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Water Board Chooses New Delta Watermaster
“The Delta Watermaster is tasked with essentially harassing longstanding senior water right holders in the Delta whose rights go back in many cases 130 years,” said Carolee Krieger, executive director of the California Water Impact Network. “Corporate agribusiness interests with junior water rights are driving the recent Delta water legislation and the Water Master’s agenda with complaints that the Water Master must investigate.”
Photo: On June 25, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined Secretary of Service and Volunteering Karen Baker and California Emergency Management Agency Secretary Matthew Bettenhausen to launch the first-in-the-nation "Disaster Corps." "The Disaster Corps will professionalize, standardize and coordinate highly trained disaster volunteers statewide," according to the Governor's Office. The following photo of a volunteer field demonstration was taken at the Los Angeles City Fire Training Facility in Los Angeles, California.
Will this Disaster Corps be helping the victims of Schwarzenegger-engineered environmental disasters, including fishing and tribal communities devastated by his corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative and the collapse of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whale populations? Photo Credit: Peter Grigsby, Office of the Governor.
Photo: On June 25, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined Secretary of Service and Volunteering Karen Baker and California Emergency Management Agency Secretary Matthew Bettenhausen to launch the first-in-the-nation "Disaster Corps." "The Disaster Corps will professionalize, standardize and coordinate highly trained disaster volunteers statewide," according to the Governor's Office. The following photo of a volunteer field demonstration was taken at the Los Angeles City Fire Training Facility in Los Angeles, California.
Will this Disaster Corps be helping the victims of Schwarzenegger-engineered environmental disasters, including fishing and tribal communities devastated by his corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative and the collapse of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whale populations? Photo Credit: Peter Grigsby, Office of the Governor.
Water Board Chooses New Delta Watermaster
by Dan Bacher
The last thing that the California Delta needs is a new bureaucrat to further Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plans to build a peripheral canal and new dams, but that’s exactly what we now have.
The five members of the State Water Resources Control Board recently chose attorney Craig M. Wilson to serve in the newly created Delta Watermaster position – and representatives of environmental groups and California Indian Tribes weren’t impressed.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009, part of the legislative path to the peripheral canal that was rammed through the Legislature by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Schwarzenegger last November, requires the State Water Board to appoint a “Delta Watermaster.” The Delta Watermaster has the authority to monitor, report and take enforcement actions on the Delta.
“The Delta Watermaster will act with a high degree of independence within the Delta to implement and enforce existing water rights laws and State Water Resources Control Board permits, licenses, and decisions and authority to issue a notice of proposed cease and desist order or administrative civil liability complaint,” claimed the State Water Resources Board in a press release.
Carolee Krieger, executive director of the California Water Impact Network, disagreed, saying that the legislation creating the Watermaster position was developed under pressure of west side San Joaquin Valley agribusiness interests to “harass” Delta farmers.
“The Delta Watermaster is tasked with essentially harassing longstanding senior water right holders in the Delta whose rights go back in many cases 130 years,” said Krieger. “Corporate agribusiness interests with junior water rights are driving the recent Delta water legislation and the Water Master’s agenda with complaints that the Water Master must investigate.”
Marc Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu (McCloud River) Tribe, emphasized that the most senior water rights of all, tribal water rights, were completely left out of the legislation creating the so-called Delta Watermaster position.
“There are water rights of tribal people that are senior to all of other water rights holders that do not get a mention let alone any resolve in the creation of this position,” said Franco.
Franco quipped, “water has become like a drug for these people.”
As the Inter-Tribal Water Commission declared in a statement opposing the Water Bond, “The Department of Water Resources and their private contractors believe that ‘No Indians’ have ever lived in the Delta, which now they are testing for the new canal. They are not following Section 106 or CEQA requirements in including Tribal participation.”
The new Delta Watermaster is a more than 30-year veteran of dealing with California water issues. Wilson is expected to begin work in his new position within 30 days and to put together a staff. The Delta Watermaster serves a four-year term.
Wilson is currently a lawyer at Stoel Rives LLP specializing in water issues. He was the State Water Board’s Chief Counsel from 2000 until 2005. Prior to that, he had 24 years of experience in a variety of capacities with the Water Board.
In addition to appointing the new Delta Watermaster, the State Water Board will also soon consider a report on water flows through the Delta. The report is currently being assembled by Board staff based on the findings of a variety of scientific experts, according to the Board.
The water policy/water bond package, passed by the Legislature and signed by Schwarzenegger last November without consultation with Delta residents, Indian Tribes, fishermen, environmental justice communities and the overwhelming majority of conservation groups, creates the clear path to a peripheral canal that would cost Californians an estimated $23 billion to $53.8 billion.
Canal opponents believe that the construction of the canal is likely to result in the extinction of collapsing populations of Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, striped bass and the southern resident population of killer whales.
The question is: will Craig M. Wilson actually serve as the Deltamaster or the Master of the Delta’s destruction?
by Dan Bacher
The last thing that the California Delta needs is a new bureaucrat to further Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plans to build a peripheral canal and new dams, but that’s exactly what we now have.
The five members of the State Water Resources Control Board recently chose attorney Craig M. Wilson to serve in the newly created Delta Watermaster position – and representatives of environmental groups and California Indian Tribes weren’t impressed.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009, part of the legislative path to the peripheral canal that was rammed through the Legislature by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Schwarzenegger last November, requires the State Water Board to appoint a “Delta Watermaster.” The Delta Watermaster has the authority to monitor, report and take enforcement actions on the Delta.
“The Delta Watermaster will act with a high degree of independence within the Delta to implement and enforce existing water rights laws and State Water Resources Control Board permits, licenses, and decisions and authority to issue a notice of proposed cease and desist order or administrative civil liability complaint,” claimed the State Water Resources Board in a press release.
Carolee Krieger, executive director of the California Water Impact Network, disagreed, saying that the legislation creating the Watermaster position was developed under pressure of west side San Joaquin Valley agribusiness interests to “harass” Delta farmers.
“The Delta Watermaster is tasked with essentially harassing longstanding senior water right holders in the Delta whose rights go back in many cases 130 years,” said Krieger. “Corporate agribusiness interests with junior water rights are driving the recent Delta water legislation and the Water Master’s agenda with complaints that the Water Master must investigate.”
Marc Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu (McCloud River) Tribe, emphasized that the most senior water rights of all, tribal water rights, were completely left out of the legislation creating the so-called Delta Watermaster position.
“There are water rights of tribal people that are senior to all of other water rights holders that do not get a mention let alone any resolve in the creation of this position,” said Franco.
Franco quipped, “water has become like a drug for these people.”
As the Inter-Tribal Water Commission declared in a statement opposing the Water Bond, “The Department of Water Resources and their private contractors believe that ‘No Indians’ have ever lived in the Delta, which now they are testing for the new canal. They are not following Section 106 or CEQA requirements in including Tribal participation.”
The new Delta Watermaster is a more than 30-year veteran of dealing with California water issues. Wilson is expected to begin work in his new position within 30 days and to put together a staff. The Delta Watermaster serves a four-year term.
Wilson is currently a lawyer at Stoel Rives LLP specializing in water issues. He was the State Water Board’s Chief Counsel from 2000 until 2005. Prior to that, he had 24 years of experience in a variety of capacities with the Water Board.
In addition to appointing the new Delta Watermaster, the State Water Board will also soon consider a report on water flows through the Delta. The report is currently being assembled by Board staff based on the findings of a variety of scientific experts, according to the Board.
The water policy/water bond package, passed by the Legislature and signed by Schwarzenegger last November without consultation with Delta residents, Indian Tribes, fishermen, environmental justice communities and the overwhelming majority of conservation groups, creates the clear path to a peripheral canal that would cost Californians an estimated $23 billion to $53.8 billion.
Canal opponents believe that the construction of the canal is likely to result in the extinction of collapsing populations of Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, striped bass and the southern resident population of killer whales.
The question is: will Craig M. Wilson actually serve as the Deltamaster or the Master of the Delta’s destruction?
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