Water Bond Proponents and Opponents React to Field Poll

Water Bond Proponents and Opponents React to Field Poll

by Dan Bacher

Proponents and opponents of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Water Bond, Proposition 18, had very different responses to the release of today’s Field Poll survey that showed support for the controversial $11.14 billion water bond at 42 percent yes and 32 percent no.

Representatives of both campaigns said that the poll results demonstrate support for their respective positions on the water bond.

“The Field Poll released today shows that only 42% of California voters support Prop. 18 - the $11.1 billion water bond measure placed on the ballot by the Legislature,” said Elanor Starmer of Food & Water Watch, a member of the No on Proposition 18 Committee. “Considering that the Field Poll did not test any of the actual language related to the true cost of the bond, this shows how little support there is for this bond and it highlights why supporters want to move this bond to 2012. But now or two years from now, the bond is a bad deal for California.”

Starmer noted that Proposition 18 is still on the ballot for November and has yet to be either postponed or repealed. "While proponents of Proposition 18 have recommended postponement 'in light of the economy,' in essence admitting the negative impact of this water bond on the state’s economic health, opponents, including editorial boards around the state, are urging its repeal," she said.

“We are confident that as we inform voters that this water bond will cost our state billions of dollars while not actually cleaning up our water supply or creating a new reliable and sustainable water system, they will reject this back-room deal,” Starmer stated. “We will continue our campaign against Proposition 18 and our position is clear – this bond should not be postponed, it should be killed and the politicians should get back to work on real water solutions that help all Californians.”

In contrast, Allan Zaremberg, president and CEO, California Chamber of Commerce, and co-chair of the coalition to pass the water bond, the Alliance for Clean Water and Jobs, claimed that the poll showed that Californians “support” the bond.

“The Field Poll is consistent with our internal polling and other public polls which have shown voters know we have a water crisis and support the bond as a solution to begin fixing our water system,” said Zaremburg. “We continue to believe that in light of the poor economy and the difficult climate in which to raise funds, the water bond is best postponed until 2012."

“The water bond represents a truly comprehensive solution to fix the problems in the Delta, increase conservation and recycling, and expand the availability and quality of water supplies in every region of the state. That’s why the measure has unprecedented support from business, labor, environmentalists, farmers, water agencies and many others,” he stated.

Zareburg urged the legislature to postpone the bond vote until 2012, an action that Governor Schwarzenegger, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Senator Dave Codgill support - and that the broad coalition of fishing, conservation, labor, tribal, labor, environmental justice and consumer groups united under the No on Proposition 18 Committee strongly oppose.

The bond will fund the infrastructure to build a peripheral canal and new dams, although it does not specifically fund the canal itself. Canal opponents fear that the construction of the peripheral canal, designed to facilitate massive water exports from the California Delta to subsidized corporate agribusiness and southern California, will lead to the extinction of collapsing populations of Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, southern resident killer whales and other species. This will lead to further harm to economically devastated coastal and inland communities that depend on healthy salmon and other fish populations for their survival.

The peripheral canal/tunnel will cost an estimated $23 billion to $53.8 billion at a time when California is in unprecedented economic crisis - and the budgets for teachers, game wardens, health care for children and state parks are being slashed.

Food and Water Watch has put together a funny new YouTube spot, http://nowaterbond.com/terminate, to highlight just how bad Prop 18, the $11 billion water bond, would be for California -- and why the legislature should scrap it, not postpone it to the 2012 ballot. For more information about the No on 18 campaign, go to: http://www.NoWaterBond.com.