Delta Groups Protest BDCP Meeting, Call Water Meetings A Sham

Delta Groups Protest BDCP Meeting, Call Water Meetings A Sham

by Dan Bacher

Delta groups protested the Schwarzenegger administration's Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) Water Meeting held in Stockton on September 22, calling the series of water meetings held throughout the California Delta a big "sham."

Representatives from Restore the Delta, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), and other Delta activist groups held a press conference and rally in Stockton to protest the BDCP workshop, part of a cynical process designed to build a peripheral canal and export more water out of the imperiled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The BCDP meeting was held across the street later in the day.

Fifty people, including several San Joaquin County Supervisors, attended the Restore the Delta rally, according to Bill Jennings, CSPA executive director.

The groups are battling against the construction of the peripheral canal, a budget-busting and environmentally destructive project that Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta, said is the “preordained goal” of the BDCP meetings.

“We fought against legislation that would have allowed for construction of a peripheral canal, an outrageously costly project that provides no protection for the Delta and the people who work, play and reside in the area," Barrigan-Parrilla said. "We are continuing our fight as the BDCP holds sham meetings to disguise their plan to move forward with construction of the canal."

As the legislative session came to a close earlier in the month, a politically-stacked conference committee of 14 failed to pass a package of water bills, according to Barrigan-Parrilla. Representatives from Delta communities were not supportive of the bills which could have increased exposure to pollutants in the Delta waters, increased costs for water and water treatment, reduced farm production, and caused a greater loss of commercial fishing and a higher risk of flooding.

“The legislative process neglected to provide the people of Delta communities with a voice and would have allowed for the construction of a peripheral canal," explained Barrigan-Parrilla. "Today, we are up against the same unfair practices and are determined to stop the BDCP’s preordained goal of constructing a peripheral canal."

Over 200 people attended the BDCP workshop meeting in the afternoon. "The workshop was the predictable dog and pony show," observed Jennings. "But the good folks of Stockton weren't in the mood to buy into smoke and mirrors. Nothing substantive will come from these PR events other than the reiteration of opposition. Then again, the purpose of the workshops isn't to chart policy but rather to enable BDCP to subsequently claim they sought the involvement of people in the Delta."

"But, as least the organizers were honest about it: 'BDCP is a conveyance project,'" Jennings concluded.

Workshops were also held in Brentwood on September 19 and in West Sacramento on September 26. The final meeting will be held in Walnut Grove at the Ryde Hotel on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 from 4:30-9:30 p.m. Registration will be from 4:30-5:00 p.m. The hotel address is 14340 Highway 160, Walnut Grove, CA 95690. For more information, go to: http://baydeltaconservationplan.com/BDCPPages/BDCPWorkshops.aspx

There are reports circulating around the capitol that there may be a special legislative session on water held in Sacramento on October 13 through 15. Both Republicans such as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and corporate Democrats including Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg are trying to ram a water bill package through the capitol that will result in the construction of the peripheral canal.

The push by Schwarzenegger and Steinberg to build a peripheral canal occurs as Central Valley and Delta fisheries are in their greatest-ever crisis. Central Valley Chinook salmon, green sturgeon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, striped bass, threadfin shad and other fish populations have crashed to record low levels, due to massive water exports out of the California Delta and declining water quality. The collapse of Central Valley Chinook salmon alone has resulted in the loss of 23,000 jobs to the struggling California economy. The peripheral canal will only seal the doom of these imperiled fish populations.

For more information, go to http://www.calsport.org and http://www.restorethedelta.org.