Schwarzenegger Applauds Passage of Peripheral Canal/Dams Water Package

Schwarzenegger Applauds Passage of Peripheral Canal/Dams Water Package

by Dan Bacher

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the worst Governor for fish and the environment in California history, today praised the Legislature for its passage of a water package including an $11 billion bond that provides a clear path to the construction of the peripheral canal and more dams.

"Water is the lifeblood of everything we do in California," said Schwarzenegger. "Without clean, reliable water, we cannot build, we cannot farm, we cannot grow and we cannot prosper. That is why I am so proud that the legislature, Democrats and Republicans, came together and tackled one of the most complicated issues in our state's history. This comprehensive water package is an historic achievement."

Of course, Schwarzenegger lauded the strong arm efforts of his Democratic collaborator, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, to push the package through the legislature.

"I particularly want to applaud the leadership of Senate President Darrell Steinberg," said Schwarzenegger. "He has been a tireless leader, a relentless advocate for the environment and a true statesman."

On October 11, 2009, Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation calling for the legislature to meet in an extraordinary session to address California's water crisis, "urging the passage of legislation on the many issues facing the state's water system which were ultimately addressed by the water package passed today," according to the Governor's office.

The passage of the water package could not have taken place without the back room deals that corporate environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense and the Nature Conservancy, made with Westlands Water District, Metropolitan Water District, Steinberg and Schwarzenegger to secure a place at the bargaining table. The representatives of these groups in no way speak for the environmental community. Rather than defending the environment and collapsing fisheries, they are collaborating with the Governor and Steinberg to build a peripheral canal, an enormously expensive government boondoggle that would likely result in the extinction of collapsing Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations, and more dams while indebting Californians for decades to come.

The water package was strongly opposed by a diverse coalition of organizations including the Sierra Club California, Planning and Conservation League, Friends of the River, Butte Environmental Council, Restore the Delta, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN), California Striped Bass Association, Clean Water Action, the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Center for Biological Diversity, Northern California River Watch, the Public Trust Alliance and the Environmental Protection Information Center.

Major unions including the California Teachers Association and SEIU, the five Delta counties and regional governments throughout the Sacramento region opposed the legislation also. The United Farmworkers Union also has $1 million in a war chest to fight the water bond.

This is a tragic day for California's fish populations, recreational and commercial fishermen, Delta farmers and farmworkers, the people of northern California and environmental justice. They have been sold out by treacherous politicians and corporate environmental leaders who care nothing about the impact the canal will have on northern California and the Delta.

At the same time, the battle to stop the canal and save the Delta has only really begun. Principled environmental organizations, environmental justice groups, fishing organizations, labor unions, Delta and northern California water districts, Delta counties and cities, Indian Tribes and other groups will amp up the fight to stop the canal in the coming weeks.

The plans by Schwarzenegger, Steinberg and corporate environmentalists to build the canal in order to export more water from the Delta to corporate agribusiness and southern California will be met by years of lawsuits, protests, direct action and other resistance by the communities impacted. When the $11 billion water bond goes to a vote by the taxpayers, I predict that it will be voted down just like the peripheral canal initiative was defeated in 1982, but it will take a massive mobilization of election volunteers and unprecedented fundraising to do it.

"Today is a sad day for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta estuary," said Roger Mammon, board member of Restore the Delta. "The implications are unbelievable and could possibly lead to the worst ecological disaster to ever hit the United States."

For more information about the battle against the peripheral canal, go to http://www.restorethedelta.org.