Will Schwarzenegger Push Interior Secretary to Support Peripheral Canal?

Will Schwarzenegger Push Interior Secretary to Support Peripheral Canal?

by Dan Bacher

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will be coming to the California Delta, now in its greatest-ever ecological crisis, on Wednesday, April 15.

Salazar and Schwarzenegger will announce "economic stimulus projects to help water infrastructure in California and elsewhere" as part of the Department of the Interior’s investments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) after a tour of the "drought stricken" Delta," according to a statement from the Bureau of Reclamation. Accompanying them will be Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-5th CA) and Congresswoman Grace Napolitano (D-38th CA) .

However, it doesn't appear like they will be stopping to talk to the locals. This staged press event looks like it may be a pitch by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to push the Secretary to support the building of a peripheral canal and more dams.

The "tour" of the Delta by Schwarzenegger and Salazar will take place as the estuary's pelagic (open water) species - delta smelt, longfin smelt, juvenile striped bass and threadfin shad - have declined to record low population levels, due to increases in water exports from the Delta, toxics and invasive species. Central Valley Chinook salmon, American shad, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other fish populations have also declined to unprecedented low numbers as the Governor, Senator Diane Feinstein and the Nature Conservancy continue to push for the construction of peripheral canal and more dams.

"The estuary has been exploited to the point of ecological collapse," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta in Stockton. "The problem in the Delta is not a plumbing problem, and a new straw in the Sacramento River will not restore the Delta."

Why are the people most impacted by proposed water projects on the Delta - Delta farmers, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, California Indian Tribes, grassroots environmentalists, and Delta residents - not being invited to meet with Secretary Salazar, the Governor and federal officials?

And why is the Bureau referring to the Delta as "drought-stricken" when it is not a natural "drought," but gross mismanagement of California's water resources, that has led to ecological collapse?

“California has regulated its waters like the feds have regulated Wall Street and the result has been a collapse of fisheries and aquatic ecosystems,” said Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.


Photo: Arnold Schwarzenegger, the "Fish Terminator," at yet another photo opportunity session on Monday, April 13. Photo from the Governor's Office.