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Dan Bacher countering, "The Big Lie"

 

Schwarzenegger wants even more water for desert agribusiness, ignores out of work commercial fishing families

 

Environmental groups: "Relief should also be directed to salmon fishermen... whose industry has been shut down for two years as a result the state’s ecosystem collapse." 

 

by Dan Bacher, editor of the FishSniffer

June 23, 2009 -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, after protesters in Fresno the day before accused him of not doing enough to support San Joaquin Valley growers in their battle to export more water from the imperiled California Delta, on June 19 ramped up his campaign to build the peripheral canal and more dams and affirmed his opposition to increased protections for salmon and other fish. 
 
"We need to rethink the Delta, fix the Delta, and build a canal around the Delta," said Schwarzenegger, in pushing a project that would cost an estimated $12 to $24 billion at a time when the state budget deficit is the largest in California history and thousands of teachers, health care workers and game wardens face layoffs. 
 

The governor at a meeting in Mendota, mouthing what those present wanted to hear while attempting to build a permanent monument to his term in office in the form of a peripheral canal.

Schwarzenegger, who appeared at a meeting and press conference in Mendota, also emphasized the necessity to build Temperance Flat Reservoir on the San Joaquin River and Sites Reservoir on the west side of the Sacramento Valley. "Dams need to be built," he stated. "We need above ground storage, below ground storage, new infrastructure.” 


In a similar vein, the Governor stated, "We urgently need a clean, reliable water supply, and I am committed to getting comprehensive water reform done once and for all. We must invest in our future, protect our precious resources and protect the state of California.” 


He also again slammed the court ordered federal biological opinion, released on June 6, that directed the state and federal governments to change export pumping operations out of the Delta to avoid jeopardizing the continued survival of Sacramento winter run and spring run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, green sturgeon and the southern resident population of killer whales. 
 
“I think the judge’s decision is wrong," said Schwarzenegger. "If you start choosing species, and the smelt and salmon over people, I think you’re wrong. I think it’s a mistake when you see the impacts that it has.” 
 
Schwarzenegger yet again parroted the false claim by Westlands Water District and corporate agribusiness giants that the biological opinion chooses "fish over people." In fact, the conflict is in reality a conflict between restoring salmon and other fish populations and the thousands of jobs they support versus keeping in production drainage-impaired land in the west side of the San Joaquin, land laced with selenium that should have never been irrigated. 
 
Schwarzenegger also requested a federal disaster declaration from President Obama for Fresno County and issued Executive Order S-11-09, activating the California Disaster Assistance Act.
 
“California’s Central Valley is our nation’s agricultural engine and unemployment here is devastating the economy and hurting the people of California,” said Schwarzenegger. “These are dire circumstances – no water means no work – and no work means people cannot feed their families. This drought is truly an emergency, and the actions we are taking today show how government can still work for the people when they need it most." 
 
In February, Gov. Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency due to "drought" conditions statewide and ordered "immediate action to manage the crisis." However, his "drought" claims are revealed to be yet another "Big Lie" when the actual hydrological data is reviewed. 
 
The latest reports out of the Department of Water Resources and Bureau of Reclamation actually show that water supply in most parts of the Central Valley will be in excess of 80 percent of average levels. For example, Central Valley Project deliveries to the Westlands Water District, regarded as the "Darth Vader" of California water politics by fishing groups, environmental organizations and California Indian Tribes, were forecast to be zero as recently as March. In spite of the claims of imminent disaster by Schwarzenegger and corporate agribusiness, the district now expects to use 86 percent of average annual supplies this year (http://www.counterpunch.org/bacher06112009.html).

 

A Mixed Response from Environmental Groups

 

Environmental groups gave mixed reviews to Schwarzenegger's speech and news conference in Mendota, praising him for issuing an executive order to deliver federal assistance to those in need, but criticized him for exaggerating the role of the "drought" in the high unemployment that is currently hitting the Central Valley. 
 
"We applaud Governor Schwarzenegger for issuing an executive order to direct much needed financial aid to those in need in the Central Valley," according to a joint press release from Tina Swanson of the Bay Institute and Cynthia Koehler, Laura Harnish and Lori Sinsley of Environmental Defense. "We wholeheartedly support getting economic relief to those in the Valley and throughout California that are in urgent need of food and shelter.

 

"Relief should also be directed to salmon fishermen along the California coast, whose industry has been shut down for two years as a result the state’s ecosystem collapse." 
 
However, the two groups said that to blame the Central Valley's unemployment problems on a court decision that reinforces regulations designed to protect fisheries on the brink of extinction is to "misdiagnose the problem." 
 
"In reality, unemployment in the Central Valley has historically been high even in non-drought years and is currently exacerbated by the worldwide recession and precipitous decline in housing construction," they stated. "No doubt the drought plays a role, but its role has been greatly exaggerated. Even if the pumps that divert water from the Delta to the Central Valley and Southern California were run at full capacity, and drove certain species into extinction, the Valley’s problems would not be solved." 
 
They also criticized the effort to "dismantle" the biological opinion that Westlands Water District and the Governor are supporting, saying that it would "only prolong and fuel the decades-long conflicts that have plagued water management in California." 
 
Doug Obegi, staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, also said he was encouraged that that the Governor did not call for the lifting of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) or convening the "God Squad." In response to a question, Schwarzenegger said that the "God Squad" wasn't a solution, since it takes a long time, freezes everything and creates an adversarial relationship. 
 
Under the provisions of a 1978 amendment of the ESA, a committee comprised of seven Cabinet level members called the Endangered Species Committee (nicknamed “the God Squad”) can be convened to hear exemptions from the ESA’s provisions, according to a February 2009 press release from Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta). The Governor is the only non-federal official who can request the Committee be convened to relax the regulations.