Schwarzenegger Promotes Canal, Dams during Visit by Interior Secretary Salazar

Interior Secretary Salazar Declines to Endorse Canal and Dams

by Dan Bacher, editor of the Fish Sniffer

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday promoted his plan to build a peripheral canal around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and more dams when he joined U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar for an "aerial tour" of the Delta, but Salazar refused to support or oppose the Governor's proposal.
 
"This is the third year of drought and this is a reminder to all of us that it is critical that we have to upgrade California's aging water infrastructure," said Schwarzenegger. "So we must do everything we can to have clean water, to have reliable water supply for the future. We must invest in our future and protect our precious resources. And it is critical that we fix the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem and that we provide water storage, above-the-ground and below-the-ground water storage."
 
However, Salazar was very noncommittal when asked by a reporter where he stood on a peripheral canal and more dams, acknowledging that there is a "lot of passion about these issues"
 
"You know, the reality of it is that there is a set of issues here that we need to work through in a way that recognizes the passion and the history that essentially brings farmers to fight for every single acre-foot of their water and municipalities to fight for their water, for environmentalists to fight for the endangered species issues which are so critical to them," said Salazar. 
 
"But I do believe that there is enough at stake here and this drought that we are in, in California today, may be really the impeller, the impeller with the leadership of the Governor, with the leadership of the General Assembly, the Members of the House of Representatives, some of who are here today, others who are not, like Congressman Miller on the Senate side, or Senator Feinstein and Senator Boxer, to really help us move with a way forward that will address, I think, what the fundamental issues are here."
 
According to Salazar, these issues are:  
 
•  First, how we deal with the issues of municipal water supplies so municipalities will have a reliable water supply;
 
• Secondly, how we address the issues of ecosystem restoration and take care of endangered species;
 
•  Thirdly, how we address the realities of agriculture and the economics that come along with agriculture.
 
Salazar said he hoped that the Department of Interior "can play a helpful role -- a helpful role -- in helping us craft that plan for the future."
 
Following the aerial tour, the Governor and Secretary Salazar announced $260 million in economic stimulus projects from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) to help on water instrastructure, drought relief and fish restoration projects.
 
"As part of President Obama's Economic Recovery Plan, of the $1 billion that has been allocated to the Bureau of Reclamation, more than $260 million of that will go directly to water infrastructure and drought relief here in California," said Salazar. "We are targeting $40 million for short-term drought relief projects, much of this funding focused on California. But we are also boosting water supplies by making a down payment -- this is a down payment -- as well, on the modernization of California's water infrastructure at more than 30 projects across the state."
 
Many of these projects will benefit fish and wildlife, particularly $109 million to build fish screens at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam, $4.5 million to restore the Trinity River and $4 million to broaden scientific knowledge of Klamath River sedimentation. The funding also includes $20 million in infrastructure on the Contra Costa Canal to protect water supplies and to restore the winter run of the Chinook salmon and the Delta smelt and $26 million for a Battle Creek salmon/steelhead restoration project.
 
Salazar acknowledged the large economic role that healthy salmon and steelhead populations provide to the state's economy when he said the Battle Creek project "will help restore the salmon and steelhead fisheries that support thousands of jobs in the Central Valley" by restoring approximately 42 miles of Chinook salmon and steelhead habitat in the stream.
 
The Secretary also rejected the idea of creating "The God Squad, "essentially a formation of federal law that essentially allows all environmental laws to be overridden to deal with an emergency of the time. "That is not the solution here," said Salazar.
 
However, the $4 million going to the Bay Delta Conservation Plan for "conveyance systems" to move Central Valley Project and State Water Project water is an ominous development, since "conveyance" is Schwarzenegger's code word for building a peripheral canal. 
 
In the Governor's press releases about Salazar's visit, Schwarzenegger touted his peripheral canal and dams plan, backed by Senator Dianne Feinstein, as the "solution" to the problems of the Delta and praised his controversial Delta Vision and Bay Delta Conservation Plan processes.
 
"Last July, the Governor and Senator Dianne Feinstein proposed a compromise plan to the legislature to update California’s water system that 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," according to a release.
 
During his speech at the press conference, Schwarzenegger tried to play on fears of "drought" and impending catastrophe. "It's very obvious that we have a serious crisis here in California," said Scharzenegger. "This is now our third straight year of drought. In February I declared a state of emergency when our reservoir storage was at an all-time low, which was we were below 50 to 75 percent of storage."
 
Schwarzenegger's failed to note the so-called "drought" was manufactured by massive drawdowns of water in State Water Project and Central Valley Project reservoirs in 2007 and 2008 to supply water to drainage-impaired land in the Westlands Water District and Kern County and fill Diamond Valley Reservoir in southern California. Of course, those most impacted by state and federal water policies that have resulted in the collapse of the California Delta ecosystem - Delta farmers, recreational fishermen, commercial fishermen, California Indian Tribes and Delta residents - weren't invited to the day's festivities.
 
Schwarzenegger's canal and dams proposal must be stopped because it will only worsen the collapse of Central Valley Chinook salmon, delta smelt, longfin smelt and other Delta fish.
 
The most encouraging news from Wednesday's tour and press conference, besides Salazar's announcement of funding for long-overdue fish restoration projects, was that Salazar didn't endorse Schwarzenegger's peripheral canal and dams proposal. We must keep intense pressure upon Secretary Salazar, President Obama, our Senators and Congress to make sure that the Obama administration doesn't back Arnold's "Big Ditch" and more dams.
 
 
 
Funding for Projects Announced April 15:
 
$40 million for immediate emergency drought relief in the West, focused on California. These investments will allow for the installation of groundwater wells to boost water supplies to agricultural and urban contractors, the facilitation of the delivery of Federal water to Reclamation contractors through water transfers and exchanges, and the installation of rock barriers in the Sacramento Delta to meet water quality standards during low flows;
 
$109.8 million to build a screened pumping plant at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam to protect fish populations while delivering water to agricultural users irrigating approximately 150,000 acres;
 
$22.3 million to address dam safety concerns at the Folsom Dam near Sacramento, which is currently among the highest risk dams in the country for public safety;
 
$8.5 million to repair water-related infrastructure at Folsom Dam;
 
$20 million for the Contra Costa Canal to protect water supplies for 500,000 Californians and to build fish screens to restore winter-run Chinook salmon and the endangered Delta smelt;
 
$4.5 million to restore the Trinity River and honor the Federal government’s responsibility to the Native American Tribes;
 
$26 million for Battle Creek Salmon/Steelhead Restoration project, which will help restore fisheries that support thousands of jobs in northern California.
 
$4 million to the Bay Delta Conservation Plan for conveyance systems to move Central Valley Project and State Water Project water, habitat restoration and adaptive management;
 
$4 million to broaden scientific knowledge of Klamath River sedimentation for future management decision-making;
 
$20.7 million in smaller water infrastructure and related projects across California.