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Stop Secret Scheme to Create Czar to Build Peripheral Canal!
The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) is asking you to make a special effort on an critically urgent matter. Certain members of the legislature and the administration are trying to shove a combined water bill package through the legislature that will provide for an unaccountable "water czar" and tens of billions of dollars in fees and bonds to construct a peripheral canal and more dams. This is a CLEAR AND PRESENT threat to the delta, and if passed may be the delta's death knell. CSPA is asking you to attend the rally on the Capitol steps on July 7th at 11 a.m.
Stop Secret Scheme to create Czar to Build Peripheral Canal and Dams!
Public Hearings on Critical Water Legislation May Not Take Place
by Dan Bacher
(Sacramento) A rally and press conference is scheduled for 11:00 AM on Tuesday, July 7 on the north steps of the State Capitol to address a legislative bullet aimed at the heart of the fisheries, ecosystem and farming communities of the Delta, according to an urgent announcement from the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA).
"This may be one of the last times that your personal presence will make a difference in the effort to save the estuary and its fisheries," urged John Beuttler, conservation director of CSPA. "We need you to join Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis), CSPA Executive Director Bill Jennings, Restore the Delta's Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, fishermen, environmentalists, farmers, boaters, and other Delta legislators to help make an unequivocal statement to our government about the imperative need for open public process to protect and restore fishery, recreational and farming values in the Delta."
Beuttler condemned the "waffling failure" of our state legislative leadership to address the continuing crisis facing fisheries and the Delta ecosystem has morphed into a shocking ploy by proponents of dams and a peripheral canal to circumvent public participation and legislative oversight.
"It would provide for a politically appointed czar with authority to implement and fund recommendations of the disingenuously named Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP)," said Beuttler. "This czar would have authority to authorize construction of a Panama Canal North around the Delta and issue tens of billions of dollars in fees and revenue bonds necessary to finance the boondoggle."
Sound like a surreal fictional conspiracy out of a Dan Brown or Clive Cussler novel? No, it is actually a 100-plus page "secret" document combining elements of six unfinished bills into a yet unreleased "Water Bill Package" that was scheduled to be considered by Senate and Assembly policy committees on 7 July and then "perhaps" on 9 July and now "perhaps" by a conference committee after the fact.
"In other words, the proposed scheme may circumvent the Senate Natural Resources and Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committees before being voted on by the entire legislature," said Beuttler. "Bluntly put, if this maneuver is successful, the commercial and sportfishing community will be deprived of the right to constructively comment on this nefarious proposal and advocate specific amendments necessary to protect the Delta and restore fisheries."
Budgetary gridlock and dysfunctional leadership created the opportunity for proponents of additional dams and peripheral canal to put together this backroom strategy to bypass responsible legislative consideration and oversight. "As presently formulated, this ploy disenfranchises the public, discards continuing legislative oversight, authorizes the issuance of billions of dollars in fees and bonds and sets the stage for the final solution: termination of viable fisheries and agriculture in the Delta," Beuttler added.
"One public hearing for a set of water policies that has far reaching and expensive implications for the entire state is a mockery of the democratic process," said Barbara Barrigan, campaign director of Restore the Delta. "Not giving ample and certain public notice of the one said hearing exemplifies a complete failure to lead. That is, unfortunately, what is happening in Sacramento."
"We want to make it clear to the Assembly and Senate (while they waffle on if and when public input will be allowed) that it is time to give the Delta a voice on water issues. And that we are tired of the decisions being made without our consent and involvement," emphasized Barrigan-Parrilla.
CSPA, Restore the Delta and a coalition of fishing, environmental, recreational and farming interests call upon everyone who values the Delta and believes in open, deliberative public process to gather on the north steps of the Capitol at 11:00 AM on 7 July (Tuesday) to shine the bright spotlight of public scrutiny on this abominable attempt to undermine responsible legislative process.
"Solutions to the collapse of our fisheries must proceed with deliberative caution through the respective legislative policy committees and be based upon fairness, transparency, the law and best available science.They must include the voices of the Delta community," concluded Beuttler.
Your participation in Sacramento on July 7 is crucial to a healthy Delta and restored fisheries. Arrangements are being made to facilitate visits to individual legislators following the press conference. As events are changing hourly, please check CSPA's website, http://www.calsport.org, on July 4, 5, and 6 for current updates and additional information. Please forward this alert to everybody that you know!
Public Hearings on Critical Water Legislation May Not Take Place
by Dan Bacher
(Sacramento) A rally and press conference is scheduled for 11:00 AM on Tuesday, July 7 on the north steps of the State Capitol to address a legislative bullet aimed at the heart of the fisheries, ecosystem and farming communities of the Delta, according to an urgent announcement from the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA).
"This may be one of the last times that your personal presence will make a difference in the effort to save the estuary and its fisheries," urged John Beuttler, conservation director of CSPA. "We need you to join Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis), CSPA Executive Director Bill Jennings, Restore the Delta's Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, fishermen, environmentalists, farmers, boaters, and other Delta legislators to help make an unequivocal statement to our government about the imperative need for open public process to protect and restore fishery, recreational and farming values in the Delta."
Beuttler condemned the "waffling failure" of our state legislative leadership to address the continuing crisis facing fisheries and the Delta ecosystem has morphed into a shocking ploy by proponents of dams and a peripheral canal to circumvent public participation and legislative oversight.
"It would provide for a politically appointed czar with authority to implement and fund recommendations of the disingenuously named Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP)," said Beuttler. "This czar would have authority to authorize construction of a Panama Canal North around the Delta and issue tens of billions of dollars in fees and revenue bonds necessary to finance the boondoggle."
Sound like a surreal fictional conspiracy out of a Dan Brown or Clive Cussler novel? No, it is actually a 100-plus page "secret" document combining elements of six unfinished bills into a yet unreleased "Water Bill Package" that was scheduled to be considered by Senate and Assembly policy committees on 7 July and then "perhaps" on 9 July and now "perhaps" by a conference committee after the fact.
"In other words, the proposed scheme may circumvent the Senate Natural Resources and Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committees before being voted on by the entire legislature," said Beuttler. "Bluntly put, if this maneuver is successful, the commercial and sportfishing community will be deprived of the right to constructively comment on this nefarious proposal and advocate specific amendments necessary to protect the Delta and restore fisheries."
Budgetary gridlock and dysfunctional leadership created the opportunity for proponents of additional dams and peripheral canal to put together this backroom strategy to bypass responsible legislative consideration and oversight. "As presently formulated, this ploy disenfranchises the public, discards continuing legislative oversight, authorizes the issuance of billions of dollars in fees and bonds and sets the stage for the final solution: termination of viable fisheries and agriculture in the Delta," Beuttler added.
"One public hearing for a set of water policies that has far reaching and expensive implications for the entire state is a mockery of the democratic process," said Barbara Barrigan, campaign director of Restore the Delta. "Not giving ample and certain public notice of the one said hearing exemplifies a complete failure to lead. That is, unfortunately, what is happening in Sacramento."
"We want to make it clear to the Assembly and Senate (while they waffle on if and when public input will be allowed) that it is time to give the Delta a voice on water issues. And that we are tired of the decisions being made without our consent and involvement," emphasized Barrigan-Parrilla.
CSPA, Restore the Delta and a coalition of fishing, environmental, recreational and farming interests call upon everyone who values the Delta and believes in open, deliberative public process to gather on the north steps of the Capitol at 11:00 AM on 7 July (Tuesday) to shine the bright spotlight of public scrutiny on this abominable attempt to undermine responsible legislative process.
"Solutions to the collapse of our fisheries must proceed with deliberative caution through the respective legislative policy committees and be based upon fairness, transparency, the law and best available science.They must include the voices of the Delta community," concluded Beuttler.
Your participation in Sacramento on July 7 is crucial to a healthy Delta and restored fisheries. Arrangements are being made to facilitate visits to individual legislators following the press conference. As events are changing hourly, please check CSPA's website, http://www.calsport.org, on July 4, 5, and 6 for current updates and additional information. Please forward this alert to everybody that you know!
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Dear Joe Settler:
I'll tell you WTF is the matter with this. First of all, do you not read ALL of the information that is presented about this issue??? This is about corporate greed at the expense of every small thing from the Delta smelt to the family farmer to individual human beings who actually reside in the areas directly affected by the huge land and water grab being perpetuated by the governor and his multi-billionaire cohorts. Follow the money...actually do some research, actually take the time and effort to ferret out the truth and not just sit there like a slack-mouth moron being spoon-fed the chemical fertilizers these people are using to pollute our water AND our food.
This is about RESPONSIBLE management of our resources, water being at the top of the list. We have DWR and CVP who are in violation of their own laws and regulations, we have these people mismanaging our water and have done so for the past 100 years or so.
Are you so willing to sit back at watch the decimation of ALL of Northern California at the expense of all of us large and small, human or animal? Shame on you.
This canal will ultimately completely alter the geography of the Sacramento/San Joaquin rivers, not to mention the San Francisco Bay estuary that DEPENDS upon the fresh water flows to push back the salinity just as nature not man designed...if you don't believe me take a road trip to Owens Valley, go look at the Colorado River valley and see what will happen up here when greedy southern California interests stick their straws into any water source they can get a hold of to further allow them to over build their resources. Since this is a thee-day weekend, hit the road Jack go see for yourself and then come back and tell me what you think about this issue.
I'll tell you WTF is the matter with this. First of all, do you not read ALL of the information that is presented about this issue??? This is about corporate greed at the expense of every small thing from the Delta smelt to the family farmer to individual human beings who actually reside in the areas directly affected by the huge land and water grab being perpetuated by the governor and his multi-billionaire cohorts. Follow the money...actually do some research, actually take the time and effort to ferret out the truth and not just sit there like a slack-mouth moron being spoon-fed the chemical fertilizers these people are using to pollute our water AND our food.
This is about RESPONSIBLE management of our resources, water being at the top of the list. We have DWR and CVP who are in violation of their own laws and regulations, we have these people mismanaging our water and have done so for the past 100 years or so.
Are you so willing to sit back at watch the decimation of ALL of Northern California at the expense of all of us large and small, human or animal? Shame on you.
This canal will ultimately completely alter the geography of the Sacramento/San Joaquin rivers, not to mention the San Francisco Bay estuary that DEPENDS upon the fresh water flows to push back the salinity just as nature not man designed...if you don't believe me take a road trip to Owens Valley, go look at the Colorado River valley and see what will happen up here when greedy southern California interests stick their straws into any water source they can get a hold of to further allow them to over build their resources. Since this is a thee-day weekend, hit the road Jack go see for yourself and then come back and tell me what you think about this issue.
There's a great deal of structural similarity between the Mississippi Gulf River Outlet (MR-GO) petroleum transport canal in southern Lousiana and the potential peripheral canal of the CA Bay Area delta..
We're dealing with delta wetlands only a few feet above sea level and predicted rising sea levels of climate change. These two factors indicate that saline water intrusion via the transport canal can be a real issue in a few years, by that time the San Joaquin agribusiness lands will be so saturated with selenium they won't be able to grow anything anyhow, though the people of CA will be stuck with a peripheral canal leaking rising ocean water into their vanishing delta wetlands..
Some background on MR-GO canal & saline intrusions;
It was a promise almost too good to be true — ships, docks, jobs, wharves, business and prosperity. Brochures published in the early 1960s declared the new channel would facilitate “the growth and expansion of the Port of New Orleans, providing new areas for wharves and industrial expansion and relieve the congestion of the existing harbor facilities.”
The brochures said the new channel wouldn’t be so prone to silt up, like the Mississippi did, nor would the water levels seasonally rise and fall as dramatically as did the mighty muddy river. It would be a win-win project.
While the Port touted the logic and economic impact the MRGO project would have on the city, relatively few voices of concern were heard. One 1958 report published by the Department of the Interior, warned that “excavation of the (MRGO) could result in major ecological change with widespread and severe ecological consequences.”
Too bad no one was listening.
The MRGO certainly provided access. Not just to ships, however, which largely ignored it. It provided access to saltwater. The Gulf of Mexico now had direct access into some of the most productive marshes and wetlands in the entire United States.
In short order, it killed more than 11,000 acres of cypress swamps and turned over 19,000 acres of brackish marsh into saline marsh. Vegetation died. Wildlife died off or disappeared.
The freshwater marshes that once supported over a quarter million wintering ducks and provided an annual fur harvest of over 650,000 animals vanished due to saltwater intrusion.
A recent report jointly sponsored by the LSU Agricultural Center, Sea Grant and Coastal Wetlands and Restoration, and written by Rex Caffey and Brian LeBlanc, said, “The New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers speculates that the loss of land in the area approaches nearly 3,400 acres of fresh/intermediate marsh. More than 10,300 acres of brackish marsh, 4,200 acres of saline marsh and 1,500 acres of cypress swamps and levee forests have been destroyed or severely altered.”
And the damage continues. The saline-rich water continues its deadly encroachment, further worsening an already incredible soil erosion rate. Every 24 minutes, Louisiana loses another acre of land. Nationally, the average beach subsides about 2 feet per year. Here in Louisiana, we lose upwards of 35 square miles per year. That’s larger than the size of Manhattan.
complete article found @;
http://www.louisianasportsman.com/stories/.../future-of-mrgo.htm
Currently the Army Corps of Engineers is in court because of this canal, and it is likely that there will need to be public funds provided for cleaning up and closing this dangerous canal. We should be wise and learn from the mistakes of others, not repeat them again!!
Trial concludes;
"The trial against the Corps of Engineers related to the role of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) in Hurricane Katrina flooding has concluded. The trial has largely been a classic example of dueling expert witnesses. Plaintiff experts concluded that MRGO played a major role in the flooding after Hurricane Katrina and the Corps experts concluded that MRGO played essentially no role in the flooding after Hurricane Katrina.
The process of preparing and filing post trial briefs will likely take several months with submission of the case to Judge Duval being completed by August. The Judge will then review the evidence and make his decision which will almost inevitably be appealed to the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and even possibly the United States Supreme Court. The ultimate outcome is likely a number of years away.
Nevertheless, the fact that a trial has been held and a trial court decision will likely result is remarkable in itself. Very few cases of this sort get to the point of a trial. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "Making claims against the federal government requires turning square corners." The lawyers for the plaintiffs in this case seem to have some capacity for "turning square corners." The outcome of this suit has enormous significance for coastal Louisiana. Many of the legal principles presented by the lawyers for the plaintiffs would also be useful in making other types of claims against the federal government for Louisiana coastal wetland land loss.
Mark Schleifstein has published an article in the New Orleans Times Picayune on Thursday May 14, 2009 at 8:55 PM entitled, MR-GO flooding suit in judge's hands, which details events at the end of the trial."
more info on trial @;
http://www.louisianacoastalwetlands.com/.../corps.../trial-in-lawsuit-against-corps-over-mrgo-concludes/
We're dealing with delta wetlands only a few feet above sea level and predicted rising sea levels of climate change. These two factors indicate that saline water intrusion via the transport canal can be a real issue in a few years, by that time the San Joaquin agribusiness lands will be so saturated with selenium they won't be able to grow anything anyhow, though the people of CA will be stuck with a peripheral canal leaking rising ocean water into their vanishing delta wetlands..
Some background on MR-GO canal & saline intrusions;
It was a promise almost too good to be true — ships, docks, jobs, wharves, business and prosperity. Brochures published in the early 1960s declared the new channel would facilitate “the growth and expansion of the Port of New Orleans, providing new areas for wharves and industrial expansion and relieve the congestion of the existing harbor facilities.”
The brochures said the new channel wouldn’t be so prone to silt up, like the Mississippi did, nor would the water levels seasonally rise and fall as dramatically as did the mighty muddy river. It would be a win-win project.
While the Port touted the logic and economic impact the MRGO project would have on the city, relatively few voices of concern were heard. One 1958 report published by the Department of the Interior, warned that “excavation of the (MRGO) could result in major ecological change with widespread and severe ecological consequences.”
Too bad no one was listening.
The MRGO certainly provided access. Not just to ships, however, which largely ignored it. It provided access to saltwater. The Gulf of Mexico now had direct access into some of the most productive marshes and wetlands in the entire United States.
In short order, it killed more than 11,000 acres of cypress swamps and turned over 19,000 acres of brackish marsh into saline marsh. Vegetation died. Wildlife died off or disappeared.
The freshwater marshes that once supported over a quarter million wintering ducks and provided an annual fur harvest of over 650,000 animals vanished due to saltwater intrusion.
A recent report jointly sponsored by the LSU Agricultural Center, Sea Grant and Coastal Wetlands and Restoration, and written by Rex Caffey and Brian LeBlanc, said, “The New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers speculates that the loss of land in the area approaches nearly 3,400 acres of fresh/intermediate marsh. More than 10,300 acres of brackish marsh, 4,200 acres of saline marsh and 1,500 acres of cypress swamps and levee forests have been destroyed or severely altered.”
And the damage continues. The saline-rich water continues its deadly encroachment, further worsening an already incredible soil erosion rate. Every 24 minutes, Louisiana loses another acre of land. Nationally, the average beach subsides about 2 feet per year. Here in Louisiana, we lose upwards of 35 square miles per year. That’s larger than the size of Manhattan.
complete article found @;
http://www.louisianasportsman.com/stories/.../future-of-mrgo.htm
Currently the Army Corps of Engineers is in court because of this canal, and it is likely that there will need to be public funds provided for cleaning up and closing this dangerous canal. We should be wise and learn from the mistakes of others, not repeat them again!!
Trial concludes;
"The trial against the Corps of Engineers related to the role of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) in Hurricane Katrina flooding has concluded. The trial has largely been a classic example of dueling expert witnesses. Plaintiff experts concluded that MRGO played a major role in the flooding after Hurricane Katrina and the Corps experts concluded that MRGO played essentially no role in the flooding after Hurricane Katrina.
The process of preparing and filing post trial briefs will likely take several months with submission of the case to Judge Duval being completed by August. The Judge will then review the evidence and make his decision which will almost inevitably be appealed to the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and even possibly the United States Supreme Court. The ultimate outcome is likely a number of years away.
Nevertheless, the fact that a trial has been held and a trial court decision will likely result is remarkable in itself. Very few cases of this sort get to the point of a trial. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "Making claims against the federal government requires turning square corners." The lawyers for the plaintiffs in this case seem to have some capacity for "turning square corners." The outcome of this suit has enormous significance for coastal Louisiana. Many of the legal principles presented by the lawyers for the plaintiffs would also be useful in making other types of claims against the federal government for Louisiana coastal wetland land loss.
Mark Schleifstein has published an article in the New Orleans Times Picayune on Thursday May 14, 2009 at 8:55 PM entitled, MR-GO flooding suit in judge's hands, which details events at the end of the trial."
more info on trial @;
http://www.louisianacoastalwetlands.com/.../corps.../trial-in-lawsuit-against-corps-over-mrgo-concludes/
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