| July
31, 2007
Schwarzenegger's Campaign to
Build the Delta Canal and More Dams
The
Fish Terminator
By DAN
BACHER
Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger ramped up his campaign to build a peripheral
canal and more water storage facilities with four major press conferences
at San Luis Reservoir on July 16, Twitchell Island in the Delta
on July 17, Long Beach on July 23 and San Diego on July 24.
His
proposal for the canal – and more “research” on
Delta smelt - drew intense criticism from Restore the Delta and
fishing groups now battling to stop the collapse of Delta smelt
and other fish populations, the result of increasing water exports
in the past several years.
After
taking a Delta tour with Department of Water Resources (DWR) officials
and others in the Twitchell Island area on July 17, the Governor
directed DWR to “take immediate action steps” to “improve
conditions” in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, to help restore
its natural habitat and “protect” the Delta smelt and
other species.
“Today,
I am calling for actions to help restore the Delta, the largest
estuary on the West Coast and home to hundreds of native plant and
animal species,” exhorted the Governor, trying to add a green
veneer to his latest call for the canal and more water storage facilities.
“The Delta is also one of the most vulnerable areas of our
state. It faces dangers of contamination from a natural disaster
or rising sea levels. And, we saw an example of its vulnerability
when we had to shut off the pumps for nine days to protect the threatened
Delta smelt.”
Appearing
with the Governor at the “photo opportunity” were Lester
Snow, director of the Department of Water Resources, Assemblyman
Dave Cogdill, Assemblyman Guy Houston, Susan Kennedy, the Governor’s
Chief of Staff, and others.
One
of the “actions” he pinpointed was “to improve
research on the Delta Smelt,” – completely ignoring
the massive increases in water exports that state and federal scientists
and conservationists consider to be the number one factor behind
the dramatic decline in four Delta pelagic species – Delta
smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, and juvenile striped bass.
“State and federal agencies will upgrade and continue operation
of a smelt culture laboratory,” he said.
In
response to a question that I posed about what he was going to do
to prevent delta smelt from becoming extinct, he responded, “We
shut the pumps down 9 days this year. We are looking at various
new technologies to employ so that the smelt won’t go through
the pumps.”
Other
actions that Schwarzenegger called for include preventing the spread
of invasive species, screening Delta agricultural intakes to protect
smelt, restoring North Delta habitat and improving Central Delta
water flow patterns.
Schwarzenegger
introduced his $5.9 billion water plan in January that invests $4.5
billion to develop additional surface and groundwater storage. The
plan also includes $1 billion toward “restoration” of
the Delta, including “development of a new conveyance system”
– Schwarzenegger’s euphemism for the peripheral canal.
Ann
Hayden of Environmental Defense provided the only dissonant note
in the otherwise carefully choreographed love fest at Twitchell
Island.
“Environmental
Defense is encouraged that Governor Schwarzenegger is committed
to moving forward on interim actions to restore habitat in the Delta,”
said Hayden. “While this is a step in the right direction,
more needs to be done. We hope the Governor will also take other
immediate actions to help imperiled fisheries. Such actions include
addressing the impacts that inadequate freshwater flows and high
rates of export pumping are having on key species.”
Fishing
groups, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe and the Restore the Delta Coalition
– who weren’t invited to the Delta event – criticized
the Governor’s Delta plan for failing to consider reductions
in water exports or building effective fish screens on the Delta
pumps.
“While
several of these items including emergency preparedness and levee
maintenance are endeavors that Restore the Delta supports,”
said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta coordinator, “our
supporters are stunned that the Governor, who recently said that
water projects have been studied to death, is simply calling for
more research on the Delta Smelt without taking more decisive action
to save the fish from extinction.”
She
said that first and foremost, fish screens need to be installed
on the State Water Project pumps as mandated in the CalFed record
of decision.
“While
installing fish screens on state agricultural projects, as called
for in the Governor’s directive, may help to protect some
fish, Sherman and Twitchell Islands are not where the majority of
Delta Smelt are being killed by pumping,” she pointed out.
“While restoring natural habitat and improving Central Delta
water flow patterns are productive steps, they will not bring about
true restoration for the Delta without a reduction in water exports.”
She
and other Delta residents also blasted the Governor for failing
to back down from his mad drive to build a canal, even after having
receiving intense criticism from a broad coalition of fishermen,
farmers, Indian Tribes, conservationists and Delta residents that
the building of the canal would mean the final destruction of a
Delta ecosystem now in collapse.
“When
one considers the environmental effects of diverting the last major
source of fresh water from the Delta via a peripheral canal, it
makes us wonder if these stated environmental mandates are nothing
more than a smoke screen for the Governor’s special interest
water plan,” she said.
Mark
Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu (McCloud River) Tribe, said
Schwarzenegger’s concept of building the peripheral canal
and more water storage facilities to somehow “restore”
the Delta goes against the very core of indigenous people’s
concept of the earth.
“Traditional
people see the earth in balance,” said Franco. “If you
take something from the earth and don’t replace it, it takes
everything out of balance. For example, our McCloud River salmon
were introduced many years ago to New Zealand where they are now
thriving, but the salmon are no longer in the McCloud. They shifted
the balance – and the salmon are now in collapse.”
He
said California Indian lands have been damaged, abused or taken
away every time that a dam has been constructed. For example. Shasta
Dam flooded the traditional villages and sacred sites of the Winnemem
Wintu – and the tribe has never been compensated or mitigated
for the destruction since the dam has been built.
The
proposed raising of Shasta Dam, which the tribe adamantly opposes
because it would flood the tribe’s remaining sacred sites,
is an integral part of state and federal government plans to increase
water exports out of the Delta via the peripheral canal.
“The
rivers are the arteries of the earth,” he noted. “Building
more dams and a peripheral canal to save the Delta is like putting
a tourniquet on your arm and leaving it there. If you don’t
take it off, you will die.”
In
fact, Franco believes that the two humpback whales that swam up
the Sacramento River to the Port of Sacramento in May were there
for a purpose – and not “lost” as the major media
reported.
“The
whales came up the river to tell us what was going on in the Delta
at a time that the Delta smelt were dying in the hundreds in the
state and federal pumps,” said Franco. “The whales started
to get sick in freshwater. But when the state finally shut down
its pumps, the whales then miraculously recovered and headed down
to the ocean. All of this time, our tribe was singing whale songs
just like our relations on the coast do.”
Bill
Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection
Alliance, blasted the governor’s Delta plan as being “a
smokescreen masking a proposal for massive increase of northern
California water for desert farms in the south state.”
“Schwarzenegger
is asking the taxpayers to buy something, the peripheral canal,
without being willing to show us what he is asking us to buy,”
said Jennings. “We really don’t know anything about
the canal – its size, its capacity and its operating parameters.
He could care less about the Delta and sees it only as a nuisance
standing in the way of increased exports.”
The
Governor has promoted his “green” image in the media
by talking about global warming and pushing a controversial series
of “marine protected areas” on an already overregulated
recreational and commercial fishing industry while ignoring any
substantial environmental initiatives that will impact his corporate
campaign contributors. Yet he is pushing for a canal that will result
in the destruction of the most important estuary on the West Coast.
“Schwarzenegger
is as green as a silk plant,” quipped Barrigan-Parrilla. “When
you get up close, you realize that is all a big fake.”
Dan
Bacher writes about politics and the environment. He can
be reached at: danielbacher@fishsniffer.com
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