Delta Vision Committee Carries Water for Central Valley Agribusiness

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"Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed." ---- Barry Goldwater

Delta Vision Committee Carries Water For Central Valley Agribusiness


At the expense of Delta fisheries and Delta communities, the Delta Vision Committee, made up of five state Cabinet Secretaries appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger, called for the construction of the peripheral canal without legislative or voter approval.

In a report released late last Friday, the Committee, which was mandated to work with local stakeholders and a blue ribbon committee of public policy experts, asserted in its report that the state has authority to begin construction of the canal under existing laws and that construction should begin as early as 2011.

Restore the Delta staff cannot help but wonder if the Delta Vision Committee has paid any attention to the recently rewritten federal management plan to protect the Delta smelt and the entire Delta estuary from complete collapse. The December, 2008 report released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls for the dramatic reduction of Delta exports.

Instead of examining these science-based findings, the Delta Vision Committee is continuing to promote the supposed "co-equal goals" of estuary protection and water supply enhancement for California. Never mind that over 80% of the water exported from the Delta is used by large agri-business throughout the San Joaquin Valley - such as, corporate farms in the Westlands Water District, which drain tons of selenium into the wetlands at Kesterson.

The Delta smelt are near extinction; the salmon fisheries were closed in 2008 and will be probably closed again in 2009; and family farmers in the South Delta are seeing salt damage on their crops earlier and earlier each summer. But California's limited water supply must be moved from north to south, not to meet the basic life needs of our brothers and sisters in the southern part of the state, but to insure the prosperity of corporate farmers growing government subsidized cotton.

Clearly, the Delta Vision Committee, Governor Schwarzenegger, and the Department of Water Resources, all of whom have ignored or co-opted the comments, questions, and facts presented by in-Delta interests throughout the various Delta Vision stakeholder and community meetings, have made it clear that they first and foremost represent the interests of San Joaquin Valley agri-business.

While the Delta Vision Committee calls for large-scale habitat restoration within the Delta and per-capita water reduction of 20% as part of its "green appeal," urban water agencies in southern California's major metropolitan areas are moving towards self- sufficiency without the peripheral canal. And more importantly, if water quality and quantity is not sufficient to restore Delta waterways, it does not matter how much habitat restoration is completed. First and foremost, fish need water.

In a December radio address, President-elect Obama made it clear that supporting science is not just a matter of providing funding for research, but creating a climate where open and truthful inquires can be made. He said, "The highest purpose of science is the search for truth and understanding." (To hear the address click here.)

Unfortunately, the Delta Vision process, as exemplified in the Committee's report, has not been a process through which truthful inquiries could be made and answered. The process has failed to discover how much fresh water is needed to pass through the Delta to protect and restore the estuary. The Delta Vision process has served as a front for Governor's Schwarzenegger's goal of moving northern California water to the southern part of the state - at the expense of Delta fisheries and Delta communities. Without a doubt, construction of the peripheral canal would create a hellish tyranny for the people of the Delta.

With a $45 billion deficit looming over the state - which the Governor has yet to solve -- it is unbelievable that the Governor and the Delta Vision Committee could be carrying water for a $12 to $24 billion irrigation plan to benefit selenium loaded agricultural lands that do not drain properly. Meanwhile, the most basic services in California, like keeping schools open and operating on schedule, cannot continue to be met. It is a shame that the Governor and his Cabinet members only represent a small portion of California's people -- those with specific money interests.


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