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We've a message to deliver 
To the legislative cabal, 
"Don't destroy our Delta 
With your peripheral canal." 
 
- from “The Guerrilla Flotilla” by "the Compleat Angler"

Million Boat Float to Stop Arnold’s Panama Canal North

by Dan Bacher, editor of the Fish Sniffer

July 22, 2009 -- As the Department of Water Resources begins drilling locations for possible intakes for the peripheral canal, canal opponents will be holding a “million boat float” on August 16 and 17 to save the California Delta and stop the construction of a project that would rival the Panama Canal in size and length. 
 
The event, sponsored by the Sportsmen’s Yacht Club in Antioch, will start in Antioch on August 16 and conclude in Sacramento on August 17. The exact times and locations for the massive historic protest will be announced soon on the website, http://www.millionboatfloat.org/index.htm. 
 
“The purpose of this mass flotilla on the Sacramento River to the State Capitol is to show our legislators that we are united in the defense of our precious Delta,” said Bruce Connelley, Float Chairman and Oakley City Councilman. “We want to bring national attention to this issue with this dramatic protest.” 
 
“We are saying no to the ‘alternative conveyance system,’ since it’s just another version of the peripheral canal, no to interference with the natural flow of our waterways, and yes to saving the Delta!” Connelley exclaimed. 
 
Restore the Delta, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors and other groups are co-sponsoring the float. More groups are expected to join "the guerrilla flotilla" as planning for the protest proceeds. 
 
The boats are scheduled to arrive in Sacramento on August 17, since that’s the day the Legislature is scheduled to go back into session after recess, according to Connelley. 
 
“Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is very clear that soon as he finishes with the budget, he wants to get back to working on the water bond, including the peripheral canal,” said Connelley. “There is too much back room dealing at the Capitol. The Legislators are trying are trying to push through the Governor’s mandate to build a peripheral canal through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan process.” 
 
While the Nature Conservancy is outright backing the canal and some “Big Green” groups are waffling on the issue, boaters, recreational fishing groups, commercial fishing organizations, Delta farmers, Indian Tribes, principled environmental groups and elected officials in the five Delta counties are adamantly opposing the canal for its enormous financial cost and environmental catastrophe that it poses to the Delta and its ecosystem. 
 
“It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that diverting most of the water out of the Sacramento River into the canal will destroy the Delta,” stated Connelley. “Certain legislators in Sacramento are determined by any means to destroy the Delta by moving legislation ahead to construct a water conveyance system, comparable in size and length, to the Panama Canal, that will surely nail the coffin closed for the greatest estuary in the western hemisphere.” 
 
Plans for the canal and more dams are being ramrodded through the Legislature as Central Valley and Delta fisheries continue to approach the abyss of extinction. Central Valley Chinook salmon, green sturgeon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, striped bass, Sacramento splittail and other fish populations have plummeted to record low levels in recent years, due to massive water exports out of the Delta and declining water quality. 
 
Connelley strongly criticized Legislators and the Governor for refusing to allow Delta stakeholders, including elected officials from the five Delta counties, a voice in the process. 
 
“It’s time to wake up the Governor and the nation and expose this great tragedy,” said Connelly. “The drilling in search of the best place to start the canal just below Sacramento is about to get underway. Therefore, plans are in the works to bring the people together to speak with one voice and demonstrate to our lawmakers that we will not sit idly by and let this destruction take place.” 
 
A planning meeting for the float will be held on Wednesday, August 5, at 6:30 p.m. at the Sportsmen’s Yacht Club in Antioch. 
 
For more information, contact: 
Contact Bruce Connelley 
Chairman of the Million Boat Float 
bconnelley [at] comcast.net 
925-625-7467 
P.O. Box 523 
Oakley, CA 94561 
 
Websites: 
The Million Boat Float: http://www.millionboatfloat.org/index.htm 
Sportsmen Yacht Club: http://www.sportsmenyc.org 
Restore the Delta: http://www.restorethedelta.org 
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance: http://www.calsport.org 
Fish Sniffer: http://www.fishsniffer.com

The Guerilla Flotilla 

by the Compleat Angler

We're going to Sacramento 
In every kind of boat. 
Shiny motorboats and old dinghies, 
Any vessel fit to float. 
 
We're cruising up the river 
To California's capitol 
In whatever boat'll float us 
Catamaran, dory, scull. 
 
We've a message to deliver 
To the legislative cabal, 
"Don't destroy our Delta 
With your peripheral canal." 
 
You'll rob fresh water from the Delta 
Killing fish and hurting farms. 
It isn't right that Sacramento 
Causes us this distress and harm. 
 
So listen to us boaters. 
Take heed of all our boats. 
If you stick us with the P canal 
You're losing all our votes.