Conservation groups slam Delta tunnels as Jerry Brown grandstands at Vatican

Conservation groups slam Delta tunnels as Jerry Brown grandstands at Vatican

by Dan Bacher

As Governor Jerry Brown urged leaders to "rise up" to "protect our planet" and to emulate Gandhi at a Vatican symposium on Wednesday, July 22, a coalition of California conservation groups warned state and federal regulators that the rush to approve the construction of Brown's massive water diversion tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta violates a multitude of state and federal laws.

The dichotomy between Governor Brown's "green" words at the Vatican and his actions on the ground in California couldn't be starker as he promotes the expansion of fracking in California, fast-tracks the environmentally devastating Delta tunnels plan and presides over water policies that are driving Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, and Sacramento splittail closer and closer to extinction every day.

After the Governor spoke Tuesday on "lighting a fire" to "fight climate change," Brown again spoke on the final day of the Vatican’s symposium on climate change and modern slavery at Casina Pio IV, home of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Brown called on local leaders to “rise up” and “build bridges” to protect our planet and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“In a world with a lot of complacency and a lot of cynicism, it’s going to take imagination, it’s going to take real faith," said Governor Brown. “Pontifex means ‘bridge builder.’ And that’s why I think it’s very important that this meeting is within the Vatican and the Pontifical Academy. We have to build bridges to our business leaders, to our political leaders. And as the pope said, it’s got to come from the periphery – that’s a new word for mayors. So, peripherals of the world – rise up, you have nothing to lose and you have everything to gain.”

Brown also urged conference attendees to emulate Christ's 12 Disciples and Gandhi.

"So, we have to think of those instances where radical change occurred," said the Governor. "And being right here in Rome where we can walk through the ruins of a great Roman Empire gives us an example. It was defeated not by another empire but by 12 Galileans who had no money, who didn’t even speak Latin, but who began the process of taking down the Roman Empire and replacing it with Christianity."

"Getting a little more modern, how did the great British Empire get thrown out of India? It was a man who just had a little cloth on, who used to go around in his underwear. Mr. Gandhi who, I think, Churchill was rather contemptuous of. And yet, Gandhi speaks more to where we are than Mr. Churchill or any of the other politicians," stated Brown. (http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=19048)

Meanwhile, in California where people are suffering from a multitude of the Brown administration's unjust and destructive environmental policies, a coalition of four environmental groups - Friends of the River, the Environmental Water Caucus, Restore the Delta and the Center for Biological Diversity - sent a letter to the state and federal agencies that are promoting the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP)/California Water Fix blasting the agencies’ failure to consider alternatives that would reduce diversions and increase freshwater flows through the Delta.

The groups wrote that “instead of sharply defining the issues and providing a clear basis for choice among options, the BDCP consultants have produced 48,000 pages of conclusory Water Tunnels advocacy.”

They said the state and federal agencies have ignored repeated requests to develop and consider real alternatives, including those that increase freshwater flows through the Delta, in order to “stack the deck” making it easier to adopt the Water Tunnels alternative.

The letter noted that the Environmental Water Caucus (EWC) Responsible Water Exports Plan fits the EPA and State Water Resources Control Board's calls for alternatives that would increase freshwater flow through the Delta, as well as the Army Corps of Engineers call for an acceptable alternatives analysis, but has been completely ignored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). The plan sets an annual cap on water exports of 3 million acre feet.

"It is time to include among the range of reasonable alternatives required by law, and presented to the public for comment, increasing freshwater flows through the Delta by reducing exports. This is imperative. Extinction is forever," the letter concluded.

Read the letter here: http://www.friendsoftheriver.org/site/PageServer?pagename=commentletter7222015

The environmental coalition is calling on the state and federal agencies to reject the water plan and prepare a new Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement that would include a range of "real Delta restoration alternatives," instead of "just replicating the same water-diversion and conveyance project dressed up in different outfits.”

“Governor Brown and the tunnel-promoting agencies have a bad case of tunnel vision, and have ignored all requests for a Delta plan with true alternatives that reduce fresh water diversions and protect the Delta,” said Robert Wright, senior counsel for Friends of the River. “The Environmental Water Caucus developed a Responsible Exports Plan alternative and handed it to BDCP agencies on a silver platter. Other agencies ranging from the National Academy of Sciences to the Environmental Protection Agency have also called for real alternatives. Instead, BDCP agencies have released another flawed environmental review document that fails to comply with our environmental laws.”

“In addition to protecting the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of the Americas, and making more water for California, the Environmental Water Caucus plan for water efficiency would actually create more jobs for California than a large and expensive project like the Delta Tunnels,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta’s executive director

Barrigan-Parrilla cited the U.S. Alliance for Water Efficiency data that says that 22 jobs can be created for every $1 million spent on water efficiency. In stark contrast, the revised BDCP EIR reveals that the tunnels "at best would make about 5.5 jobs for every $1 million of public investment, less than half the job creation of most construction spending.”

Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity blasted the tunnels plan for being a "disastrous water export plan."

"The fix is in for the twin tunnels project, which has always been merely a huge water grab with some window dressing," said Miller. "Now the so-called ‘California Water Fix’ has abandoned any pretense of habitat protection. This disastrous water-export plan will hand over massive diversion tunnels to corporate agribusiness and lock in the current over-pumping of water from the Delta, decimating our native fish runs and speeding up the extinction of endangered salmon, steelhead, smelt and sturgeon.”

In reference to the dichotomy between the Governor's words at the Vatican and his actions in California, Conner Everts, facilitator of the Environmental Water Caucus, noted, "Theology in theory is great, but the reality is California has been devastated by losses to the environment from solutions that are stuck in the last century. Brown's disconnection from reality is getting greater and greater."

For more information about Governor's real environmental record, go to: http://www.truth-out.org/speakout/item/30452-the-extinction-governor-rips-the-green-mask-off-his-tunnels-plan

Also on Wednesday, the California Department of Water Resources and the Federal Bureau of Reclamation announced a 60-day extension of the public comment period for the joint Partially Recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report (RDEIR)/Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan/California WaterFix. The time extension was the result of a request from a broad coalition of environmental groups, fishing organizations, Tribes and public trust advocates.

The public comment period began July 10. Originally scheduled to end on August 31, 2015, it is being extended to Friday, October 30, 2015.

"The two-month extension gives the public, government agencies, and independent scientists more time to consider refinements and changes made since last summer to the plan that seeks to secure California’s water supplies and improve ecosystem conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta," according to a news release from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

To view or download the RDEIR/SDEIS, or for a list of locations to access a DVD of the document, please go to http://www.baydeltaconservationplan.com. If you encounter problems accessing the documents, please call 916-978-5100 or email mppublicaffairs [at] usbr.gov

Background on Conservation Groups

Friends of the River, California’s statewide river conservation organization, protects and restores California rivers by influencing public policy and inspiring citizen action. http://www.friendsoftheriver.org

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 900,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. http://www.biologicaldiversity.org

Restore the Delta is a grassroots campaign of more than 20,000 people devoted to saving the San Francisco Bay Delta estuary for our children and future generations. http://www.restorethedelta.org