A Dan Bacher by line

Governor Lauds Introduction of Peripheral Canal and Dams Bill

by Dan Bacher, editor of the FishSniffer
February 26, 2009 -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today praised Senator Dave Cogdill’s (R-Fresno) introduction of SB 371, the Safe, Clean, Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2009, another thinly disguised attempt to build a peripheral canal and more dams.

He drew attention to the current low conditions of Central Valley reservoirs, a manufactured "water crisis" caused by poor planning by the Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, in order to scare people into supporting the water bond. Over the past couple of years, the state and federal governments exported massive quantities of water to the Westlands Water District, Kern Water Bank and southern California, in spite of below normal rainfall.

“Despite the recent rainstorms, California would still need to see weeks of drenching rain to avoid an extreme drought situation this summer," said Schwarzenegger. "Our water crisis underscores the urgent need to update California’s water infrastructure so we are able to capture excess rain in wet years and have the necessary reserves in dry years like this one—this is critical to our economy, our jobs, our environment and our way of life."

After signing a budget last Friday that slashed environmental and health protections, the Governor - as usual with no sense of irony - today promoted an environmentally devastating pork barrel boondoggle that would cost an estimated $12 billion to $24 billion of taxpayer money.

"Now that we have passed a historic budget, it is time that we continue with the water reforms proposed by a bipartisan group of leaders more than a year ago, and Senator Cogdill’s bill should get the ball rolling again," said Schwarzenegger. "I know that California’s legislators recognize the need to ensure a clean, reliable water supply and I look forward to working with them to pass a comprehensive water solution this year that increases storage, improves conveyance, protects the Delta’s ecosystem and promotes greater water conservation.”

"Increasing storage" means building Temperance Flat Dam on the San Joaquin River and Sites Dam on the west side of the Sacramento Valley, while "improving conveyance" translates into constructing the peripheral canal, an outdated concept that the voters rejected by a wide margin in 1982.

Cogdill's bill calls for issuing $9.98 billion in general obligation bonds to "invest in the state’s aging water infrastructure." The proposal includes

$3 billion "dedicated to the development of additional storage for statewide benefit." The proposal includes a lot of deceptive "eco-language" that gives one the impression that the bill is about restoring fish populations, not destroying them.

The bill directs the Resources Agency "or another agency as may be designated by statute, taking into consideration the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Task Force established by Executive Order S-17-06 and the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, to develop and implement, in cooperation with the department, the Department of Fish and Game, and the State Water Resources Control Board, a comprehensive Delta sustainability program that includes both ecosystem and water conveyance improvements."

Last July, the Governor and Senator Dianne Feinstein proposed a "compromise" plan to the Legislature to "update" California’s water system that Schwarzenegger claimed "would put the state on the path toward restoring the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, expanding water supplies and promoting conservation efforts that will ensure a clean, reliable water supply for California."

However, a coalition of recreational and commercial fishing groups, environmental organizations, Indian Tribes and others are opposing any proposal that includes a peripheral canal and more dams. The purpose of the canal and more dams is to create the infrastructure to export more water to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley at a time when Central Valley Chinook salmon, delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish populations are in collapse, due to massive water exports out of the California Delta and declining water quality in recent years.

State and federal scientists last week released a report stating that only 66,264 natural and hatchery adult fall Chinooks returned to the Sacramento River basin in 2008, the lowest spawning escapement on record. It is expected that commercial and recreational salmon fishing in the ocean off California and Oregon will be closed again this year, due to the collapse of the Central Valley fall Chinook run.

The canal and dams that Schwarzenegger, Cogdill and Feinstein so fanatically support will drive these imperiled fish populations over the precipice of extinction. Schwarzenegger constantly portrays himself as the "Green Governor" as he spouts off about "green energy" and "solving global warming," but there is nothing "green" about species extinction!