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CLCV Joins the Dark Side - Supports Steinberg's Road Map to the Canal

by Dan Bacher

November 2, 2009 -- The California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV), under the "leadership" of Warner Chabot, CEO, has joined the "Big Three" corporate environmental groups - NRDC, Environmental Defense and the Nature Conservancy - in supporting Steinberg's water policy bill that will clear the path for the construction of a peripheral canal and more dams.
 
"CLCV supports the package of water policies by Senator Steinberg and urges you to vote YES on the measure," Chabot wrote in a floor alert to member of the California Assembly today. "We have not come to this position quickly or lightly. Over the last several months, we have refrained from taking a position, out of respect for our environmental colleagues on both sides of the issue and a desire to learn more about the many elements of the proposal. Even now, we recognize that the policies in the water package are not perfect and the process that has led to this seventh extraordinary session has not been perfect."
 
With no evidence whatsoever for his claims, Chabot states, "But in the end CLCV has concluded that SB 4 7x is a substantial improvement over the status quo, and the status quo cannot be allowed to continue. Currently the Delta ecosystem and the fisheries that depend on it are in steep decline; conservation, often the most cost-effective way to stretch water supplies, is underused; and we, unlike all other western states, dont even keep track of our use of groundwater."
 
Of course, Chabot never mentions in this deceptively written "Floor Alert" the words "peripheral canal," the project that Steinberg's water bill is designed to facilitate. Nor does Chabot mention that this bill and the rest of the dangerous package are based on the false "co-equal goals" of "ecosystem restoration" and "water supply" that aim to keep corporate agribusiness unsustainably irrigating drainage-impaired land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
 
Nor does Chabot mention the enormous cost of the canal, dams and other new infrastructure to the people of California. The peripheral canal will cost anywhere from $23 billion to $53.8 billion, according to an economic analysis by Steven Kasower. Pursuing this project is madness at a time when the state of California has slashed the budgets for health care for children, teachers, game wardens and state parks.
 
The corporate environmentalists are collaborating with Governor Arnold "Fish Terminator" Schwarzenegger, Westlands Water District, the Metropolitan Water District and other corporate interests to shove the peripheral canal and more dams down the throats of the people of California. The canal will result only in pushing imperiled Central Valley salmon, green sturgeon, striped bass, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish populations over the abyss of extinction.
 
NRDC, Environmental Defense, the Nature Conservancy and now the California League of Conservation Voters are giving "green" cover to policies that will lead to the death of the Delta and the extinction of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations. We must expose these corporate greenwashers for the frauds that they are!
 
In contrast with the CLCV, the Sierra Club California, Planning and Conservation League, Friends of the River and the Butte Environmental Council have joined Restore the Delta, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN), California Striped Bass Association, Clean Water Action, the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Northern California River Watch, the Public Trust Alliance and the Environmental Protection Information Center in opposing the legislative water package, including the estimated $9 billion general obligation bond.
 
For action alerts and updates, go to http://www.restorethedelta.org
 
 
Here is the floor alert from CLCV:
 
FLOOR ALERT
 
Water Policy Package by Senator Steinberg
SB 4 7x
 
MEMO TO: Members of California Assembly
 
FROM: Warner Chabot, CEO
 
 
Pete Price, Lobbyist
 
 
 
DATE: November 2, 2009
 
POSITION: SUPPORT
 
 
The California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) is the bipartisan political watchdog for the California environmental community.
 
CLCV supports the package of water policies by Senator Steinberg and urges you to vote YES on the measure. We have not come to this position quickly or lightly. Over the last several months, we have refrained from taking a position, out of respect for our environmental colleagues on both sides of the issue and a desire to learn more about the many elements of the proposal. Even now, we recognize that the policies in the water package are not perfect and the process that has led to this seventh extraordinary session has not been perfect.
 
But in the end CLCV has concluded that SB 4 7x is a substantial improvement over the status quo, and the status quo cannot be allowed to continue. Currently the Delta ecosystem and the fisheries that depend on it are in steep decline; conservation, often the most cost-effective way to stretch water supplies, is underused; and we, unlike all other western states, dont even keep track of our use of groundwater.
 
SB 4 7x establishes new criteria for environmental protection to govern future decisions on flow levels and water management in the Delta. These new standards are at the heart of the Delta governance structure in the policy package. The conservation component demands increased water conservation practices among both municipal and agricultural users. It requires that groundwater use be monitored and reported. And it strengthens the State Water Resources Control Boards ability to enforce against illegal water diverters.
 
Frankly, we wish some of the provisions in SB 4 7x were stronger. But it embodies a far-reaching set of new policies to guide more holistic decisions about how best to manage the states water supplies. Water management decisions have major impacts on Californias environment, and under SB 4 7x we believe those decisions will result in a more sustainable future for all of California. Those gains are too important to California for us to ignore. For these reasons, CLCV supports SB 4 7x and asks for your YES vote.