid idea that doesn't make any sense from a tribal environmental perspective," stated Franco. "Building a canal to save the Delta is like a doctor inserting an arterial bypass from your shoulder to your hand- it will cause your elbow to die just like taking water out of the Delta through a peripheral canal will cause the Delta to die."
The EWC report shows how California can meet its water needs and restore its imperiled fish populations without building an environmentally destructive and enormously costly peripheral canal and new dams. You can read the report and find out more about the Environmental Water Caucus at their website: http://ewccalifornia.org.
Here is Brett Baker's excellent piece, "Crashing the Principal's Office," about our attempt on September 30 to attend a secret meeting of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, followed by other news from Restore the Delta.
Delta Flows, October 11, 2010- News from Restore the Delta
Crashing the Principals' Office
By Brett Baker
Over the past several weeks, the media has reported on "secret meetings" being held behind closed doors to set the course for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. Resources Agency Director Lester Snow went before the DSC last week to refute the reports of "secret meetings" saying they were due to insufficient fact checking on the part of reporters and news media.
On the morning of September 30th, 2010, a BDCP principals meeting was convened at the California Farm Bureau Federation off of Garden Highway in Sacramento. Those on the invite list included BDCP steering committee members who were only privy to the discussion, but not allowed to speak. (Melinda Terry of the North Delta Water Agency- the sole Delta rep in the room - told us that she was offered a seat for having signed the planning agreement, but not offered a speaking seat.) Speaking seats were reserved for "principals"- representatives of the entities who have financed the planning process-the finest display of pay-to-play I have never seen in government.
A group of four individuals Bill Jennings, Dan Bacher, Jim Beuttler, and I walked into the conference room unannounced, and were welcomed by complete silence and awkward stares. It was as if the scent of the Ganges on a warm summer evening had followed us into the room, which is ironic when one realizes that we were there to protect the Sacramento River.
As folks attempted to regain composure, we were asked by the meeting facilitator to introduce our selves. So we did. She then recommended to the group that we be allowed to stay as did David Nawi, Senior advisor to the Secretary of the Department of Interior.
The meeting was recessed, and immediately a group convened in the hallway to discuss how the "principals" would like to address our presence. It could be described as a secret meeting within the secret meeting.
We were approached by the meeting facilitator, and asked to leave for the sake of equity..Apparently, other folks, including Senator Lois Wolk's staff, had been turned away because the "principals" felt it was a necessity to have closed door discussions in addressing such contentious issues. The meeting facilitator then attempted to pacify our concerns, saying the entirety of the discussion would be reported to the Delta Counties Coalition(DCC) next Thursday (October 7, 2010). Of course this reply begs the question, "If they intended on reporting the entirety of the discussion, what was the harm in letting us stay?" After all, we should trust them to self-disclose the decisions that they reached in private that will greatly affect Delta communities and water resources for the entire state for centuries to come.
The meeting facilitator also informed us that if we were to stay that we must swear to remain silent for the remainder of the meeting and not report the names or attribute quotes to any of the folks in the room. Specifically, folks in the room had agreed to a non attribution clause, because having the dialogue around the table attributed to any one particular entity may be problematic for the entity's public relations efforts.
We responded that as American citizens we felt we were entitled to our first amendment rights and could make no such promise. She went on to say that this was not a first amendment issue, and the discussion digressed from there.
Lester Snow then called her out into the hallway for a brief discussion and she returned to ask us to leave. Mr. Jennings, for clarifications sake, asked if she was prepared to have us arrested if we refused. She replied that they weren't. Overall, the meeting facilitator was pleasant and courteous as were we. We were then told that if we did not leave, the "principals" would have to leave.
And leave they did. The meeting was not reconvened, and following Lester Snow's lead the attendees began to slowly file out of the room.
As this event was scheduled to be a two-day meeting. I surmised that they might hold the next day's meeting at the Federal Building in downtown Sacramento, where security is a little tighter.
As our fate was being decided in the hallway, we were greeted by environmental observers (others relegated to non-speaking seats), Kim Delfino from Defenders of Wildlife, Cynthia Koehler and Ann Hayden from Environmental Defense, and Gary Bobker of The Bay Institute. We also had a polite talk with Jason Peltier of Westlands Water District. We made small talk and joked about the deficiencies of the process.
The last two principals remaining in the room were Roger Patterson and Jeffry Kightlinger of Metropolitan Water District, who also followed us into the parking lot for a bit of civil discussion.
I feel that we walked away with a new found respect from the folks in the room. Several told us that for the most part they understood and even supported our bit of formal protest.
On a personal note, I felt like I was able to exercise my rights as an American that morning, and having done so now posses a much better understanding of Margaret Mead's quote: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does"
All in all we walked into the meeting at 9:20 a.m., and discussion ceased by 10:30 a.m. The room was empty and the only sign that a meeting had occurred were the empty coffee cups left around the table.
It was encouraging to feel a victory in this war on the Delta- no matter how small. Today is another day, and our work continues...
Called into the Principals' Office: The Not-So-Superintendent
Lester Snow may have been kicked upstairs from DWR Director to Resources Agency Secretary partly to ensure delivery of the Bay Delta Consesrvation Plan. The Administration may have been thinking that potentially regulated entities (PREs) around the BDCP table were losing focus and Snow would be the one to get fol
ks back on track and encourage compromise. Unfortunately, last month the table was moved to a back room, and people from the Delta weren't given a key to get in.
Delta legislators complained in a formal letter to Snow and the Department of the Interior, but the Schwarzenegger Administration is showing itself to be increasingly contemptuous of California's elected representatives.
At the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) meeting on September 23, Snow provided a briefing on the situation, With his federal counterpart, Interior Undersecretary David Nawi, at his side Lester presented his rebuttal letter sent to Senator Wolk and other state legislators and federal representatives.
Snow vehemently argued that the "closed-door, back room discussions" referenced by legislators were not in-fact taking place in "smoke-filled rooms." He blamed the whole fuss on inexperienced media people not fact-checking their claims prior to filing their stories. (Most people wouldn't classify the Contra Costa Times' Mike Taugher with careless media people.)
Snow stopped just short of criticizing the judgment of Senator Wolk and everyone else who signed the letter. What was really going on, he said, was an attempt to get BDCP Principals on the same page, and he felt the talks made BDCP a better process because in his opinion all the "main caucuses" were in the room. He pointed out that, after all, the decision making will take place in public meetings.
But Snow was clearly shaken, as if even he didn't believe that what was coming out of his mouth was the whole truth. We wouldn't blame him for feeling that from the standpoint of ethics, continuing to strong-arm Delta communities and the ecosystem really isn't worth it.
The product of the meetings was a report titled "Issues for Discussion for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan." (Available at http://www.resources.ca.gov/re... Snow was careful to point out that this was not a draft plan, just a progress report on what has been considered throughout the planning process. Something that will give the transition team of an incoming administration an idea of where things stand.
Nawi noted that the current information compiled by the BDCP steering committee lacked a framework that made BDCP understandable. Is this a nice way of saying that the whole plan is basically incoherent?
There was some discussion about assigning a staff "point person" from both DSC and BDCP to ensure increased communication between the two entities.
Nawi spoke briefly about the federal government's commitment to best available science and the furthering of the "co-equal goals," as well as increasing its involvement in Delta Planning.
They had to pay someone to tell them this....
DSC independent consultant ARCADIS released a report that bashed BDCP's progress and lack of significant findings, and the lack of willingness and/or ability to ask the right questions. A notable weakness is the vagueness surrounding proposed operational criteria and conservation measures. RTD reported on this last month (August 25) in our "Haste makes waste, again" article.
The DSC briefly discussed the ARCADIS report, and we can only hope that they give it the attention it warrants.
If the folks running BDCP had listened to and addressed the issues and concerns we have heard continually brought up at public scoping meetings and community outreach meetings, maybe the council could have saved itself the ARCADIS consulting fee.
Technically speaking
There was a good bit of discussion regarding the DSC's adoption of a Delta Plan, the folding in of BDCP, and how an appeal should be handled if someone takes issue with the Plan.
Greg Zlotnik (State Water Contractors) requested some clarification from the Council on the necessity of BDCP in a Delta Plan. Isenberg reminded Zlotnik that "necessity" was not the critical point; the critical point was whether the BDCP would remain eligible for state funding. (It is easy to forget that taxpayers are funding this process on which the State of California has now spent over $100 million.)
Isenberg: "That is why you are here."
Zlotnick: "No, it isn't."
Isenberg: "Trust me, that IS why you are here."
After some debate on legislative interpretation, it was determined that if the BDCP is submitted and DSC receives no appeal requests (unlikely), then BDCP is automatically rolled into the Delta plan.
Mr. Zlotnik and Mark Rentz of ACWA took issue with a perceived conflict of interest that DSC will be the ruling body if the Delta Plan, which the DSC is charged with approving in the first place, should face an appeal. After a great deal of discussion, Isenberg assured folks that this was legal and even typical. He pointed out that the Coastal Commission and Delta Protection Commission both review appeals on their own work. He held firm to that view despite arguments that a "de novo" process ("a new trial by a different tribunal") should be followed instead.
The newly-appointed Executive Director of the DPC, Mike Machado, was warmly received, congratulated on his appointment, and thanked by the Council. Machado reported on the ongoing Economic Sustainability planning. He also reported that a draft primary zone study should be out in October and adopted by December. In addition, he reported that the DPC is moving forward with their National Heritage Area (NHA) feasibility plan.
Gary Bardini, DWR's new Chief of Hydrology and Flood Operations, gave a rundown on Delta levee maintenance activities. The DRMS study was heavily referenced, and once again the Delta was characterized as one giant seismically vulnerable subsiding peat marsh.
Randy Fiorini asked Bardini if DWR's current efforts would result in an overall Delta levee plan. Isenberg stepped in to explain that it wouldn't. The state does not have an overarching Delta-wide plan for non-project levees, and the subventions program that is in place for cost sharing with the local agencies hasn't been working for the past couple of years.
Fiorini and especially Hank Nodoff seemed astounded that we lack a comprehensive levee plan. Isenberg went on to explain that the reason the state avoided dealing with local agencies was to avoid liability in the event of a failure. The looks on the faces of the DSC members was priceless: the entire council (except Isenberg, who had a devilish grin on his face) was clearly shocked.
Council members, thank you for having the grace to be appalled by this preposterous state of affairs.
While the state is drowning in debt, the General Fund is being drained by the government-created toxic drainage crisis in the San Joaquin Valley. Please read this outstanding article by Patrick Porgan of Planetary Solutionaries, one in a series entitled "Doubts about the Drought."
General Fund Being Drained by Budget Crisis and Government-Induced Drainage Crisis
by Patrick Porgan, Planetary Solutionaries
While Californians are being held captive waiting for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to adopt a budget, already more than 80 days late, costing "We the People" $52 million a day; more than $4 billion to date, they are also throwing $100s of millions down the drain and compounding California's government-induced water crisis.
Within the past decade California has been besieged by a water supply crisis, a budget crisis, a credit-rating crisis, a jobs crisis, an education crisis, a health care crises and a water quality crisis. The water quality crisis was identified as a potential crisis in the 1950s, and has contributed to the pollution of a significant length of the 330 mile San Joaquin River. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 215.4 miles of the river are on the 303(d) list, (the latest EPA approved list is from 2006), adding to demise of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The primary sources of the water quality crisis is from toxic salt discharge from lands irrigated by subsidized water delivered by the federal Central Valley Project to contractors "farming" on the arid west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Millions of acre-feet of water are exported from the project's Delta pumping plants which transport salt to and from those lands. All of this is being done as the government declares its intent to "save the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary" while sanctioning its demise. Common sense dictates that it is not possible to continue sanctioning the dumping of hundreds of tons of toxic salts into the San Joaquin River and the Bay-Delta Estuary annually and expect it to survive.
Toxic salt loading is not only taking its toll on the river and Bay-Delta Estuary, it is draining the State General Fund, as a myriad of publicly funded programs for drainage, water quality improvement, fisheries restoration and others continue to be financed with borrowed money from the deficit-ridden General Fund.
Water officials have wasted more than $10 billion and 35 years in extended delays in their failed attempt to carry out their legal mandates to protect the waters of the state and restore the Bay-Delta Estuary. In addition, the Bay-Delta Estuary was touted as the "ground-zero poster child" pitched by water officials in support of the so-called historical 2009 "Water Package" - $11 billion bond act, approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor. Even the mainstream media acknowledged this "package" as a "backroom-pork-barrel deal". The "package" is once again being sold to "improve" the Estuary. The bond measure has been rescheduled for the 2012 ballot.
The fact remains that for decades the "responsible" government officials and political appointees on both the State Water Resources Control Board and the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (boards) have been sanctioning the discharge of trainloads of toxic substances into the San Joaquin River and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay Estuary. The discharges have been reported to exceed the state's toxic threshold limits. The question as to whether this train wreck in the making will be allowed to continue dumping and pumping in excess of 3.4 million pounds of toxic salts per day into the waters of the state will be the subject of a meeting scheduled before the State Board on 5 Oct. 2010.
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/...
A significant portion of the San Joaquin River has been declared to be water quality impaired-polluted (unfit to swim in, eat certain species of fish and so forth). On a map published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 1999, entitled, Index of Watershed Indicators, it shows that the valley is the single largest "more serious water quality problem - high vulnerability" area in the nation. This dubious
distinction is the direct result of the boards' failure to take action to stop the discharge of these toxic substances into the waters of the state, which exceed both state and federal water quality standards.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency - Index of Watershed Indicators
The California Fish and Game Commission will hold a special meeting on September 29 in McClellan, CA. to discuss and consider a potential extension to the public comment period for the South Coast Region Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
Fishing and conservation groups are supporting a 90 day extension of the controversial MLPA process to provide the public with sufficient time to review and comment on this report, while some environmental NGOs are opposing the delay in their effort to keep the initiative on its fast track. The initiative is privately funded by the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, led by executive director Michael Eaton.
The DEIR, released on August 18, analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the marine protected area (MPA) proposals currently under consideration for this area. The DEIR was given a 45-day review and comment period. The DEIR is a 548-page document that addresses a number of complex environmental issues that require careful consideration.
"Decisions made under the MLPA process, including the DEIR, will have significant and long-lasting consequences for angling and boating in the region," according to a statement from Keep America Fishing. "The public deserves enough time to carefully review and provide input on the DEIR to ensure it is as comprehensive, informative and accurate as possible and is not driven by a need to meet arbitrary deadlines."
In contrast, an action alert from the Santa Barbara Channelkeeper (http://www.independent.com/news/2010/sep/20/channelkeeper-asks-help-protecting-socal-coast) claimed, "Delaying plans for Southern California could threaten the historic Marine Life Protection Act-one of our state's most important ocean protection laws that calls for the creation of a statewide network of marine protected areas."
"Half of this network already exists along the California coast from Point Conception to Point Arena, where MPAs are already working to restore ocean health in breathtaking biodiversity hot spots like the Channel Islands, Point Sur, and Point Reyes," the Channelkeeper stated. "But it's up to the Fish and Game Commission to complete the statewide network of protected areas, starting with Southern California."
Unfortunately, the Channelkeeper and other MLPA advocates fail to acknowledge that the so-called "marine protected area" network is a grotesque parody of real marine protection being used by Schwarzenegger to greenwash his abysmal environmental legacy. This is the same governor that has presided over the collapse of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail, young striped bass and other fish populations while campaigning for a peripheral canal, new dams and increased water exports out of the California Delta.
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), a comprehensive, landmark law signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, 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.
In contrast with the intent of the original law, the MLPA Initiative under Schwarzenegger has taken 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 bizarre concept of "marine protection." The MLPA would do nothing to stop another Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon oil disaster from devastating the California coast.
The Channelkeeper and other MLPA advocates also fail to acknowledge the rampant corruption and conficts of interest that have proliferated under the process. The Governor has installed an oil industry lobbyist, a marina developer, a real estate executive and other corporate interests with numerous conflicts of interests as "marine guardians" on the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces to remove Indian Tribes, fishermen and seaweed harvesters from the water in these fake marine protected areas.
In fact, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, served as the chair of the Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) for the South Coast, as well as a member of the task forces for the North Coast and North Central Coast. This oil industry superstar has in recent months repeatedly called for new oil drilling off the California coast. How can there be any justice under this initiative when Schwarzenegger's head MLPA official for the South Coast is the head oil lobbyist for the Western United States?
On July 21, over 300 people, including members of 50 Indian Nations, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, immigrant seafood industry workers, environmentalists and seaweed harvesters, peacefully took over a meeting of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force in Fort Bragg to protest the violation of tribal gathering rights and the corporate greenwashing that have proliferated under the initiative.
"This is the largest demonstration on the North Coast since the Redwood Summer of 1990," Dan Hamburg, former North Coast Congressman and current candidate for the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, told me as we marched through the streets of Fort Bragg on the way to the meeting.
"Whether it is their intention or not, what the Marine Life Protection Act does to tribes is systematically decimate our ability to be who we are," said Frankie Joe Myers, Yurok Tribal ceremonial leader and organizer for the Coastal Justice Coalition. "That is the definition of cultural genocide."
The privatization of ocean conservation management under the shadowy and unaccountable Resources Legacy Fund Foundation is at the core of everything that is wrong with the MLPA process. The time has come for a suspension of the privately-funded initiative, and for state and federal investigations of the conflicts of interests and violations of state, federal and international laws that have bloomed under the MLPA process.
I urge everybody to send a letter to the Fish and Game Commission urging them to extend the comment period on the DEIR to 90 days by going to http://www.keepamericafishing.... The FGC needs to hear from you before the upcoming meeting!
You should also attend the commission meeting on September 29. The FGC will be receiving public comment during this meeting. This is your chance to convey to the FGC - in person - the importance of allowing an extension.
The meeting will be held from Noon - 5 p.m. PDT at the Lion's Gate Hotel & Conference Center, 3410 Westover Street, McClellan, California. For more details regarding the September 29 FGC meeting, visit http://www.fgc.ca.gov/meetings...
For more information on the MLPA Initiative, read my piece, "The questions that Arnold's MLPA proponents don't want to answer," http://www.indybay.org/newsite...
National fishing and conservation groups recently announced their support for a single, community-supported marine protected area (MPA) proposal adopted by tribal, fishing and environmental stakeholders for California's North Coast as part of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
Jim Martin, West Coast Regional Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), on September 9 announced that the RFA has endorsed a resolution in support of the "Unified Array" for marine protected areas on the North Coast.
The resolution has been submitted for the consideration of local governments, tribes and tribal communities, fishing associations and conservation groups. It asks the Governor's MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) to approve the network of MPAs approved by the local regional stakeholder group, including the need to allow traditional tribal gathering.
"Any approved MPA array design will need to allow traditional, non-commercial, gathering, subsistence, harvesting, ceremonial and stewardship activities by California Tribes and Tribal Communities," the resolution reads.
"In other regions of the state, there were numerous proposals moved forward for the BRTF's consideration and they cherry-picked from these proposals to craft their own, to the great disadvantage of recreational anglers in those regions," said Martin. "We are very pleased with the work the stakeholders achieved in the north coast region, and urge all recreational fishermen to join us in support of their work."
Martin said RFA members throughout California volunteered for duty on each region's MLPA regional stakeholder group.
"The entire membership thanks RFA members Tim Klassen, Ben Doane, Brandi Easter and Kevin McGrath for their tireless work on behalf of all recreational fishermen and divers on the north coast," said Martin. "We urge all recreational fishing associations, clubs and organizations to join us in support of the 'Unified MPA Array' by endorsing this resolution and sending it to the Blue Ribbon Task Force."
Then on September 17, the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), which represents recreational fishing and boating interests in California, sent a letter to the Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF), the MLPA oversight group, urging them to accept the Regional Stakeholder Group's (RSG) unified array proposal.
"The unified array is the result of immeasurable time and hard work put in by the RSG," said Allen Sansano, director of Fisheries Affairs for NorCal Kayak Anglers, a PSO member. "A lot of tough decisions and compromises were made among the different community interests to come up with this consensus position. This is a proposal that our community can live with and will support."
Throughout the MLPA implementation process in other regions of the state, community groups have submitted multiple proposals only to see the BRTF create its own preferred alternative.
"By abandoning the RSG-created proposals in previous regions, the BRTF wasted the time and energy of the RSG members and disenfranchised many of those involved in the process," noted Bob Fletcher of the Sportfishing Association of California and former Chief Deputy Director of the Department of Fish and Game. "Given that the MLPA is supposed to be an open, transparent and community-driven process, the BRTF should accept the recommendations of the North Coast community instead of making its own."
Sansano concluded, "Modifying the unified array would seriously undermine the hard work and consensus reached by the community stakeholder group. Without local support and cooperation, MPAs have been shown to be completely ineffective or even counter-productive. Given the significant potential effects that the MLPA will have on businesses, traditional user groups and the recreating public, it's important that this process is done correctly and based on sound science with the least economic impact."
The PSO includes the American Sportfishing Association, contributing members of the Avalon Tuna Club, Berkley Conservation Institute, Coastside Fishing Club, International Game Fish Association, Kayak Fishing Association of California, National Marine Manufacturers Association, NorCal Kayak Anglers, Shimano Sport Fisheries Initiative, Southern California Marine Association, Sportfishing Association of California, United Anglers of Southern California and Watermen's Alliance.
I applaud the perseverance and hard work by the tribal, fishing, environmental and business community stakeholders in developing a single proposal for the North Coast under the MLPA process. The stakeholders helped minimize the economic costs to local communities and did their best to protect tribal fishing and gathering rights.
The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force meets in Fortuna, CA on October 25 and 26 to consider the proposal. I urge you to send letters in support of the "Unified Array" via email to mlpacomments [at] resources.ca.gov.
However, the question needs to be asked - what does the Initiative really protect the oceans from? The MLPA Initiative has completely taken oil drilling, water pollution, corporate aquaculture, wave energy development, habitat destruction and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table in the creation of so-called marine protected areas.
The privatization of ocean conservation management under the shadowy and unaccountable Resources Legacy Fund Foundation is at the core of everything that is wrong with the MLPA process. Oil industry, real estate, marina development and other corporate operatives with conflicts of interest in the outcome of the process dominate the Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversee the MLPA Initiative.
The time has come for a suspension of the privately-funded initiative, and for state and federal investigations of the conflicts of interests and violations of state, federal and international laws that have proliferated under the MLPA process. For more information, go to: http://www.indybay.org/newsite...
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed Michael Sutsos, 56, of Sonoma, to the California Fish and Game Commission, according to today's news release from the Governor's Office.
Sutsos replaces Don Benninghoven, who was not confirmed as Commissioner this August by the State Senate, due to massive opposition by fishermen and conservationists to Benninghoven's strong support of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
Last August, Schwarzenegger appointed Benninghoven to the Commission in a last minute effort to push through marine protected area (MPA) regulations on the North Coast that removed the Kashia Pomo Tribe and other Tribes from their traditional fishing and gathering areas. Fortunately, Tribal leaders and their lawyers, after a historic blessing ceremony was held off Stewarts Point (Danaka) on April 30, negotiated with the state to reopen a section of this new marine protected area to traditional Tribal and recreational use.
Since 1985, Sutsus has been president of Black Point Sports Club, where he previously served as manager from 1972 to 1985. He is a member of the California Waterfowl Association, Mzuri Wildlife Foundation and California Outdoor Heritage Alliance. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Sutsos is a Republican.
"Well known trainer and author, Mike Sutsos personally oversees all training and works hands-on with each owner to develop their dog's best characteristics in the field," according to the Black Point Sports Club website. "Mike has trained many national field champs and specializes in all forms of bird dog training."
A phone call to Sutsos at the Black Point Sports Club to find out his positions on the fast-track MLPA Initiative, salmon restoration, the peripheral canal and other water and fishery issues has not been returned yet.
Political insiders say it is very unlikely that Sutsos, an appointee of a lame-duck Governor, will be confirmed by the Senate.
A Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) is now complete for the Marine Protected Area (MPA) proposals covering California's South Coast Study Region under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative. A 45-day public comment and review period began on August 18 and will run through October 4, according to a news release from the California Department of Fish and Game.
"The DEIR analyzes the potential environmental impacts of each of the five MPA proposals currently under consideration for this area, which extends from Point Conception to the California border with Mexico," said Thomas Napoli, Department of Fish and Game spokesman. "The MPA proposals are part of the larger Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process, which will create new MPAs along the length of California's coastline."
Napoli said the DEIR was prepared by the California Fish and Game Commission with assistance from the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) as part of the required environmental review process under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The process began in June with a public scoping phase, during which DFG solicited comments on the range of issues and type of information that should be considered in the DEIR. These comments helped to shape the content of the DEIR released this week.
MLPA Initiative officials and their corporate "environmental" NGO allies tried to bypass the CEQA process in their fervor to fast-track the MLPA in an attempt to greenwash the abysmal environmental legacy of Governor Schwarzenegger, but massive opposition by fishing and conservation groups forced the state of California to comply with the law and begin an environmental review (http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?xid=z03lb1yk59habr).
Critics of the MLPA Initiative charge that the proposals were rushed through by a MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force that is dominated by oil industry, marina development, real estate and other corporate interests. In fact, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), chaired the task force that developed the so-called "marine protected areas" on the South Coast. Reheis-Boyd has repeatedly called for new oil drilling off the California in spite of economic and environmental devastation caused by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Gusher.
Nothing demonstrates the illegitimacy of the MLPA Initiative than Schwarzenegger's appointment of an oil industry super star like Reheis-Boyd to remove recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and Tribal members, the strongest opponents of offshore drilling, from the water.
These no-take zones will do nothing to protect the ocean from oil drilling, water pollution, aquaculture, wave energy projects or any other human uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering. Many environmental leaders, including John Lewallen, North Coast author and activist, believe that the MLPA Initiative is designed to clear a path for new oil drilling and ocean industrialization along the California coast.
On the North Coast, opposition to the MLPA Initiative, privately funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, has spurred the creation of the largest political movement since the Redwood Summer of 1990. On July 21, over 300 people including members of 50 Indian Nations, environmentalists, immigrant seafood industry workers, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and human rights advocates peacefully took control of a MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in Fort Bragg to protest the violation of Tribal fishing and gathering rights and corporate greenwashing that has occurred under the MLPA.
Assemblyman Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata) has called on California Resources Secretary Lester Snow to suspend the North Coast MPLA process for six months to "ensure that environmental protection is balanced with traditional access rights." Snow hasn't responded to his request to date (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/18/18656309.php).
The DEIR is now available to the public on DFGs website at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/reg... Printed copies of the DEIR and related documents are available at the Santa Maria Public Library, San Luis Obispo City-County Public Library, Ventura County Public Library, County of Los Angeles Public Library, Avalon Library, Santa Monica Public Library, Laguna Beach Branch Library, Oceanside Public Library and at the following DFG field offices:
California Department of Fish and Game
4665 Lampson, Suite C
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
(562) 342-7100
California Department of Fish and Game
1933 Cliff Dr., Suite 9,
Santa Barbara, CA 93109
(805) 568-1231
California Department of Fish and Game
4949 Viewridge Avenue
San Diego, CA 92123
(858) 467-4201
All comments must include the commentors name, address and daytime telephone number. They can be sent via mail to:
MLPA South Coast CEQA
Department of Fish and Game
4665 Lampson, Suite C
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
Comments may also be submitted via e-mail (Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format only) to MLPAComments [at] dfg.ca.gov. E-mailed comments must include MLPA CEQA Comments in the subject line.
All comments must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Oct. 4 in order to be considered for inclusion in the Final EIR.
On August 17, the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), a coalition of conservation and fishing industry organizations, announced that it "fully supports" the request by Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro to delay the implementation of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's fast-track Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative on the North Coast.
Chesbro recently asked California Resources Secretary Lester Snow for a six-month delay in the controversial process to allow more time to develop a plan that balances marine conservation with access for the public and traditional user groups. To date, Snow has not responded to Chesbro's request.
"I have met with Resources Secretary Lester Snow and strongly urged him to slow down the process and that no action be taken by the Blue Ribbon Task Force for at least six months to allow more time to develop a plan that protects marine life and balances the access rights of traditional user groups," Chesbro said. "I am confident that given enough time we can develop a workable solution between the fishing community, North Coast tribes and environmentalists. There has already been some movement in this direction. This is something that cannot be rushed."
Chesbro's request came in response to the increasing criticism of the MLPA Initiative by California Indian Tribes, fishermen, environmentalists and human rights advocates.
Over 300 people including members of 50 Indian Nations, environmentalists, immigrant sea urchin industry workers, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, seaweed harvesters and community activists peacefully took over an MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in Fort Bragg on July 21 to protest the violation of tribal fishing and gathering rights and corporate greenwashing under the MLPA process. This was the largest protest on the North Coast since the Redwood Summer of 1990.
"We are pleased to see Assemblymember Chesbro step forward and request a slowdown of the MLPA," said Steve Fukuto, president of United Anglers of Southern California, a PSO member. "It's also disheartening that we continue to see the same concerns voiced again and again over the way the MLPA is being implemented."
"From the outset, the MLPA has been plagued by rushed goals and deadlines before important questions are answered and necessary resources are available. Those of us in the South Coast are frustrated by the state's continued desire to railroad the MLPA process while our questions and concerns are ignored," stated Fukuto.
A news release from PSO said "While it is fully supportive of restoring California's marine fisheries, it has expressed concerns over the rushed nature by which the MLPA has been planned and implemented throughout California's Central Coast, North Coast, South Coast and, now, the North Coast."
The PSO continues to question how the state plans to pay for the estimated $40-60 million a year to monitor and enforce the network of marine protected areas (MPAs) created under the MLPA, especially given the state's current fiscal crisis. "In addition to these concerns, the North Coast phase of the MLPA has faced heightened opposition from Tribal groups over the potential takeover of tribal gathering rights and traditional fishing grounds," the release stated.
"As someone who has participated in the North Coast planning process and seen firsthand the challenges facing the stakeholders in coming to agreement, I applaud Assemblymember Chesbro for requesting the needed delay and urge Secretary Snow to grant the request," said Allen Sansano, Director of Fisheries Affairs for NorCal Kayak Anglers, a PSO member. "Without time to address the serious issues and conflicts facing the North Coast process, we will end up with a hurried MPA proposal that no one is happy with."
Sandy Cooney, spokesman for the California Natural Resources Agency, claimed that "there has been no formal request from Assemblymember Chesbro for an extension."
"Nonetheless, I do know that there have been conversations with the Assemblyman and his staff," said Cooney. "No decision, to grant or not grant an extension, had been made. You may remember that based upon a Chesbro request in late 2009 a six week extension, from mid-December 2009 to Feb. 1, 2010 was granted."
MLPA critics charge that the Marine Life Protection Act, a landpark law signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1998, has been eviscerated under the Schwarzenegger administration. They have blasted the initiative for taking oil drilling, water pollution, aquaculture, wave energy and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table.
Initiative critics have also pointed out that the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces, created by Schwarzenegger to remove Tribal members, fishermen and seaweed harvesters from the water in so-called "marine protected areas" (MPAs), are dominated by oil industry, marina development, real estate and other corporate representatives who have a direct stake in the designation of these MPAs.
In fact, the chair of the South Coast MLPA task force is Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association. She also sits on the task North Coast task force and sat on the North Central Coast task force. In recent months she has called for new oil drilling off the California coast, in spite of the environmental and economic devastation caused by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
A prominent environmental leader, Judith Vidaver, Chair of the Ocean Protection Coalition based in Mendocino County, asked for the resignation of Reheis-Boyd in her public testimony at the July 21 MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting.
"OPC respectively and regrettably requests that Catherine Reheis-Boyd voluntarily step down from her position on the Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF)," said Vidaver. "Oil and water do not mix - as we are daily being reminded by the disaster spewing in the Gulf."
"These Marine Protected Areas would allow for deep water drilling, yet would ban Tribal gathering," emphasized Frankie Joe Myers, organizer for the Coastal Justice Coalition and a Yurok Tribe ceremonial leader, in a news release on June 29.
As criticism of the MLPA Initiative is building among fishermen, Tribal members and environmentalists, Fukuto is urging anglers to contribute to the legal effort to challenge the MLPA.
"We urge anglers in the North Coast and throughout the state who are concerned with the nature in which the MLPA is being forced upon the public to step up and help us by donating to our legal effort to challenge this flawed process," added Fukuto. "We need all California anglers to donate what they can to protect their right to fish in the Ocean."
The recently formed Ocean Access Protection Fund will enable contributors to donate online through its website, http://www.OceanAccessProtecti... The purpose of the Fund, operated by the nonprofit group United Anglers of Southern California, is to provide the financial support necessary to maintain legal challenges involving the MLPA as well as future threats to recreational access to ocean and coastal waters.
Members of PSO include the American Sportfishing Association, Berkley Conservation Institute, supporting members of the Avalon Tuna Club, Coastside Fishing Club, International Game Fish Association, Kayak Fishing Association of California, National Marine Manufacturers Association, NorCal Kayak Anglers, Shimano Sport Fisheries Institute, Sportfishing Association of California, Southern California Marine Association, United Anglers of Southern California and Watermen's Alliance.
Below is Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro's news release announcing his request for the six-month delay in the North Coast MLPA process:
Chesbro asks Resources Secretary for 6 month delay of North Coast MLPA process
SACRAMENTO - Citing concerns about how the Marine Life Protection Act is being implemented on the North Coast, Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) has asked California Resources Secretary Lester Snow to delay the process for at least six months to ensure that environmental protection is balanced with traditional access rights. Chesbro made the request in a recent meeting with Snow.
"I have met with Resources Secretary Lester Snow and strongly urged him to slow down the process and that no action be taken by the Blue Ribbon Task Force for at least six months to allow more time to develop a plan that protects marine life and balances the access rights of traditional user groups," Chesbro said. "I am confident that given enough time we can develop a workable solution between the fishing community, North Coast tribes and environmentalists. There has already been some movement in this direction. This is something that cannot be rushed."
Since the day he took office in 2008, Chesbro has been a fierce critic of the process Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has employed to implement the MLPA. Chesbro has been resolute in his demand that access rights of traditional user groups such as fishermen and the tribes be protected.
"It is imperative that the implementation process be driven by local participation," Chesbro said. "The plan that is developed must be supported by those most affected by it. To that end, the North Coast needs more time for all the stakeholders to work out among themselves the best possible solutions."
For more information, contact Andrew Bird, (707) 445-7014; 498-2483.
