Wolk Welcomes Federal Delta Plan As Arnold Holds State Hostage

Wolk Welcomes Federal Delta Plan As Arnold Holds State Hostage

by Dan Bacher

Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) last week welcomed Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's federal multi-agency effort to develop a plan to take immediate actions to respond to California’s drought and environmental crisis in the Delta.

“This is exactly the kind of active partnership from the federal government that we need for our efforts here in California to be successful in managing this crisis,” said Wolk, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Delta Stewardship and Sustainability.

Wolk, allied with fishing groups, conservationists, Delta farmers and environmental justice advocates, was instrumental in September's defeat of a water bond and policy package, pushed by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, that would have served as a road map to the peripheral canal.

In welcoming the announcement, she criticized the exclusion of Delta communities from participation in the water package process by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass. Schwarzenegger is reportedly still threatening to veto all bills on his desk if he doesn’t get the canal/dams water bill that he wants.

“I am especially encouraged that the Obama administration recognizes the importance of taking immediate actions and has invited all stakeholders to participate," said Wolk. "Frankly, that’s been missing in our efforts here in California. I know that my fellow legislators from the Delta region, as well as the county supervisors from the five Delta counties, are eager to participate in this process and will come to the table with real practical solutions that can be implemented immediately and in the months ahead.”

The Federal-State Action Plan on California Water establishes a new Federal Bay-Delta Leadership Committee that will “coordinate with the State of California and interested stakeholders and develop by December 15 a work plan of short-term actions,” according to a press release issued by the Department of Interior.

The Leadership Committee, in addition to the short- and near-term actions, will also “begin to identify and prioritize key longer-term Federal actions and resources to achieve the purpose of this MOU,” the memorandum stated.

“December 15 is just ten weeks away. It’s time to get to work and I look forward to the soonest opportunity to work with our Federal partners on real solutions for the Delta,” concluded Wolk.

Unfortunately, at the same time that Salazar announced the federal plan, he said would ask the National Academy of Sciences to conduct an independent review of the science underpinning federal water pumping limits mandated under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to protect Delta smelt and Central Valley salmon. This was clearly in response to a campaign by Central Valley Representatives, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the behest of corporate agribusiness, to reverse federal biological opinions protecting Delta smelt, Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whales.

As Salazar announced the request for an independent review of the biological opinions, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senator Dianne Feinstein and corporate agribusiness continue to relentlessly campaign to build a peripheral canal and more dams. If built, the canal would drive collapsing populations of salmon and Delta fish over the edge of the extinction.

By threatening to veto all bills if he doesn’t get the water package that he wants, Schwarzenegger is in effect holding the entire state hostage to plans by corporate agribusiness and the Metropolitan Water District to build a canal and more dams to export more water from the California Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.

With both federal and state legislation regarding the fate of the California Delta now being proposed, it is essential that Delta advocates oppose any legislative package that includes a peripheral canal, more dams and any language allowing increased water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

What we really need is for the state and federal governments to finally comply with the provisions of both the state and federal Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws that require less water exports out of the estuary to protect imperiled fish populations. We don't need a budget-busting peripheral canal or new dams - we desperately need compliance with existing laws protecting Central Valley and Delta fish and prosecution for those that refuse to obey them!


MOU Early Actions:

In a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by the heads of six key Federal agencies, the Leadership Committee would develop a Federal Work Plan to address a number of issues with early actions including:
• An interagency science program to provide a common scientific basis for management decisions in the near-term and long-term;
• Habitat restoration projects in the Suisun Marsh and other biologically critical sites;
• Water quality threats to the Delta;
• Flood risk and levee stabilization;
• Projects aimed at mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change on Delta stability;
• A coordinated process for undertaking regulatory actions by Federal agencies in the Bay-Delta;
• Recovery Act and other projects the Bay-Delta and areas affected by the Bay-Delta ecosystem and water supplies passing through the Delta; and
• Conservation, recycling, and efficiencies in water use, and land stewardship activities that benefit the Bay Delta ecosystem.

Link Dept. of Interior Bay-Delta MOU http://www.interior.gov/documents/BayDeltaMOUSigned.pdf