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CSPA's Bill Jennings rips Delta Bill Package apart at Capitol hearings
by Jerry Neuburger
August 25, 2009 -- In an effort to slow the freight train speeding towards the Delta's destruction, Executive Director, Bill Jennings, presented CSPA's comments on the Delta Bill Package to the joint policy committee chaired by Assemblyman Jared Huffman and Senator Fran Pavley.
Jennings called for the committee to slow the process down stating, "CSPA appreciates the efforts to address California’s long-existing water crisis and looks forward to working with you and your colleagues in developing an improved legislative package. However, we believe the remaining days before adjournment provide insufficient time to achieve a comprehensive and effective solution."
Jennings cited a laundry list of reasons to delay the bills until the spring session of the legislature, principal among these, the question of the legislature's handling of the Public Trust issue. The concept of Public Trust extends throughout history all the way to Roman Law and has been continuously strengthened including sections of the Magna Carta. The doctrine is based on the principle that certain resources are preserved for public use, and that the government is required to maintain it for the public's reasonable use.
In California, all surface water falls within the doctrine of the Public Trust as do the fisheries, including the vast salmon runs of the Sacramento/San Joaquin river systems. In other words, the waters and fisheries of the state are owned by the citizens of the state and held in trust for them by the state government.
Jennings stated CSPA's concern, saying, "The bills represent the first time the legislative has expressed its intent of the Public Trust. The Public Trust represents the people’s common property right in rivers and estuaries and establishes the baseline or minimal standards that must be met before water is available for private use. The bills diminish that protection by establishing water supply reliability as coequal with protection of the public trust."
Other areas of contention included sections on governance, a lack of definition of terms, a lack of set standards, the surrender of the responsibilities of delta governance to a select commission with four members appointed by the governor and the likelihood of the commission's aggressive pursuit of a peripheral canal.