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Million Boat Float arrives before Delta bill hearing

Posted by Dan Bacher, sacramentofordemocracy.org

August 17, 2009 -- On the day before the California Legislature holds an informational hearing on a package of water bills that provide a road map to the construction of the peripheral canal, boaters from throughout the Delta converged on Sacramento in the first-ever Million Boat Float.
 
The two-day flotilla Sunday and Monday is being organized to show that boaters and their allies are united in the defense of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta against plans by the governor and legislators to build the peripheral canal and destroy the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.
 
The event started with a float up the Sacramento River from Antioch. Yachts and small boats joined the fleet from different staging points as it moved up the river. Once in Sacramento, a riverside rally was held at the Delta King in Old Sacramento at 7 p.m..
 
The activities will continue Monday with an around-the-Capitol parade of trailer boats starting at 9 a.m. A rally with legislative and organizational speakers will top off the events at 11 a.m. on the west steps of the state Capitol. …
 
"Restore the Delta is supporting the float because it is a wonderful opportunity to show how out of sync the Legislature is with the needs of the Delta fishing and boating communities," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta.
 
"The Million Boat Float is delivering a critical message in light of what corporate interests are doing to our state's natural resources, including the destruction of the imperiled fisheries of the California Delta and Central Valley," said John Beuttler, conservation director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. The sportfishing public is finally getting the message that unless they stand up and oppose corporate greed, they will lose their fisheries and the state's public trust resources."
 

"The Legislators and the governor aren't including the Delta stakeholders in the process," stated Bruce Connelley. "If they don't include the Delta stakeholders and continue down the road they are going now, they will surely destroy the Delta."