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from Restore the Delta

Today's Joint Hearing Has Been Postponed

by Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla

October 21, 2009 -- Yesterday evening, it was reported that the hearing for the 2009 Delta/Water Legislation package scheduled for Wednesday, October 21 at the State Capitol in Sacramento had been postponed.
 
"Because we have not received new language for consideration tomorrow, we have decided to postpone the Assembly informational hearing on the 2009 Delta/Water Legislation, tentatively to Monday (10/26) at 9 a.m." said Alf W. Brandt, Principal Consultant for the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks & Wildlife. "New week's hearing presumably will be a joint hearing."
 
This morning sources from the Senate side of the Capitol report that it is not certain that the hearing will be joint with Assembly, Water, Parks, and Wildlife and that the Senate hearing will be upon the call of the Chair on either Oct. 26, Oct.27, Oct. 28, or Oct. 29.
 
And of course language has still not been released for full public review, leading Restore the Delta staff to believe that the involved legislative leaders must really have something to hide from the Delta community.
 
Case in point:  John Herrick, General Manager for the South Delta Water Agency, recently received a copy of the proposed water bond dated September 22, 2009.  This language has not been offered for public review.  In it, Mr. Herrick finds an attempt by the bill's authors to legally separate the Delta from the Sacramento River Hydrological Region.  Why would anyone want to create such a law?  So that Delta water needs (for both fish and people in Delta communities) can be ignored.   As Mr. Herrick explains in a letter to Senator Cogdill dated October 20, 2009, one of the bill's authors:
 
"The language is a direct attempt to remove area of origin and Delta Protection Acts rights from a portion of the District you represent.  The language is both legally and factually incorrect....
 
By stating that area of origin rights and Delta Protection Acts right for in-Delta users do not arise from the Sacramento system is to turn existing law upside down....Unbelievably, the language also tries to exclude the Delta from the Delta Protection Act and the rights/benefits it creates....
 
The underlying reason for these attempts is of course to protect exporters and upstream interests.  Exporters want to make sure that the obligation to make sure there is adequate supply for in-Delta users, both now and in the future does not affect their supply; contrary to the area of origin protections and promises which were the foundation of approving the export projects.  Upstream users are trying to make sure that they never have any downstream obligations, which of course harms all Delta interests.  I assume you know that none of the tributaries of the San Joaquin make any releases for main stem or Delta interests, including superior riparian rights and fishery needs... "
 
What does this all mean to everyday people who live in, recreate in, work in, and simply love the Delta - that this water package and bond are deliberately being designed and hidden away from public scrutiny so that Delta communities will have no say in the water management practices impacting our region.  It will codify the destruction of the Delta farming community and will actually weaken protections for fresh water flows essential for fisheries.
 
What is even more disturbing is that the four corporate environmental organizations -- that support the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and which barely collaborate with the people of the Delta -- are supporting this package.  They support a Delta Stewardship Council that does not have adequate representation because in their estimation Delta people will not cooperate with change. They support the Council's ability to approve what is called a consistency plan - the power to approve or reject every last local decision made in the Delta - but that exempts State and Federal water projects from meeting the same strict conditions for environmental impact on the Delta.  And they favor a conservancy that will be operated in accordance with this Consistency Plan, rather than as a partnership between locally elected officials and the State.  This Delta Hybrid Water and Bond Package is a repeat of CalFed (the last failed Delta reform process) with even fewer protections for Delta water quality and quantity.
 
Let us be clear, as an environmental organization, Restore the Delta favors strong regional planning for the Delta and the enforcement of environmental laws as they relate to water quality and quantity for all Delta water users throughout the watershed. But let's start with enforcing the law as it relates to the primary offenders - the water exporters who have over pumped the Delta for too many years.
 
We believe that local Delta communities, industries, recreation enthusiasts, and businesses need to take a strong stewardship role in protecting the Delta. As history demonstrates time and time again, environmental successes are achieved when local communities and the residents of those communities are given the opportunity to participate in governing processes in a real and meaningful way.
 
In contrast, the present colonization plan for the Delta crafted by the Westlands Water District (Westside of the SJ Valley), the Metropolitan Water District (Greater LA Area), a handful of legislators, and their four environmental partners will fail.   What will save the Delta is a partnership between local communities and the State, increased inflows, enforceable and enforced water quality standards, and permanently reduced water exports from the Delta. And the only way to solve California's water challenges is through innovative conservation, recycling, and recharging programs that will actually make more water to meet all of California's conflicting regional needs.
 
It's time for Governor Schwarzenegger and Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg to get real about the budget and water.  It's time for them to represent all the interests of the State, instead of continuing down the failed path of privatizing profits from water and socializing the costs of big outdated water projects.