Dan Bacher Posts

The San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday, June 10 reported on the Fish and Game Commission's approval of a network of so-called "marine protected areas" on California's North Coast.

"A vast network of undersea reserves - which conservationists have dreamed about for years - has been completed by the California Fish and Game Commission," Peter Fimrite wrote. "The northernmost of four marine parks was approved by the commission last week, creating an interconnected series of protected marine environments from Mexico to Oregon." (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/09/BACK1OSOLF.D...)

I applaud the reporter for quoting Zeke Grader, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, who exposes the fact that these alleged "marine protected areas" do not protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, military and seismic testing, corporate aquaculture, wind and wave energy projects and all other impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.

"Nobody has done the heavy lifting in terms of water quality and other effects on the marine environment," Grader said. "You have all these groups all atwitter about fishing and gathering impacts, but they have their blinders on when it comes to other effects."

In violation of the letter and spirit of the landmark Marine Life Protection Act of 1999, these marine reserves fail to comprehensively protect the ocean from ocean industrialization and other threats to the marine ecosystem.

However, Fimrite neglected to mention four key "inconvenient truths" that are key to understanding the MLPA Initiative.

First, the allegedly "open and transparent" process was privately funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Foundation. This is an inherent conflict of interest, since this foundation also funds many of the corporate "environmental" NGOs who lobbied for the creation of marine reserves with the least possible protection from all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing.

Second, the reporter failed to mention that the Northern California Tribal Chairman's Association, including the Chairs of the Elk Valley Rancheria, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Karuk Tribe, Smith River Rancheria, Trinidad Rancheria, and Yurok Tribe, believes the science behind the MLPA Initiative developed by Schwarzenegger's Science Advisory Team is "incomplete and terminally flawed." (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2012/06/08/yurok-tribe-challenges-ml...)

The Yurok Tribe said it has attempted on numerous occasions to address the scientific inadequacies with the MLPA science developed under the Schwarzenegger administration by adding "more robust protocols" into the equation, but was denied every time. This denial of consideration of the Tribe's scientific data flies in the face of false claims by MLPA advocates that the privately funded initiative creates "Yosemites of the Sea" and "underwater parks" based on "science."

Third, Fimrite inexplicably failed to note that that the new regulations, in a great miscarriage of justice, prohibit Yurok Tribe members from gathering seaweed, mussels and fish at their traditional gathering areas at Reading Rock and the False Klamath. Two Tribal Elders told the Commission that they would continuing gathering food, regardless of the Commission's decision.

"We are hunters, fishermen and gatherers and we have lived here since time immemorial," said David Gensaw Sr., a member of the Yurok Tribal Council. "We have gathered on these shores forever since the Creator put us here."

"We're here today to tell you that we need that subsistence, and we will continue to provide our people with that nourishment," he stated. "Hopefully, we can work this out without a confrontation."

Yurok Tribal Elder Jack Matz emphasized, "If the regulations are implemented the way they are planned now, you will have a confrontation with a lot of elders, including myself."

Fourth, the article fails to mention that the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the implementation of these "marine protected areas" included a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other individuals with numerous conflicts of interest.

Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, served on the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces for the North Coast and North Central Coast. Reheis-Boyd, a relentless advocate for offshore oil drilling, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the Keystone XL Pipeline and the weakening of environmental laws, also chaired the task force that developed the MPAs that went into effect in Southern California on January 1.

The MLPA process is an egregious example of corporate greenwashing, as evidenced by Reheis-Boyd's leadership role in the creation of the alleged "marine parks."

Many grassroots environmentalists and fishermen believe that Reheis-Boyd was appointed to the task force to make sure that the oil industry's interests were protected - and to ensure that recreational and commercial fishermen and seaweed harvesters, the most vocal opponents of offshore oil drilling, are removed from many areas on the ocean to clear a path for ocean industrialization.

The big question that remains is: why did MLPA Initiative advocates, including representatives of corporate "environmental" NGOs, not oppose the appointment of a big oil lobbyist to the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces, let alone her appointment as chair of the South Coast process?  

Before the California Fish and Game Commission voted to approve a network of so-called "marine protected areas" for the North Coast on June 6, the Yurok Tribe issued a statement outlining several serious concerns with the final proposal.

These included questions about the so-called "science" used under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative to create the MPAs and concerns over the protection of tribal harvesting rights at Reading Rock and False Klamath.

In spite of moving testimony by Tribal Elders, Commissioners Michael Sutton, Richard Rogers and Jack Baylis voted 3 to 0 to approve new regulations covering state waters from the California/Oregon state line south to Alder Creek near Point Arena in Mendocino County that failed to address these concerns. Commissioners Jim Kellogg and Richard Rogers, both critics of the MLPA process, were absent.

"While we appreciate the Brown administration's support and the Fish and Game Commission effort to recognize tribal traditional harvesting rights, there is more that needs to be done in order to protect our culture and our resources for present and future generations," said Yurok Tribal Chairman Thomas P. O'Rourke Sr. prior to the meeting. "We also have serious questions about the science, developed under the Schwarzenegger Administration, which the process relies upon. We believe it requires a truly impartial external review and revision in order to work for our region."

"Today might mean the end of the discussion for some North Coast residents," O'Rourke continued. "For us, it's the beginning of a conversation about how the State can better work with Native people to preserve and protect cultural and natural resources. The proposed project simply does not do enough to address tribal rights. The Yurok Tribe has and will continue to reserves all rights as a sovereign nation as we work towards finding a solution."

The Northern California Tribal Chairman's Association, including the Chairs of the Elk Valley Rancheria, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Karuk Tribe, Smith River Rancheria, Trinidad Rancheria, and Yurok Tribe, believes the science behind the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative developed by Arnold Schwarzenegger's Science Advisory Team is "incomplete and terminally flawed."

For example, in a reversal of scientific logic, the MLPA provides for more regulation of highly abundant species such as mussels - and no harvest limits on fish such as the threatened Pacific eulachon.

"Under the MLPA each marine species is assigned a certain level of protection," according to the Tribe's statement. "Species like mussels are given a low level of protection, which in MLPA-speak, translates to more regulation. To date, there has been no scientific data submitted suggesting that mussels on the North Coast are in any sort of danger or are overharvested. In fact, it's just the opposite. The readily available quantitative survey data collected over decades by North Coast experts shows there is quite an abundance of mussels in this sparsely populated study region."

The Tribe said species like Pacific eulachon, also known as candlefish, are given a high level of protection; or in other words, their harvest is not limited by the proposed regulations. Eulachon are near extinction and listed as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).

"Both of these marine species are essential and critical to the cultural survival of northern California tribes," said Chairman O'Rourke Sr. "However, under the proposed regulations they would be summarily mismanaged. It's examples like these that compel our concerns."

Science Advisory Team refused to address scientific inadequacies

The Yurok Tribe said it has attempted on numerous occasions to address the scientific inadequacies with the MLPA science developed under the Schwarzenegger administration by adding "more robust protocols" into the equation, but was denied every time. This denial of consideration of the Tribe's scientific data flies in the face of false claims by MLPA advocates that the privately funded initiative creates "Yosemites of the Sea" and "underwater parks" based on "science."

For example, the MLPA Science Advisory Team, co-chaired by Ron LeValley of Mad River Biologists, in August 2010 turned down a request by the Yurok Tribe to make a presentation to the panel. Among other data, the Tribe was going to present data of test results from other marine reserves regarding mussels.

"The data would have shown that there was not a statistical difference in the diversity of species from the harvested and un-harvested areas," wrote John Corbett, Yurok Tribe Senior Attorney, in a letter to the Science Advisory Team on January 12, 2011. "The presentation would have encompassed the work of Smith, J.R. Gong and RF Ambrose, 2008, 'The Impacts of Human Visitation on Mussel Bed Communities along the California Coast: Are Regulatory Marine Reserves Effective in Protecting these Communities.'" (http://yubanet.com/california/Dan-Bacher-MLPA-Officials-refused-to-Inclu...)

No Tribal scientists were allowed to serve on the MLPA Science Advisory Team, in spite of the fact that the Yurok and other North Coast Indian Tribes have large natural resources and fisheries departments staffed with many fishery biologists and other scientists.

During the historic direct action protest by a coalition of over 50 Tribes and their allies in Fort Bragg on July 21, 2010, Frankie Joe Myers, Yurok Tribal member and Coastal Justice Coalition activist, exposed the refusal to incorporate Tribal science that underlies the questionable "science" of the MLPA process. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2010/07/26/tribes-and-allies-take-co...)

"The whole process is inherently flawed by institutionalized racism," said Myers. "It doesn't recognize Tribes as political entities, or Tribal biologists as legitimate scientists."

Justice denied: Commission fails to protect Tribe's harvesting rights

Of the "marine protected area" options before the Fish and Game Commission on June 6, Yurok Tribal representatives supported the adoption of the following:

• Reading Rock- Tribal Take Option (B) Reclassify Reading Rock from a State Marine Reserve to a State Marine Conservation Area. This would allow for specific federally recognized tribes to take living marine resources pursuant to existing regulations.

• Reading Rock SMCA- Name Option (B) Rename as Reading Rock Onshore SMCA if Reading Rock SMR Take Option B (above) is selected.

• 'No change' for the specific location of False Klamath Rock Season Special Closure and require the "Special Closure" for False Klamath Rock to be dealt with in a future process that includes the Tribe.

The Tribe said the MLPA Environmental Impact Report, pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), reviewed two different proposals. The first was a "No Project Alternative" that compares "the impact of approving the action against the impacts of not approving the action."

In the "Enhanced Compliance Alternative," the second proposal, there were two possible protected areas within Yurok ancestral territory near Reading Rock and False Klamath Rock.

At Reading Rock, there were two options before the Commission. The first, and preferred alternative, was an offshore State Marine Reserve (SMR) status that calls for zero human take of any marine species.

The second option was a State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) designation, both on and offshore, which would allow some commercial and recreational harvest, while authorizing access to Tribal members with a valid Tribal ID card.

The proposal also called for a Seasonal Special Closure for False Klamath Rock. In this area there would be a 300-foot seasonal closure around the rock from March 1 to August 31 for avian nesting.

Inexplicably, the Commission failed to approve the Tribe's proposal that would protect traditional tribal gathering rights in Yurok ancestral territory. After the public comment period, the Commissioners rushed through the approval of Option 1, the preferred alternative, without even discussing the Tribe's recommended options.

Tribal elders vow to keep gathering in traditional areas

During the hearing, Yurok Tribal leaders told the Commission they were unhappy with the regulations that would prohibit them from gathering seaweed, mussels and fish at their traditional gathering areas at Reading Rock and the False Klamath - and vowed to keep gathering regardless of the Commission's decision.

"We are hunters, fishermen and gatherers and we have lived here since time immemorial," said David Gensaw Sr. a member of the Yurok Tribal Council. "We have gathered on these shores forever since the Creator put us here."

Gensaw told the Commission about the Tribe's problems with diabetes, high blood pressure and other illnesses caused by a change in diet since the arrival of Europeans, who took many of the traditional foods from the tribe.

"We're here today to tell you that we need that subsistence, and we will continue to provide our people with that nourishment," he stated. "Hopefully, we can work this out without a confrontation."

Yurok Tribal Elder Jack Matz emphasized, "If the regulations are implemented the way they are planned now, you will have a confrontation with a lot of elders, including myself."

Nonetheless, Alicia T. McQuillen, Marine Resource Coordinator for the Yurok Tribe, noted after the Commission meeting that she is hopeful that the Tribe will be able to resolve its differences with the state of California over the MLPA process. She said she is encouraged by comments made by DFG Director Chuck Bonham that this was the beginning of a "new era" in the state's relationship with Tribes.

"We are hopeful that there will be a more positive and more open relationship between the state and Tribes - and more open and honest communication," McQuillen said. "We anticipate some disappointment over the results of the hearing, but it takes time to change hearts and minds."

Yurok people consider themselves to be "a vital part of the marine ecosystem." Yurok Tribal members have traditionally harvested marine resources for religious, ceremonial and subsistence use with carefully adapted methods that have maintained balanced abundance on the North Coast since time immemorial.

To read a copy of the Yurok Tribe MLPA and Marine Resource Plan, go to: http://www.yuroktribe.org/gove...

MLPA Initiative Background:

The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is a law, signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, designed to create a network of marine protected areas off the California Coast. However, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 created the privately-funded MLPA "Initiative" to "implement" the law, effectively eviscerating the MLPA.

The "marine protected areas" created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution, military testing, seismic testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.

The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the implementation of "marine protected areas" included a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other individuals with numerous conflicts of interest. Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, served on the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the North Coast and North Central Coast.

Reheis-Boyd, a relentless advocate for offshore oil drilling, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the Keystone XL Pipeline and the weakening of environmental laws, also chaired the South Coast MLPA Blue Ribbon Task that developed the MPAs that went into effect in Southern California waters on January 1, 2012.

The MLPA Initiative operated through a controversial private/public partnership funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. The Schwarzenegger administration, under intense criticism by grassroots environmentalists, fishermen and Tribal members, authorized the implementation of marine protected areas under the initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the foundation and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).

The California Fish and Game Commission on June 6 adopted regulations for the North Coast "marine protected areas" (MPAs) created under the controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.

Commissioners Michael Sutton, Richard Rogers and Jack Baylis voted 3 to 0 to approve the regulations covering approximately 1,027 square miles of state waters from the California/Oregon state line south to Alder Creek near Point Arena in Mendocino County. Commissioners Jim Kellogg and Richard Rogers, both critics of the MLPA process, were absent.

The decision completed the network of MPAs in California's open coastal waters, stretching from Mexico to the Oregon state line, developed under a public-private partnership between the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation.

Many fishermen, Tribal members and environmentalists were relieved that the Commission voted for the unified proposal endorsed by the stakeholders, rather than approving a DFG proposal that changed the boundary lines of the marine reserves, supposedly for easier enforcement.

"We did about well as we could today," said Jim Martin, West Coast Regional Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance. "The Commission didn't add anything to the regional stakeholders proposal. They didn't make the regulations worse."

The long and contentious process was marked by several historic direct action protests by North Coast Indian Tribes and their allies to defend Tribal gathering and fishing rights, including the largest protest on the North Coast since Redwood Summer of 1990.

On July 21, 2010, over 300 people including members of 50 Indian Nations, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, immigrant seafood industry workers and grassroots environmentalists peacefully took over an MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in Fort Bragg to protest the threat to traditional gathering rights posed by the MLPA Initiative.
(http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2010/07/26/tribes-and-allies-take-co...)

John Laird: a "great day" for the ocean

After the Commission made their decision, Secretary for Natural Resources John Laird said, "This is a great day for California's ocean and coastal resources. As promised, we have completed the nation's first statewide open coast system of marine protected areas, strengthening California's ongoing commitment to conserve marine life for future generations. Through the process, we also established the first ever special designation allowing tribes to continue ancestral fishing practices on the North Coast."

The public planning process for the north coast region began in June 2009 and included numerous public workshops and more than 75 days of meetings.

"Our decision today was made possible by the hard work and dedication of hundreds of stakeholders up and down the California coast," gushed Michael Sutton, Vice President of the Commission. "California can be proud not only of its new, comprehensive network of protection for the marine environment, but of the cutting-edge public process that made it happen."

The North coast regulations include a provision for federally recognized tribal members to continue harvesting and gathering fish, kelp and shellfish as they have for countless generations. "The provision will allow non-commercial take to continue, consistent with existing regulations, in MPAs other than State Marine Reserves, where there is a record of ancestral take by a specific tribe," the DFG said.

"We sincerely appreciate the state's willingness to hear the concerns of the tribes and develop a plan that meets critical marine conservation and tribal cultural protection goals," said Chairwoman Priscilla Hunter of the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, a consortium of 10 federally recognized north coast tribes based in Mendocino and Lake counties. "The start of this process was very difficult and contentious, but thanks to Secretary Laird and Governor Brown, we have ended in a very positive place with a strong framework for future tribal consultation on important conservation and environmental issues."

Yurok Tribe leaders criticize new regulations

However, Yurok Tribal leaders told the Commission they were unhappy with regulations that would prohibit them from gathering seaweed, mussels and fish at their traditional gathering areas at Reading Rock and the False Klamath - and vowed to keep gathering regardless of the Commission's decision.

"We are hunters, fishermen and gatherers and we have lived here since time immemorial," said David Gensaw Sr. a member of the Yurok Tribal Council. "We have gathered on these shores forever since the Creator put us here."

Gensaw told the Commission about the Tribe's problems with diabetes, high blood pressure and other illnesses caused by a change in diet since the arrival of Europeans, who took many of the traditional foods from the tribe.

"We're here today to tell you that we need that subsistence, and we will continue to provide our people with that nourishment," he stated. "Hopefully, we can work this out without a confrontation."

Yurok Tribal Elder Jack Matz emphasized, "If the regulations are implemented the way they are planned now, you will have a confrontation with a lot of elders, including myself."

The plan adopted by the Commission includes 19 MPAs, a recreational management area, and seven special closures covering approximately 137 square miles of state waters or about 13 percent of the region, according to a DFG press release.

California encompasses approximately 5,285 square miles of open coast state waters. The controversial marine protected areas are now in place on the Central Coast, North Central Coast and South Coast.

The open coast portion of the statewide network of MPAs now includes 119 MPAs, five recreational management areas and 15 special closures covering approximately 16 percent of all open coast state waters. Approximately half of California's new or modified MPAs are multiple use areas, with the remaining in no-take areas.

MLPA process failed to incorporate tribal science

"This statewide system will benefit fish and fishermen in California for generations to come," claimed Charlton H. Bonham, director of the DFG. "The science shows that by protecting sensitive ocean and coastal habitats, marine life flourishes and in turn, creates a healthier system overall."

While Bonham and MLPA officials claim the MLPA Initiative was based on "science," it is worth noting that the MLPA Science Advisory Team failed to incorporate studies from Yurok Tribe scientists that challenged the MLPA's assumptions.

"With regard to local shoreline systems, where there is access, there are no 'unfished' systems," said Mike Belchik, senior fisheries biologist from the Yurok Fisheries Program. "People have coexisted with these resources for many thousands of years; the appropriate conceptual organization foundation is that systems have been managed, and what is seen is the result of millennia of management." (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/07/15/tribal-science-challenges...)

The Initiative's unresolved issues

Besides unresolved tribal gathering issues such as those pointed out by Gensaw and Matz of the Yurok Tribe, there are a number of other unresolved issues with the North Coast MPAs.

First, the Commission and MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force failed to include language proposed by fishermen and environmentalists to include increased protections from oil drilling and spills, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture and wind and wave energy projects in the marine protected areas.

"Marine protected areas can in some instances be beneficial for specific areas, species or ecosystems," said Zeke Grader, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "However, the problem we have here is that these 'marine protected areas' are in essence no fishing zones and they don't protect for water quality and other types of development or insults to the environment from activities such as seismic testing."

Second, fishermen and environmentalists also regularly criticized the presence of Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the President of the Western States Petroleum Association, on the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the North Coast and North Central Coast. The Commission and state officials rejected requests for an investigation into conflicts of interest posed by Reheis-Boyd in her role as "marine guardian," as well as conflicts of interest posed by a marina operator and real estate executive that served on the task force.

Reheis-Boyd, a relentless advocate for offshore oil drilling, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the Keystone XL Pipeline and the weakening of environmental laws, chaired the South Coast MLPA Blue Ribbon Task that developed the MPAs that went into effect in Southern California waters on January 1, 2012.

Third, the Commission and DFG have not found yet found funding for the increased number of wardens needed to patrol the new marine reserves. The California Fish and Game Wardens Association has opposed the creation of any new marine protected areas unless funding for enforcement is provided. California currently has the lowest ratio of wardens to people of any state in the nation - and is currently beset by an epidemic of fish, shellfish and wildlife poaching.

S.F. Bay process delayed until peripheral canal plan completed

The last stop on the MLPA Initiative "road show" after the North Coast process was completed was supposed to be San Francisco Bay. However, Secretary Laird and Director Bonham said on May 7 that implementation of "marine protected areas" in San Francisco Bay will be delayed until the completion of "planning efforts" for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta under the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2012/05/07/bay-mlpa-process-delayed-...)

"We look forward to continuing to work with all local, state and federal agencies dedicated to ensuring successful marine planning and protection for San Francisco Bay subsequent to completing planning efforts in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta," Laird and Bonham stated.

The BDCP is a plan to build a peripheral canal or tunnel to export more Delta water to southern California and corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. A broad coalition of Delta residents, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, Indian Tribes, family farmers, grassroots environmentalists and elected officials is opposing the peripheral canal's construction because it would hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species and take vast areas of Delta farmland out of production under the guise of habitat "restoration."

In a classic case of corporate greenwashing, the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation and David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the key funders of the MLPA Initiative, have also funded many of the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) reports promoting the construction of the peripheral canal.

For more information on the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, visit http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/.

The California Fish and Game Commission will hold a meeting in Eureka at 1 pm on June 6 to discuss and possibly adopt the proposed changes to the "marine protected areas" for the North Coast created under the controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.

Number 1 on the agenda is the regular public forum where "any member of the public may address the Commission regarding the implementation of its policies or any other matter within the jurisdiction of the Commission. The issue to be discussed should not be related to any item on the current agenda."

"As a general rule, action cannot be taken on issues not listed on the agenda. At the discretion of the Commission, staff may be requested to follow up on such items," according to the Commission.

Number 2 on the agenda is: (A) final certification of the environmental document and adopting of findings for proposed changes to Section 632, Title 14, CCR, re. marine protected areas for the North Coast Study Region and (B) discussion and possible adoption of proposed changes to Section 632, Title 14, CCR, re. marine protected areas for the North Coast Study Region.

Item Number 3 - and unrelated to the North Coast MLPA plan - is the receipt of information regarding Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Seismic Testing Project in Central California.

The agenda is available at: http://www.fgc.ca.gov/meetings...

One big question is whether or not the Commission will adopt a proposal that the Yurok Tribe delivered before the Commission on April 11 providing them "an opportunity to better protect the Tribe's right to traditional harvest of marine resources," according to a press release from the Tribe after that meeting.

The April Fish and Game Commission meeting was one of the final steps in the MLPA Initiative process to create "marine protected areas" in the North Coast Study Region. The North Coast Study Region begins at Alder Point near Point Arena and ends at the California/Oregon border.

The deadline for written comments regarding the MLPA environmental impact report (EIR) was April 16. The Commission originally planned to make its final decision regarding the marine protected areas in Eureka on Thursday, June 14, but changed the date to June 6.

Reading Rock's designation as 'State Marine Reserve' contested

Representatives of the Tribe, the largest in California, proposed the following regarding Reading Rock, a traditional gathering site off the Humboldt County coast.

• Reading Rock- Tribal Take Option (B) Reclassify Reading Rock from a State Marine Reserve to a State Marine Conservation Area. This would allow for specific federally recognized tribes to take living marine resources pursuant to existing regulations.

• Reading Rock SMCA- Name Option (B) Rename as Reading Rock Onshore SMCA if Reading Rock SMR Take Option B (above) is selected.

• 'No change' for the specific location of False Klamath Rock Season Special Closure and require the "Special Closure" for False Klamath Rock to be dealt with in a future process.

The Draft Environmental Impact Report reviews, under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), two different proposals. The first is a "No Project Alternative," which compares "the impact of approving the action against the impacts of not approving the action."

"The Revised Round 3 NCRSG MPA Proposal, crafted and supported by a wide array of coastal stakeholders including all of the city, county and tribal governments in the study area, was taken off the table by the Marine Life Protection Act's Blue Ribbon Task Force, despite much opposition from most of the stakeholders and supporters including the Yurok Tribe," the Tribe stated.

"In the Enhanced Compliance Alternative, the second proposal, there are two possible protected areas within Yurok ancestral territory near Reading Rock and False Klamath Rock. At Reading Rock, there are two options before the Commission," the Tribe said.

The first, and current preferred alternative under the MLPA process, is an offshore State Marine Reserve (SMR) status that calls for zero human take of any marine species, according to the Tribe.

The second option is a State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) designation, both on and offshore, which would allow some commercial and recreational harvest, while authorizing access to Tribal members with a valid Tribal ID card.

The proposal also calls for a Seasonal Special Closure for False Klamath Rock. In this area there would be a 300-foot seasonal closure around the rock from March 1 to August 31 for avian nesting.

"Yurok people are a vital part of the marine ecosystem. Yurok Tribal members have traditionally harvested marine resources for subsistence or ceremony in a way that is culturally appropriate and completely since time immemorial," the Tribe stated.

Tribes organized direct action to defend rights

In 2010 and 2011, members of North Coast Indian Tribes organized direct action protests to defend traditional gathering rights.

In the most recent protest, members of the Yurok, Hoopa Valley, Karuk and other Tribes on June 18, 2011 gathered seaweed, mussels and clams at three beaches on the North Coast to protest proposed restrictions on coastal gathering proposed under the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative. The Tribal members, organized by the grassroots Klamath and Coastal Justice Coalitions, gathered at Patrick's Point State Park, Clam Beach and Wilson Creek Beach near Klamath.

"Our rights are not negotiable," said Hoopa Tribal Citizen Dania Rose Colegrove, an organizer for the Klamath Justice Coalition, who gathered seaweed and mussels along with 11 others at Patrick's Point. "The state of California, under the MLPA Initiative, is trying to make us into 'recreational users.' However, where we gather as Tribal members is none of their business."

To view a video of the 2011 protest, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

For more information, go to: http://klamathjustice.blogspot...

For more information on the North coast MLPA process, visit online at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/ mlpa/northcoast.asp.

Big oil lobbyist led South Coast MLPA panel

So-called "marine protected areas" created under the MLPA Initiative went are already in place on the Central Coast, North Central Coast and South Coast. The "marine protected areas" that went into effect in Southern California waters on January 1, 2012 were developed under the helm of a big oil lobbyist.

Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force that created "marine protected areas" that fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture, wind and wave energy projects and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.

Reheis-Boyd is a relentless advocate of offshore oil drilling, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the Keystone XL Pipeline and the evisceration of environmental laws. Besides chairing the South Coast MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force, she also served on the North Coast and North Central Coast panels.

On May 7, Secretary for Natural Resources John Laird and Director of Fish and Game Chuck Bonham announced that implementation of so-called "marine protected areas" in San Francisco Bay will be delayed until the completion of "planning efforts" for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta under the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2012/05/07/bay-mlpa-process-delayed-...)

The BDCP is a plan to build a peripheral canal or tunnel to export more Delta water to southern California and corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. A broad coalition of Delta residents, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, Indian Tribes, family farmers, grassroots environmentalists and elected officials is opposing the peripheral canal's construction because it would hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species and take vast areas of Delta farmland out of production under the guise of habitat "restoration."

In a statement today, Restore the Delta (RTD) questioned the influence of the "special interest funding" of Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) research supportive of the largest public works project in California history, the peripheral canal or tunnel - "a project the funder wants to build."

"Restore the Delta is alerting all interested Californians to the connection between PPIC and their funders for their ongoing series of water reports: the Stephen Bechtel Foundation and Resources Legacy Fund Foundation," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, RTD Executive Director. "For four years, funders with financial or political self-interest have continued to direct the PPIC conversation."

The peripheral canal or tunnel now being fast-tracked by Governor Jerry Brown is designed to export more Delta water to corporate agribusiness and Southern California water agencies, in spite of claims by canal advocates that the project would only ensure "water reliability." The export of more water through a canal would hasten the extinction of Central Valley chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species.

"According to PPIC's own findings, we are exporting 4/5 of Delta water to support .5% of the state's GDP - huge corporate farms in the Westlands and Kern County water districts. PPIC researchers argue that agricultural values would increase with a 'conveyance' because these farmers will move toward more high-end permanent crops," she stated.

Barrigan-Parrilla argued against the sacrifice of Delta farms and recreational and commercial fisheries to support only .5 percent of California's Gross Domestic Project (GDP).

"Is it worth destroying the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of the Americas to support .5% of the state's GDP? How does it make sense to sacrifice prime Delta agriculture, which is roughly equivalent economically with Westlands, to perpetuate subsidized water for unsustainable farming on ill-suited lands?" she asked.

"Beyond losing Delta agriculture, the Peripheral Canal/Tunnel would grievously harm the California recreational and commercial fishing industry. Does it make sense for everyone else in the state to support a project that will subsidize .5% of the state's GDP with close to 80% of the water?" said Barrigan-Parrilla.

However, she said RTD does agree with PPIC's call for a cost-benefit analysis for a Peripheral Canal/Tunnel "to determine which strategy is best for the economy, the net costs of new conveyance need to be compared to the net costs of implementing alternatives with reduced exports.

For my analysis of the PPIC report, go to: http://blogs.alternet.org/danb...

For the complete PPIC report, "Water and the California economy," go to: http://www.ppic.org/main/publi...

Restore the Delta is a grassroots campaign committed to making the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta fishable, swimmable, drinkable, and farmable to benefit all of California. Restore the Delta works to improve water quality so that fisheries and farming can thrive together again in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. For more information about Restore the Delta, go to http://www.restorethedelta.org.

Bechtel's history of environmental destruction

Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr., who ran the Bechtel Corporation for 30 years, is the chair of the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation that funded "Water and the California economy" and previous PPIC reports promoting "new conveyance" as the solution to California's water supply problems.

The Bechtel Corporation is a leading advocate throughout the world of the privatization of public water systems. It was Bechtel that sued the country of Bolivia for canceling a contract there sponsored by the World Bank.

A CorpWatch report, "Profiting from Destruction," provides case studies from Bechtel's history of operating in the water, nuclear, energy and public works sectors. These case studies reveal a legacy of unsustainable and destructive practices that have reaped permanent human, environmental and community devastation around the globe.

Letters from "Bechtel affected communities" included in the report provide first-hand descriptions of these impacts, from Bolivia to Native American lands in Nevada. The report reveals "a 100-year history spent capitalizing on the most brutal technologies, reaping immense profits and ignoring the social and environmental costs." For more information, go to http://www.corpwatch.org/artic...

Another CorpWatch report, http://www.corpwatch.org/artic... details "Bechtel's Water Wars" in Bolivia. Fortunately, the people of Cochabama rebelled against Bechtel's scheme to privatize their water system and won.

Hopefully, the people of California, like the people of Cochabama, will rise up against the plan by the Brown and Obama administrations to "save" the Delta by draining it.

Resources Legacy plays big role in corporate greenwashing

It is worth noting that the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, in addition to funding studies promoting the construction of the peripheral canal, also funded the controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative to create so-called "marine protected areas" on the California Coast.

Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association and a relentless advocate for offshore oil drillling, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the Keystone XL Pipeline and the evisceration of environmental laws, chaired the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force that created the questionable "marine protected areas" that went into effect in Southern California waters on January 1, 2012. She also served on the task forces for the North Central Coast and North Coast.

These "marine protected areas" fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture, wind and wave energy projects and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering. The MLPA Initiative represents a classic case of privately-funded corporate greenwashing.  

Happy Camp, CA - On June 1, the Karuk Tribe released a report entitled "Groundwater Conditions in Scott Valley" documenting the depletion of Scott River flows by groundwater pumping.

S. S. Popadopolous and Associates, a prominent environmental engineering firm, prepared the report under contract with the Tribe. The Scott River is a major tributary of the Klamath River.

The results show that as groundwater pumping has increased in Scott Valley over the years, stream flows have decreased. "We believe that this will have a critical effect on all natural resources," explained Karuk Chairman Buster Attebery.

The Tribe said the report is based on "extensive data presently available in the public record," including over 1,000 well logs, soil and geologic data, groundwater elevations, well tests, high-resolution land surface elevation data, crop and riparian vegetation mapping, climatological data and stream gage records.

As part of this work, a high-resolution groundwater model of the Scott Valley has been prepared, suitable for characterization of valley-wide groundwater conditions and groundwater/surface-water interactions.

"The report shows that unregulated groundwater use is a key factor in the decline of one of the Klamath's most important salmon streams," according to the Tribe.

Some groundwater use in the Valley is regulated pursuant to the 1980 Scott Valley adjudication. However, the adjudication only applies to groundwater users within a limited area near the river channel referred to as the 'interconnected zone.'

"Outside the interconnected zone, groundwater users are free to pump all the water they wish," the Tribe stated. "The overwhelming majority of wells drilled since 1980 have been placed outside this interconnected zone. The report shows that the interconnected zone is drawn too small such that much of the use in the Valley is not considered by the adjudication."

Since 1980, the number of wells has steadily increased. There were 99 irrigation wells in 1979; 130 irrigation wells by 1999; and 172 irrigation wells as of 2010. In all there are nearly 800 wells in Scott Valley.

"We support Siskiyou County's agricultural economy, but we have to find a better balance between agriculture and fisheries so we can all thrive economically and culturally," said Attebery.

The Tribe hopes to work with local, state, and federal agencies as well as landowners to put the Groundwater Model to good use. The model can be used as tool to evaluate restoration ideas to determine what actions address the problem of impaired stream flows.

"We want to hear ideas that we can evaluate using this new ground water model," said Attebery. "Can we solve this problem by recharging groundwater stores with off channel reservoirs or beaver ponds? Do we need a shorter irrigation season? We don't know the answers to all these questions yet but that's the next step and this model is a good tool for answering such questions."

The Scott River has been the frequent scene of coho salmon strandings in disconnected pools in the summer when the river dries up. More than a thousand ESA-listed coho were reportedly "rescued" from dewatered creeks feeding the Scott river by California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) personnel in July 2011, according to the Klamath Riverkeeper.

The agency transferred the stressed baby salmon into the nearby mainstem Scott River. More than 1,500 coho were transported out of disconnected pools up Kidder Creek July 25 and 26, according to the Yreka CDFG Senior Scientist Mark Pisano.

The Tribe plans to set up a technical work group made up of fisheries and hydrology experts, including local input, to develop a list of potential restoration actions that can be evaluated with the model. The idea is to develop a restoration plan for the Scott that allows for a sustainable fishery and healthy farm economy for the area.

The report and an executive summary can be found at: http://www.karuk.us/karuk2/dep...

Happy Camp, CA - On June 1, the Karuk Tribe released a report entitled "Groundwater Conditions in Scott Valley" documenting the depletion of Scott River flows by groundwater pumping.

S. S. Popadopolous and Associates, a prominent environmental engineering firm, prepared the report under contract with the Tribe. The Scott River is a major tributary of the Klamath River.

The results show that as groundwater pumping has increased in Scott Valley over the years, stream flows have decreased. "We believe that this will have a critical effect on all natural resources," explained Karuk Chairman Buster Attebery.

The Tribe said the report is based on "extensive data presently available in the public record," including over 1,000 well logs, soil and geologic data, groundwater elevations, well tests, high-resolution land surface elevation data, crop and riparian vegetation mapping, climatological data and stream gage records.

As part of this work, a high-resolution groundwater model of the Scott Valley has been prepared, suitable for characterization of valley-wide groundwater conditions and groundwater/surface-water interactions.

"The report shows that unregulated groundwater use is a key factor in the decline of one of the Klamath's most important salmon streams," according to the Tribe.

Some groundwater use in the Valley is regulated pursuant to the 1980 Scott Valley adjudication. However, the adjudication only applies to groundwater users within a limited area near the river channel referred to as the 'interconnected zone.'

"Outside the interconnected zone, groundwater users are free to pump all the water they wish," the Tribe stated. "The overwhelming majority of wells drilled since 1980 have been placed outside this interconnected zone. The report shows that the interconnected zone is drawn too small such that much of the use in the Valley is not considered by the adjudication."

Since 1980, the number of wells has steadily increased. There were 99 irrigation wells in 1979; 130 irrigation wells by 1999; and 172 irrigation wells as of 2010. In all there are nearly 800 wells in Scott Valley.

"We support Siskiyou County's agricultural economy, but we have to find a better balance between agriculture and fisheries so we can all thrive economically and culturally," said Attebery.

The Tribe hopes to work with local, state, and federal agencies as well as landowners to put the Groundwater Model to good use. The model can be used as tool to evaluate restoration ideas to determine what actions address the problem of impaired stream flows.

"We want to hear ideas that we can evaluate using this new ground water model," said Attebery. "Can we solve this problem by recharging groundwater stores with off channel reservoirs or beaver ponds? Do we need a shorter irrigation season? We don't know the answers to all these questions yet but that's the next step and this model is a good tool for answering such questions."

The Scott River has been the frequent scene of coho salmon strandings in disconnected pools in the summer when the river dries up. More than a thousand ESA-listed coho were reportedly "rescued" from dewatered creeks feeding the Scott river by California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) personnel in July 2011, according to the Klamath Riverkeeper.

The agency transferred the stressed baby salmon into the nearby mainstem Scott River. More than 1,500 coho were transported out of disconnected pools up Kidder Creek July 25 and 26, according to the Yreka CDFG Senior Scientist Mark Pisano.

The Tribe plans to set up a technical work group made up of fisheries and hydrology experts, including local input, to develop a list of potential restoration actions that can be evaluated with the model. The idea is to develop a restoration plan for the Scott that allows for a sustainable fishery and healthy farm economy for the area.

The report and an executive summary can be found at: http://www.karuk.us/karuk2/dep...

The Bureau of Reclamation announced Friday that it will close both gates on the Delta Cross Channel on Monday, June 4 for a period of 10 to 14 days to make repairs, a move welcomed by the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) and other salmon advocates.

Pete Lucero, Bureau spokesman, said the closure was necessary to repair a mechanical problem that occurred when operators attempted to close the gates on May 29.

"Engineers will close the gates beginning at about 5 p.m. on Monday," said Lucero. "The public is being asked to avoid the gate area, located in Walnut Grove, California, during the closure process that may take longer than usual. Reclamation will provide information on the status of the repair and gate operations as the information becomes available."

Golden Gate Salmon Association President Victor Gonella responded to the closure by stating, "The GGSA is glad the Cross Channel Gates will be closed for 10 to 14 days because baby fall run king salmon are currently migrating from the Sacramento River to the ocean."

"When the gates are open, these baby salmon are sucked off their natural migration course and most die," said Gonella. "State and federal authorities should give serious consideration to keeping these gates closed until mid-June every year to rebuild the commercially valuable fall run salmon."

In 2011, GGSA convinced the Bureau of Reclamation to close the Delta cross channel gates for ten days to allow adult salmon to reach the Mokelumne River spawning areas and the hatchery. The gates closed in October of 2011 and the returns were an all time record.

A total of 18,596 Chinook salmon were recorded passing Woodbridge Irrigation District Dam between August 1, 2011 and January 21, 2012. "The 2011 escapement estimate continues three years of increased returns to the Mokelumne River and projected returns for 2012 are expected to be even better," according to the East Bay Municipal Utility District.

The Delta Cross Channel, a feature of Reclamation's Central Valley Project Delta Division, is used to divert Sacramento River water into a branch of the Mokelumne River.

"The gates are normally raised on weekends for passage of boats but the closure is expected to affect only the weekend of June 9-10," said Lucero.

Central Valley fall Chinook salmon populations crashed to record low levels in 2008 and 2009, due to a combination of poor ocean conditions, record water exports out of the California to corporate agribusiness and southern California and other factors.

However, both hatchery and naturally spawning populations of fall run Chinooks have rebounded since then, due to a combination of improved ocean conditions, higher flows down the rivers, improved salmon trucking and hatchery release practices and the ten day closure of the Cross Channel gates in October 2011.

Meanwhile, the Brown administration is fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal or tunnel to increased water exports to subsidized agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. If constructed, the canal will hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species.

For additional information on the channel, please visit Reclamation's Central Valley Operation Office website at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvo.

The Bureau of Reclamation announced Friday that it will close both gates on the Delta Cross Channel on Monday, June 4 for a period of 10 to 14 days to make repairs, a move welcomed by the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) and other salmon advocates.

Pete Lucero, Bureau spokesman, said the closure was necessary to repair a mechanical problem that occurred when operators attempted to close the gates on May 29.

"Engineers will close the gates beginning at about 5 p.m. on Monday," said Lucero. "The public is being asked to avoid the gate area, located in Walnut Grove, California, during the closure process that may take longer than usual. Reclamation will provide information on the status of the repair and gate operations as the information becomes available."

Golden Gate Salmon Association President Victor Gonella responded to the closure by stating, "The GGSA is glad the Cross Channel Gates will be closed for 10 to 14 days because baby fall run king salmon are currently migrating from the Sacramento River to the ocean."

"When the gates are open, these baby salmon are sucked off their natural migration course and most die," said Gonella. "State and federal authorities should give serious consideration to keeping these gates closed until mid-June every year to rebuild the commercially valuable fall run salmon."

In 2011, GGSA convinced the Bureau of Reclamation to close the Delta cross channel gates for ten days to allow adult salmon to reach the Mokelumne River spawning areas and the hatchery. The gates closed in October of 2011 and the returns were an all time record.

A total of 18,596 Chinook salmon were recorded passing Woodbridge Irrigation District Dam between August 1, 2011 and January 21, 2012. "The 2011 escapement estimate continues three years of increased returns to the Mokelumne River and projected returns for 2012 are expected to be even better," according to the East Bay Municipal Utility District.

The Delta Cross Channel, a feature of Reclamation's Central Valley Project Delta Division, is used to divert Sacramento River water into a branch of the Mokelumne River.

"The gates are normally raised on weekends for passage of boats but the closure is expected to affect only the weekend of June 9-10," said Lucero.

Central Valley fall Chinook salmon populations crashed to record low levels in 2008 and 2009, due to a combination of poor ocean conditions, record water exports out of the California to corporate agribusiness and southern California and other factors.

However, both hatchery and naturally spawning populations of fall run Chinooks have rebounded since then, due to a combination of improved ocean conditions, higher flows down the rivers, improved salmon trucking and hatchery release practices and the ten day closure of the Cross Channel gates in October 2011.

Meanwhile, the Brown administration is fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal or tunnel to increased water exports to subsidized agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. If constructed, the canal will hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species.

For additional information on the channel, please visit Reclamation's Central Valley Operation Office website at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvo.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, on May 29 reported on the "latest shenanigans" in Governor Jerry Brown's campaign to build the peripheral canal or tunnel to export more Delta water to corporate agribusiness and Southern California - and to drain the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.

"By now, we all know that Governor Brown will soon announce a plan to build a tunnel under the Delta and worry about habitat later," said Barrigan-Parrilla. "The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), on which $250 million has already been spent, is trailing along behind, with the document itself and an environmental impact report to be published in September."

She said the Metropolitan Water District staff told the MWD board that choice of whether to build a canal, and how big, was going to have to be a policy decision made by Brown, Resources Secretary John Laird, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

"They said the science was just too uncertain: How can we know what the environment will look like in 12 years?" noted Barrigan Parrilla.

She countered that we actually do have a "pretty good" idea of how much water the Delta will need.

"Almost 2 years ago, in July 2010, the Water Board published flow criteria for healthy habitat for fish. Exporters just don't like what the Water Board recommended," she quipped.

Commission supports Brown propose to make DSC a state agency

In more bad news for the Delta, the Little Hoover Commission recommended that the Legislature approve Governor Brown's proposal to move the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) under the umbrella of the Natural Resources Agency. "They call for preserving the independence and credibility of the DSC, but the change will make it just another state agency," said Barrigan-Parrilla.

Then on May 25, Assembly member Bill Berryhill's bill sensibly calling for an independent cost-benefit analysis of the tunnel project failed to clear the Assembly Appropriations Committee, under pressure by corporate agribusiness and Southern California water agencies.

"That's probably because the chair of the Appropriations Committee is Southern California Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes," she said. "Nothing gets out of Appropriations if the Chair doesn't put it forward."

No Surprise: The final draft of the Delta Plan is missing language requested by in-Delta interests that would allow Delta reclamation districts to continue maintaining Delta levees without being subject to "covered actions" requirements.

"When this omission was called to their attention, staff agreed to put the language in, but only for levee maintenance at the most basic level. No real improvements are allowed," said Barrigan-Parrilla.

Finally, at a Delta Science Program Brown Bag lunch meeting last week, Dr. Adrian Vogl of the Natural Capital Project at The Nature Conservancy, a corporate "environmental" NGO that steadfastly backs the canal and other adventures in greenwashing, made a presentation on prioritizing conservation and assessing trade-offs in ecosystem services across landscapes.

"This is done with modeling, and it could be used against farming and for fallowing or habitat. So we'll need to keep an eye on that," said Barrigan-Parrilla.

Bechtel Foundation funds yet another PPIC water event

Barrigan-Parrilla also reported on two upcoming events regarding the Delta and California water.

On June 5, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) will hold one of its periodic "Ask-the-Folks-Who'll-Give-You-the-Answers-You-Want" events funded by S. D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation. The event coincides with the release of a new report, Water and the California Economy.

The Bechtel Foundation, along with the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, has funded many of the PPIC's past studies promoting the construction of a peripheral canal or tunnel. Resources Legacy and the Packard Foundation are also the main funders of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative to create questionable "marine protected areas" along the California coast.

Included on the agenda are Reducing Vulnerability to Water Supply Interruptions, Improving Flexibility through Water Marketing and Banking (with a panelist from Paramount Farming Company, owned by billionaire agribusiness tycoon Stewart Resnick), and Filling Funding Gaps.

And on June 6, Barrigan-Parrilla said the Delta Vision Foundations will release its 2012 "Delta Vision Report Card" and present it at a meeting at the California Chamber of Commerce in Sacramento. The event starts at 9:30 a.m., and there will be a panel discussion with State and Federal agencies and stakeholders from 10:00 to noon.

"It will be interesting to see what the Delta Vision Foundation thinks about the way things are unfolding," she commented.

For more information, go to http://www.restorethedelta.org

Salmon Water Now begins new video series on canal

The persistent push to build a peripheral canal continues to amaze.

"Why? Because In spite of California's budget mess, the Brown administration seems intent on going forward with the plan to move the Sacramento River around the Delta," said Bruce Tokars of Salmon Water Now. "It would be a massive engineering project estimated to cost $14 to $40 billion dollars."

Reason & Realties (5:35) is the first video in a continuing series on the Peripheral Canal from Salmon Water Now.

"There is a growing understanding that the project is bad for the environment and bad for California's fiscal health," said Tokars. "We'll leave it to those who think it's a good idea to try and justify it. There are good reasons why voters, decades ago, refused to fund and build a peripheral canal."

This video looks at the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), which has become the method to make the Peripheral Canal a reality. "We include a few short clips from a 1982 Metropolitan Water District slide show in support of a YES vote for the canal, as an added bonus," he stated.

"It's time be reasonable about California's water challenges, and fiscal realities. We're going to keep using video to make the case," Tokars concluded.

Here's the first one:

Reasons & Realities (5:35)

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/42892191

http://www.salmonwaternow.org

Resnicks contributed $99,000 to Jerry Brown's campaign

It is no surprise that Brown is pushing so hard for the construction of the canal, since one of Brown's biggest campaign contributors is Stewart Resnick, the Beverly Hills billionaire agribusiness tycoon who owns Paramount Farms in Kern County.

Resnick is a big advocate of the canal and increased water exports from the Delta - and has waged a relentless campaign to exterminate striped bass and to eviscerate Endangered Species Act protections for Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other species. Resnick is notorious for selling subsidized water back to the public at a tidy profit.

Resnick and his wife Lynda contributed $99,000 to Jerry Brown's 2010 campaign (http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/brown-and-whitmans-contributions-...).

"It's ironic that the Resnicks, among California's wealthiest 1 percent, contributed $99,000, since it's the 99 percent that will pay for the peripheral canal," said Adam Scow, California Campaigns Director at Food & Water Watch.

The Resnicks are known not only for their inordinate influence over California water politics, but their deceptive business practices. An administrative law judge recently upheld a Federal Trade Commission ruling that the Resnicks engaged in deceptive claims promoting pomegranate benefits.

The FTC ruled that POM Wonderful LLC, its sister corporation Roll Global LLC, and principals Stewart Resnick, Lynda Resnick, and Matthew Tupper violated federal law by making deceptive claims in some advertisements that their POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice and POMx supplements "would treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction."(http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=21104

For more information on the Resnicks' contributions to political campaigns, go to: http://blogs.alternet.org/danb...  

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, on May 29 reported on the "latest shenanigans" in Governor Jerry Brown's campaign to build the peripheral canal or tunnel to export more Delta water to corporate agribusiness and Southern California - and to drain the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.

"By now, we all know that Governor Brown will soon announce a plan to build a tunnel under the Delta and worry about habitat later," said Barrigan-Parrilla. "The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), on which $250 million has already been spent, is trailing along behind, with the document itself and an environmental impact report to be published in September."

She said the Metropolitan Water District staff told the MWD board that choice of whether to build a canal, and how big, was going to have to be a policy decision made by Brown, Resources Secretary John Laird, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

"They said the science was just too uncertain: How can we know what the environment will look like in 12 years?" noted Barrigan Parrilla.

She countered that we actually do have a "pretty good" idea of how much water the Delta will need.

"Almost 2 years ago, in July 2010, the Water Board published flow criteria for healthy habitat for fish. Exporters just don't like what the Water Board recommended," she quipped.

Commission supports Brown propose to make DSC a state agency

In more bad news for the Delta, the Little Hoover Commission recommended that the Legislature approve Governor Brown's proposal to move the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) under the umbrella of the Natural Resources Agency. "They call for preserving the independence and credibility of the DSC, but the change will make it just another state agency," said Barrigan-Parrilla.

Then on May 25, Assembly member Bill Berryhill's bill sensibly calling for an independent cost-benefit analysis of the tunnel project failed to clear the Assembly Appropriations Committee, under pressure by corporate agribusiness and Southern California water agencies.

"That's probably because the chair of the Appropriations Committee is Southern California Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes," she said. "Nothing gets out of Appropriations if the Chair doesn't put it forward."

No Surprise: The final draft of the Delta Plan is missing language requested by in-Delta interests that would allow Delta reclamation districts to continue maintaining Delta levees without being subject to "covered actions" requirements.

"When this omission was called to their attention, staff agreed to put the language in, but only for levee maintenance at the most basic level. No real improvements are allowed," said Barrigan-Parrilla.

Finally, at a Delta Science Program Brown Bag lunch meeting last week, Dr. Adrian Vogl of the Natural Capital Project at The Nature Conservancy, a corporate "environmental" NGO that steadfastly backs the canal and other adventures in greenwashing, made a presentation on prioritizing conservation and assessing trade-offs in ecosystem services across landscapes.

"This is done with modeling, and it could be used against farming and for fallowing or habitat. So we'll need to keep an eye on that," said Barrigan-Parrilla.

Bechtel Foundation funds yet another PPIC water event

Barrigan-Parrilla also reported on two upcoming events regarding the Delta and California water.

On June 5, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) will hold one of its periodic "Ask-the-Folks-Who'll-Give-You-the-Answers-You-Want" events funded by S. D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation. The event coincides with the release of a new report, Water and the California Economy.

The Bechtel Foundation, along with the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, has funded many of the PPIC's past studies promoting the construction of a peripheral canal or tunnel. Resources Legacy and the Packard Foundation are also the main funders of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative to create questionable "marine protected areas" along the California coast.

Included on the agenda are Reducing Vulnerability to Water Supply Interruptions, Improving Flexibility through Water Marketing and Banking (with a panelist from Paramount Farming Company, owned by billionaire agribusiness tycoon Stewart Resnick), and Filling Funding Gaps.

And on June 6, Barrigan-Parrilla said the Delta Vision Foundations will release its 2012 "Delta Vision Report Card" and present it at a meeting at the California Chamber of Commerce in Sacramento. The event starts at 9:30 a.m., and there will be a panel discussion with State and Federal agencies and stakeholders from 10:00 to noon.

"It will be interesting to see what the Delta Vision Foundation thinks about the way things are unfolding," she commented.

For more information, go to http://www.restorethedelta.org

Salmon Water Now begins new video series on canal

The persistent push to build a peripheral canal continues to amaze.

"Why? Because In spite of California's budget mess, the Brown administration seems intent on going forward with the plan to move the Sacramento River around the Delta," said Bruce Tokars of Salmon Water Now. "It would be a massive engineering project estimated to cost $14 to $40 billion dollars."

Reason & Realties (5:35) is the first video in a continuing series on the Peripheral Canal from Salmon Water Now.

"There is a growing understanding that the project is bad for the environment and bad for California's fiscal health," said Tokars. "We'll leave it to those who think it's a good idea to try and justify it. There are good reasons why voters, decades ago, refused to fund and build a peripheral canal."

This video looks at the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), which has become the method to make the Peripheral Canal a reality. "We include a few short clips from a 1982 Metropolitan Water District slide show in support of a YES vote for the canal, as an added bonus," he stated.

"It's time be reasonable about California's water challenges, and fiscal realities. We're going to keep using video to make the case," Tokars concluded.

Here's the first one:

Reasons & Realities (5:35)

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/42892191

http://www.salmonwaternow.org

Resnicks contributed $99,000 to Jerry Brown's campaign

It is no surprise that Brown is pushing so hard for the construction of the canal, since one of Brown's biggest campaign contributors is Stewart Resnick, the Beverly Hills billionaire agribusiness tycoon who owns Paramount Farms in Kern County.

Resnick is a big advocate of the canal and increased water exports from the Delta - and has waged a relentless campaign to exterminate striped bass and to eviscerate Endangered Species Act protections for Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other species. Resnick is notorious for selling subsidized water back to the public at a tidy profit.

Resnick and his wife Lynda contributed $99,000 to Jerry Brown's 2010 campaign (http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/brown-and-whitmans-contributions-...).

"It's ironic that the Resnicks, among California's wealthiest 1 percent, contributed $99,000, since it's the 99 percent that will pay for the peripheral canal," said Adam Scow, California Campaigns Director at Food & Water Watch.

The Resnicks are known not only for their inordinate influence over California water politics, but their deceptive business practices. An administrative law judge recently upheld a Federal Trade Commission ruling that the Resnicks engaged in deceptive claims promoting pomegranate benefits.

The FTC ruled that POM Wonderful LLC, its sister corporation Roll Global LLC, and principals Stewart Resnick, Lynda Resnick, and Matthew Tupper violated federal law by making deceptive claims in some advertisements that their POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice and POMx supplements "would treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction."(http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=21104

For more information on the Resnicks' contributions to political campaigns, go to: http://blogs.alternet.org/danb...  

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) has released a new report, "Water and the California Economy" that, like previous reports by the institute, touts new conveyance - the peripheral canal or tunnel - as a "solution" to providing "water reliability" in California.

And like previous reports, the study was funded by the Stephen D. Bechtel Foundation. Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. ran the Bechtel Corporation for 30 years. He is the son of Stephen David Bechtel, Sr. and grandson of Warren A. Bechtel who founded the Bechtel Corporation, the largest engineering firm in the United States.

However, the report authors appears to be backing off a bit from previous outright endorsements of the canal by pointing out the increased costs now estimated to build "new conveyance" and the reluctance of the water contractors to pay for the project.

According to Dr. Jeffrey Michael, Director of the Business Forecasting Center and Associate Professor, Eberhardt School of Business, University of the Pacific, "They have brought in some very solid new economists that were not part of their earlier reports, and they acknowledge that some key facts have changed since their 2008/2010 report endorsing a peripheral canal that I have criticized so much over the years."

"Most importantly, these facts include the ever increasing cost of new conveyance, as well as better understanding of the real costs of earthquake interruptions, and an increasing understanding that urban water demand is declining due to the combination of conservation and slower growth," stated Michael. (http://valleyecon.blogspot.com/2012/05/first-impression-of-new-ppic-wate...).

"This report contains no statement that a peripheral canal or tunnel is the best choice for California's economy, a statement that has headlined previous PPIC reports written by the smaller UC-Davis based group. In fact, it even has a more accurate statement of the what the previous PPIC/Davis studies actually found (see page 15)," said Michael.

"It's good," said Michael. "Really, I mean it."

I wouldn't go that far. The section of the report touting the canal or tunnel still repeats the inaccurate, unsubstantiated claims that conveyance could provide greater water reliability, protection from a "catastrophic supply disruption," and ecosystem restoration. For a detailed response by Delta advocates to these false claims, see: http://blogs.alternet.org/danb...

The report states: "Highly unreliable water supplies can pose significant long-term threats to California's economy by limiting new growth and investment. The biggest single source of unreliability in California today is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, given its importance as a supply source for large parts of the state.

Steps must be taken now to reduce supply risk in the near term and into the future. In the near term, efforts are needed to build more resiliency into the system to reduce the costs of a catastrophic supply disruption. For the longer term, it is essential to make a decision about new conveyance.

Past PPIC research has shown that a peripheral canal would be the "best" option to meet the "coequal goals" of water supply reliability and ecosystem health (Lund et al. 2010)."

Cost estimates have increased significantly

The report notes that, "Today, options have multiplied-from a canal to a tunnel to two tunnels-and cost estimates have increased significantly.

"In 2008, official estimates for new aboveground conveyance ranged from $4 billion to $9 billion (California Department of Water Resources 2008). By 2012, as attention has shifted to building tunnels, cost estimates have increased to roughly $14 billion-not including the costs of financing and added operational expenses."

The new report asks the question: 'With cost estimates growing, the question arises: Are the benefits of new conveyance great enough to justify the expense? The answer depends partly on the environmental benefits this solution could provide."

Unfortunately, the authors continue to tout the alleged "advantages" of "new conveyance" to the ecosystem and "native species."

"Routing water exports under or around the Delta would make it possible to manage Delta flows in ways that more closely approximate the natural, more variable patterns that existed before the large water export projects came online (Moyle and Bennett 2008; Fleenor et al. 2010).

Such changes, along with expanded seasonal floodplain and tidal marsh habitat and other improvements, could make the Delta more hospitable for native species now in distress. Ecosystem investments could constitute a significant share of the total costs of a new management plan for the Delta-the Bay Delta Conservation Plan estimates that environmental mitigation, including capital and operating costs, could range from $4.7 to $6.2 billion (BDCP Steering Committee 2010)."

While continuing to claim that "New conveyance would provide more reliable, higher quality exports from the Delta," the authors note that "some water users may find it too costly. High-level state leadership will be essential to broker any new conveyance deal, because the various stakeholders are having difficulty finding common ground."

Why build conveyance if urban economies could adjust to taking less or no water from Delta?

The PPIC authors then admit that California urban economies could adjust to taking far less water - or "even no water at all" from the Delta.

"In any event, it will take at least a decade before any new conveyance comes online. This means that agencies will need to pursue alternative strategies to make their systems more resilient in the face of Delta pumping shutdowns and regulatory cutbacks. These alternatives include expanding reliance on local water sources (through conservation, recycling, desalination, stormwater capture) and water marketing. Past PPIC research has also shown that with planning and appropriate investments in alternatives, California's urban economies could adjust to taking far less water-or even no water at all-from the Delta."

Regardless of how much "conveyance" advocates try to greenwash the construction of the peripheral canal, there is no doubt that once a canal or tunnel is built, the state water contractors would export more water - not less or the same amount of water - from the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.

The export of more Delta water would hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species, according to agency and independent scientists alike. It would lead to the destruction of economically valuable recreational and commercial fisheries.

Yet the Brown administration remains committed to build the canal or tunnel. In a series of phone conversations with Delta local county representatives and environmental groups, the California Natural Resources Agency, headed by Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, is announcing a framework based on "decision trees" that will determine how much flow and habitat is needed in the Delta over a fifteen year evaluation period after the project is under construction, according to a news release from Restore the Delta and Food & Water Watch (http://www.restorethedelta.org/1852).

"It's outrageous to go ahead and try to build a Peripheral Canal and say you will decide how to operate it and address the problems it causes afterwards," said Bill Jennings, Executive Director of California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. "A peripheral canal or tunnel will kill striped bass, salmon, Delta and longfin smelt and other fish. The striped bass, like salmon and Delta smelt, will be sacrificed on the altar of massive and unwise water exports. The administration's actions would result in declining water quality and would be colossal mismanagement by the state and federal government."

Bechtel's history of environmental destruction

Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr., who ran the Bechtel Corporation for 30 years, funded this and previous reports promoting "new conveyance" as the solution to California's water supply problems.

The Bechtel Corporation, notorious for its role in the "reconstruction" of Iraq, is a leading advocate throughout the world of the privatization of water systems. It was Bechtel that sued the country of Bolivia for canceling a contract there sponsored by the World Bank.

A CorpWatch report, "Profiting from Destruction," provides case studies from Bechtel's history of operating in the water, nuclear, energy and public works sectors. These case studies reveal a legacy of unsustainable and destructive practices that have reaped permanent human, environmental and community devastation around the globe.

Letters from "Bechtel affected communities" included in the report provide first-hand descriptions of these impacts, from Bolivia to Native American lands in Nevada. The report reveals "a 100-year history spent capitalizing on the most brutal technologies, reaping immense profits and ignoring the social and environmental costs." For more information, go to http://www.corpwatch.org/artic...

Another CorpWatch report, http://www.corpwatch.org/artic... details "Bechtel's Water Wars" in Bolivia. Fortunately, the people of Cochabama rebelled against Bechtel's scheme to privatize their water system and won.

Hopefully, the people of California, like the people of Cochabama, will rise up against the plan by the Brown and Obama administrations to "save" the Delta by draining it.

For the complete PPIC report, go to: http://www.ppic.org/main/publi...  

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) has released a new report, "Water and the California Economy" that, like previous reports by the institute, touts new conveyance - the peripheral canal or tunnel - as a "solution" to providing "water reliability" in California.

And like previous reports, the study was funded by the Stephen D. Bechtel Foundation. Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. ran the Bechtel Corporation for 30 years. He is the son of Stephen David Bechtel, Sr. and grandson of Warren A. Bechtel who founded the Bechtel Corporation, the largest engineering firm in the United States.

However, the report authors appears to be backing off a bit from previous outright endorsements of the canal by pointing out the increased costs now estimated to build "new conveyance" and the reluctance of the water contractors to pay for the project.

According to Dr. Jeffrey Michael, Director of the Business Forecasting Center and Associate Professor, Eberhardt School of Business, University of the Pacific, "They have brought in some very solid new economists that were not part of their earlier reports, and they acknowledge that some key facts have changed since their 2008/2010 report endorsing a peripheral canal that I have criticized so much over the years."

"Most importantly, these facts include the ever increasing cost of new conveyance, as well as better understanding of the real costs of earthquake interruptions, and an increasing understanding that urban water demand is declining due to the combination of conservation and slower growth," stated Michael. (http://valleyecon.blogspot.com/2012/05/first-impression-of-new-ppic-wate...).

"This report contains no statement that a peripheral canal or tunnel is the best choice for California's economy, a statement that has headlined previous PPIC reports written by the smaller UC-Davis based group. In fact, it even has a more accurate statement of the what the previous PPIC/Davis studies actually found (see page 15)," said Michael.

"It's good," said Michael. "Really, I mean it."

I wouldn't go that far. The section of the report touting the canal or tunnel still repeats the inaccurate, unsubstantiated claims that conveyance could provide greater water reliability, protection from a "catastrophic supply disruption," and ecosystem restoration. For a detailed response by Delta advocates to these false claims, see: http://blogs.alternet.org/danb...

The report states: "Highly unreliable water supplies can pose significant long-term threats to California's economy by limiting new growth and investment. The biggest single source of unreliability in California today is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, given its importance as a supply source for large parts of the state.

Steps must be taken now to reduce supply risk in the near term and into the future. In the near term, efforts are needed to build more resiliency into the system to reduce the costs of a catastrophic supply disruption. For the longer term, it is essential to make a decision about new conveyance.

Past PPIC research has shown that a peripheral canal would be the "best" option to meet the "coequal goals" of water supply reliability and ecosystem health (Lund et al. 2010)."

Cost estimates have increased significantly

The report notes that, "Today, options have multiplied-from a canal to a tunnel to two tunnels-and cost estimates have increased significantly.

"In 2008, official estimates for new aboveground conveyance ranged from $4 billion to $9 billion (California Department of Water Resources 2008). By 2012, as attention has shifted to building tunnels, cost estimates have increased to roughly $14 billion-not including the costs of financing and added operational expenses."

The new report asks the question: 'With cost estimates growing, the question arises: Are the benefits of new conveyance great enough to justify the expense? The answer depends partly on the environmental benefits this solution could provide."

Unfortunately, the authors continue to tout the alleged "advantages" of "new conveyance" to the ecosystem and "native species."

"Routing water exports under or around the Delta would make it possible to manage Delta flows in ways that more closely approximate the natural, more variable patterns that existed before the large water export projects came online (Moyle and Bennett 2008; Fleenor et al. 2010).

Such changes, along with expanded seasonal floodplain and tidal marsh habitat and other improvements, could make the Delta more hospitable for native species now in distress. Ecosystem investments could constitute a significant share of the total costs of a new management plan for the Delta-the Bay Delta Conservation Plan estimates that environmental mitigation, including capital and operating costs, could range from $4.7 to $6.2 billion (BDCP Steering Committee 2010)."

While continuing to claim that "New conveyance would provide more reliable, higher quality exports from the Delta," the authors note that "some water users may find it too costly. High-level state leadership will be essential to broker any new conveyance deal, because the various stakeholders are having difficulty finding common ground."

Why build conveyance if urban economies could adjust to taking less or no water from Delta?

The PPIC authors then admit that California urban economies could adjust to taking far less water - or "even no water at all" from the Delta.

"In any event, it will take at least a decade before any new conveyance comes online. This means that agencies will need to pursue alternative strategies to make their systems more resilient in the face of Delta pumping shutdowns and regulatory cutbacks. These alternatives include expanding reliance on local water sources (through conservation, recycling, desalination, stormwater capture) and water marketing. Past PPIC research has also shown that with planning and appropriate investments in alternatives, California's urban economies could adjust to taking far less water-or even no water at all-from the Delta."

Regardless of how much "conveyance" advocates try to greenwash the construction of the peripheral canal, there is no doubt that once a canal or tunnel is built, the state water contractors would export more water - not less or the same amount of water - from the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.

The export of more Delta water would hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species, according to agency and independent scientists alike. It would lead to the destruction of economically valuable recreational and commercial fisheries.

Yet the Brown administration remains committed to build the canal or tunnel. In a series of phone conversations with Delta local county representatives and environmental groups, the California Natural Resources Agency, headed by Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, is announcing a framework based on "decision trees" that will determine how much flow and habitat is needed in the Delta over a fifteen year evaluation period after the project is under construction, according to a news release from Restore the Delta and Food & Water Watch (http://www.restorethedelta.org/1852).

"It's outrageous to go ahead and try to build a Peripheral Canal and say you will decide how to operate it and address the problems it causes afterwards," said Bill Jennings, Executive Director of California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. "A peripheral canal or tunnel will kill striped bass, salmon, Delta and longfin smelt and other fish. The striped bass, like salmon and Delta smelt, will be sacrificed on the altar of massive and unwise water exports. The administration's actions would result in declining water quality and would be colossal mismanagement by the state and federal government."

Bechtel's history of environmental destruction

Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr., who ran the Bechtel Corporation for 30 years, funded this and previous reports promoting "new conveyance" as the solution to California's water supply problems.

The Bechtel Corporation, notorious for its role in the "reconstruction" of Iraq, is a leading advocate throughout the world of the privatization of water systems. It was Bechtel that sued the country of Bolivia for canceling a contract there sponsored by the World Bank.

A CorpWatch report, "Profiting from Destruction," provides case studies from Bechtel's history of operating in the water, nuclear, energy and public works sectors. These case studies reveal a legacy of unsustainable and destructive practices that have reaped permanent human, environmental and community devastation around the globe.

Letters from "Bechtel affected communities" included in the report provide first-hand descriptions of these impacts, from Bolivia to Native American lands in Nevada. The report reveals "a 100-year history spent capitalizing on the most brutal technologies, reaping immense profits and ignoring the social and environmental costs." For more information, go to http://www.corpwatch.org/artic...

Another CorpWatch report, http://www.corpwatch.org/artic... details "Bechtel's Water Wars" in Bolivia. Fortunately, the people of Cochabama rebelled against Bechtel's scheme to privatize their water system and won.

Hopefully, the people of California, like the people of Cochabama, will rise up against the plan by the Brown and Obama administrations to "save" the Delta by draining it.

For the complete PPIC report, go to: http://www.ppic.org/main/publi...  

For Immediate Release: May 29, 2012

Contact: Adrienne Pine 202-652-5601

On May 29, at 7 pm at Cohousing Commons, 5th and T Streets in Sacramento, Adrienne Pine, noted scholar and activist, will speak on the current situation in Honduras since the coup in 2009.

Dr. Pine is an Assistant Professor at American University in Washington, DC and travels frequently to Honduras. She is the author of Working Hard, Drinking Hard: Violence and Survival in Honduras, and will sign copies of her book at her public lecture on Tuesday night at the Southside Park Cohousing Common Room. Admission to the event is free.

Dr. Pine will also give a lecture at noon on Tuesday, May 29, 2012 in Room 1277, Social Science and Humanities Building, UC Davis, on the topic "The Obama Administration and Honduras."

Admission to both events is free.

Dr. Pine has written many articles and has given dozens of lectures and presentations about Honduran society since she became involved with that country while working on her doctorate in anthropology at UC Berkeley. She has been invited to speak in the United States, Canada, Honduras, Argentina, Mexico, Egypt and Brazil. A medical anthropologist, Dr. Pine has also done extensive research and writing in the area of healthcare and labor relations.

Her talk on Tuesday evening in Sacramento will focus on Honduras, Iraq, and the Media. Dr. Pine notes that post-coup Honduras has been repeatedly mentioned by U.S. officials in recent months as the inheritor of the lessons and resources of the Iraq war. Among the many worrisome implications accompanying this assertion is the use of embedded journalism for stories like the New York Times' front page article "Lessons of Iraq Help U.S. Fight a Drug War in Honduras" (May 5).

Meanwhile, Honduran reporters carrying out unembedded investigative reporting work in one of the most dangerous climates for journalism in the world, facing high rates of targeted assassination and other forms of direct violence by the U.S.-funded and trained Honduran military and militarized police. In her talk Dr. Pine will discuss how U.S. policies in Honduras and Iraq have mutually informed each other since the 1980s, and the perils of reporting on them.

Since the then-president, Manuel Zelaya, was removed from office in June of 2009 by the Honduran military, Honduras has seen a stunning increase in violence, including the death of 18 journalists and numerous human rights activists, labor leaders, and community organizers. At present Honduras is considered by the United Nations to be the most violent country in the world, with 86.5 homicides annually per 100,000 population. More journalists been killed than in Honduras in recent years than in any other country in the world except Mexico.

In addition to Dr. Pine, Michael Ring, a local activist working with the US-El Salvador Sister Cities organization, will speak about his work with the Honduras Solidarity Network. Michael has been involved in solidarity with Central American liberation and social justice movements since the 1980's.

Currently, Michael helps coordinate the Honduras Solidarity Network's Congressional Action Team which this Spring successfully organized Dear Colleague letters signed by over 100 US Congresspeople and Senators calling for a change in US policy to support human rights and democracy in Honduras. He served as the national coordinator of US-El Salvador Sister Cities from 1995 to 2002.

CHIMES, (California Honduras Institute for Medical and Educational Support), a local Sacramento nonprofit which supports a hospital and other healthcare projects in the Garifuna communities of Honduras, will also be represented at the event on May 29. Information will also be available concerning the Honduras Accompaniment Project, operated by the Friendship Office of the Americas in Washington, D.C., which seeks to protect human rights activists in Honduras by providing them with international accompaniment.

For more information about the event at Cohousing Commons on May 29, contact Carole Harper at ch1979 [at] earthlink.net, or call 916-457-5018.  

For Immediate Release: May 29, 2012

Contact: Adrienne Pine 202-652-5601

On May 29, at 7 pm at Cohousing Commons, 5th and T Streets in Sacramento, Adrienne Pine, noted scholar and activist, will speak on the current situation in Honduras since the coup in 2009.

Dr. Pine is an Assistant Professor at American University in Washington, DC and travels frequently to Honduras. She is the author of Working Hard, Drinking Hard: Violence and Survival in Honduras, and will sign copies of her book at her public lecture on Tuesday night at the Southside Park Cohousing Common Room. Admission to the event is free.

Dr. Pine will also give a lecture at noon on Tuesday, May 29, 2012 in Room 1277, Social Science and Humanities Building, UC Davis, on the topic "The Obama Administration and Honduras."

Admission to both events is free.

Dr. Pine has written many articles and has given dozens of lectures and presentations about Honduran society since she became involved with that country while working on her doctorate in anthropology at UC Berkeley. She has been invited to speak in the United States, Canada, Honduras, Argentina, Mexico, Egypt and Brazil. A medical anthropologist, Dr. Pine has also done extensive research and writing in the area of healthcare and labor relations.

Her talk on Tuesday evening in Sacramento will focus on Honduras, Iraq, and the Media. Dr. Pine notes that post-coup Honduras has been repeatedly mentioned by U.S. officials in recent months as the inheritor of the lessons and resources of the Iraq war. Among the many worrisome implications accompanying this assertion is the use of embedded journalism for stories like the New York Times' front page article "Lessons of Iraq Help U.S. Fight a Drug War in Honduras" (May 5).

Meanwhile, Honduran reporters carrying out unembedded investigative reporting work in one of the most dangerous climates for journalism in the world, facing high rates of targeted assassination and other forms of direct violence by the U.S.-funded and trained Honduran military and militarized police. In her talk Dr. Pine will discuss how U.S. policies in Honduras and Iraq have mutually informed each other since the 1980s, and the perils of reporting on them.

Since the then-president, Manuel Zelaya, was removed from office in June of 2009 by the Honduran military, Honduras has seen a stunning increase in violence, including the death of 18 journalists and numerous human rights activists, labor leaders, and community organizers. At present Honduras is considered by the United Nations to be the most violent country in the world, with 86.5 homicides annually per 100,000 population. More journalists been killed than in Honduras in recent years than in any other country in the world except Mexico.

In addition to Dr. Pine, Michael Ring, a local activist working with the US-El Salvador Sister Cities organization, will speak about his work with the Honduras Solidarity Network. Michael has been involved in solidarity with Central American liberation and social justice movements since the 1980's.

Currently, Michael helps coordinate the Honduras Solidarity Network's Congressional Action Team which this Spring successfully organized Dear Colleague letters signed by over 100 US Congresspeople and Senators calling for a change in US policy to support human rights and democracy in Honduras. He served as the national coordinator of US-El Salvador Sister Cities from 1995 to 2002.

CHIMES, (California Honduras Institute for Medical and Educational Support), a local Sacramento nonprofit which supports a hospital and other healthcare projects in the Garifuna communities of Honduras, will also be represented at the event on May 29. Information will also be available concerning the Honduras Accompaniment Project, operated by the Friendship Office of the Americas in Washington, D.C., which seeks to protect human rights activists in Honduras by providing them with international accompaniment.

For more information about the event at Cohousing Commons on May 29, contact Carole Harper at ch1979 [at] earthlink.net, or call 916-457-5018.  

Winnemem Wintu Tribe members joined with members of other Indian Tribes and environmental activists in multi-colored kayaks and rafts to place a banner over the McCloud River on Lake Shasta proclaiming "River Closed" on Saturday, May 26.

The direct action took place in conjunction with the Tribes's four-day War Dance (H'up Chonas in the Winnemem language) held from May 24 to May 27 at the site where they have held their Coming of Age ceremonies for thousands of years.

The War Dance signified the tribe's spiritual commitment to defend at all costs the ceremony from heckling, flashing and other disruptions by recreational boaters that have occurred in previous years.

I arrived at the ceremony just as the banner was being strung up on a cable over the river. Members of the Winnemem, Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa Valley, Pit River, Miwok and other Tribes and activists from Earth First!, Klamath Justice Coalition, Klamath Riverkeeper, Occupy Oakland and the American Indian Movement worked together to erect the banner and to keep boaters from going up the river.

"Where have you been? We've been here for 10,000 years," quipped Gary Mulcahy, Winnemem Wintu leader and organizer of a previous War Dance at Shasta Dam in September 2004, when I arrived. "What took you so long?"

After the closure banner had been in place for over an hour, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Coast Guard officials demanded that the banner be taken down. To avoid arrests, the Tribal members and activists complied with the request; this was a "practice run" for the upcoming Coming of Age ceremony.

"We have been backed into a corner with no other choice," said Caleen Sisk, Winnemem Wintu spiritual leader and chief. "We should be preparing for Marisa's ceremony, setting down prayers, making regalia, getting the dance grounds ready, making sure it happens in a good way. But instead we have to fight simply to protect our young women from drunken harassment."

"We're not protesters - we're not good or skilled activists," noted Sisk. "We're a traditional tribe trying to hold a ceremony. We're thankful for the activists who have come here, some from big distances, to stay here in solidarity with us. This is a great thing."

At the end of the War Dance on the river on Sunday, there was a massive, apparently orchestrated disturbance that demonstrated the exact reason why a closure of the river to all boating traffic by the Forest Service is so badly needed.

A fleet of 10 boats and jet skis motored through the ceremony at high speeds, flipped off tribal members, did doughnuts near their sacred sites and generally tried to intimidate the teens, elders and young women who made up most of the people left, according to the Tribe.

"On the final day, the Angry People made their presence known with a thundering powerboat armada, smashing the tranquility of our event, and proving the Truth of our concerns for the safety of our ceremony participants," said Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.

Supporters of the Tribe posed the question: What other religion would ever face that level of intimidation and fear for simply wanting to hold a spiritual ceremony in peace?

Sisk emphasized that the Forest Service "is not being forthright with the permit process for closing the river for our ceremony. They're not communicating with us. We found out on Friday during the War Dance that even if we get a permit for the ceremony, there is a different permit process required for closing the river."

"There is not a very good faith effort on behalf of the Forest Service; they made us believe that the special use permit they said we needed was the process required to close the river. They're making it up as they go," she stated.

She said the Coming of Age Ceremony is chosen on a full moon to coincide with the last of the flowers blooming. It was traditionally conducted in the spring, but that it is not possible now because the high lake level now covers up Puberty Rock in the spring.

"The strongest peace is at the time of the full moon," she noted. "The moon regulates the tides and women's energy."

Sisk pointed to a spot in the river now under water as the sun began to set. "That's where Puberty Rock and the dance ground are," she said. "We are hoping that the rock and dance ground are out of the water by the time of the ceremony at the end of June."

This is not the first time that the Tribe has been forced to conduct a War Dance in recent years. In September 2004, the Tribe held a War Dance at Shasta Dam to protest the federal government's plan to rise the dam, a plan that would inundate Puberty Rock and other sites sacred to the Tribe.

The same federal government that is refusing to close the river for the ceremony is the same one that plans to raise Shasta Dam. "We've already been flooded out one time when Shasta Dam was built," said Sisk. "We won't be flooded again. If the dam is raised, Puberty Rock will be 25 feet under water."

Then in April 2009, the Tribe held a two-day War Dance on the banks of the American River in Sacramento to to bring attention to decades of injustice and destruction of their cultural sites by the federal government. Male dancers in traditional feathered headdresses, accompanied by female singers in white dresses, performed the ancient ceremony around a sacred fire to the steady beat of a wooden drum.

After that ceremony, Tribal leaders and their pro bono lawyers filed a lawsuit at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Columbia. The suit against six federal agencies and two current federal agency heads alleged that their actions have resulted in the "destruction or damage" to the Tribe's sacred cultural sites in Shasta County.

The Tribe was federally recognized until 1985 when a clerical error eliminated the Winnemem from the list of recognized Tribes.

The Tribe has played a leadership role in the battle to restore the Delta and stop the construction of the peripheral canal to export more water to corporate agribusiness and Southern California. The Tribe is now working on an ambitious plan to reintroduce winter run chinook salmon, now thriving in the Rakaira River in New Zealand, to the McCloud River above Shasta Dam.

Here is the video of Sunday's disturbance at the Winnemem's ceremony. Please share and take action for the rights of indigenous people to hold ceremony in peace and dignity: http://youtu.be/nW9WClzC5Og/

Please contact the US Forest Service, and anyone else you think could make a difference, to tell them to allow a closure of the river for their Coming of Age ceremonies:
Randy Moore, Regional Forester
707-562-8737
rmoore [at] fs.fed.us

For more information, go to the following links:

Press Release: War Dance Scheduled for May 24-May 27
http://www.winnememwintu.us/20...

Photos from Winnemem Wintu May 26th War Dance
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7...

Video:

Day 1 -- War Dance for Safe Coming of Age Ceremony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Day 2 -- War Dance for Safe Coming of Age Ceremony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Day 3 -- War Dance for Safe Coming of Age Ceremony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Day 4 -- War Dance for Peaceful Coming of Age Ceremony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Boats Close River For Winnemem Wintu Ceremony - May 26 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Media Coverage
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/...
http://www.redding.com/photos/...
http://www.krcrtv.com/news/311...
http://www.indybay.org/newsite...
 

Winnemem Wintu Tribe members joined with members of other Indian Tribes and environmental activists in multi-colored kayaks and rafts to place a banner over the McCloud River on Lake Shasta proclaiming "River Closed" on Saturday, May 26.

The direct action took place in conjunction with the Tribes's four-day War Dance (H'up Chonas in the Winnemem language) held from May 24 to May 27 at the site where they have held their Coming of Age ceremonies for thousands of years.

The War Dance signified the tribe's spiritual commitment to defend at all costs the ceremony from heckling, flashing and other disruptions by recreational boaters that have occurred in previous years.

I arrived at the ceremony just as the banner was being strung up on a cable over the river. Members of the Winnemem, Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa Valley, Pit River, Miwok and other Tribes and activists from Earth First!, Klamath Justice Coalition, Klamath Riverkeeper, Occupy Oakland and the American Indian Movement worked together to erect the banner and to keep boaters from going up the river.

"Where have you been? We've been here for 10,000 years," quipped Gary Mulcahy, Winnemem Wintu leader and organizer of a previous War Dance at Shasta Dam in September 2004, when I arrived. "What took you so long?"

After the closure banner had been in place for over an hour, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Coast Guard officials demanded that the banner be taken down. To avoid arrests, the Tribal members and activists complied with the request; this was a "practice run" for the upcoming Coming of Age ceremony.

"We have been backed into a corner with no other choice," said Caleen Sisk, Winnemem Wintu spiritual leader and chief. "We should be preparing for Marisa's ceremony, setting down prayers, making regalia, getting the dance grounds ready, making sure it happens in a good way. But instead we have to fight simply to protect our young women from drunken harassment."

"We're not protesters - we're not good or skilled activists," noted Sisk. "We're a traditional tribe trying to hold a ceremony. We're thankful for the activists who have come here, some from big distances, to stay here in solidarity with us. This is a great thing."

At the end of the War Dance on the river on Sunday, there was a massive, apparently orchestrated disturbance that demonstrated the exact reason why a closure of the river to all boating traffic by the Forest Service is so badly needed.

A fleet of 10 boats and jet skis motored through the ceremony at high speeds, flipped off tribal members, did doughnuts near their sacred sites and generally tried to intimidate the teens, elders and young women who made up most of the people left, according to the Tribe.

"On the final day, the Angry People made their presence known with a thundering powerboat armada, smashing the tranquility of our event, and proving the Truth of our concerns for the safety of our ceremony participants," said Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.

Supporters of the Tribe posed the question: What other religion would ever face that level of intimidation and fear for simply wanting to hold a spiritual ceremony in peace?

Sisk emphasized that the Forest Service "is not being forthright with the permit process for closing the river for our ceremony. They're not communicating with us. We found out on Friday during the War Dance that even if we get a permit for the ceremony, there is a different permit process required for closing the river."

"There is not a very good faith effort on behalf of the Forest Service; they made us believe that the special use permit they said we needed was the process required to close the river. They're making it up as they go," she stated.

She said the Coming of Age Ceremony is chosen on a full moon to coincide with the last of the flowers blooming. It was traditionally conducted in the spring, but that it is not possible now because the high lake level now covers up Puberty Rock in the spring.

"The strongest peace is at the time of the full moon," she noted. "The moon regulates the tides and women's energy."

Sisk pointed to a spot in the river now under water as the sun began to set. "That's where Puberty Rock and the dance ground are," she said. "We are hoping that the rock and dance ground are out of the water by the time of the ceremony at the end of June."

This is not the first time that the Tribe has been forced to conduct a War Dance in recent years. In September 2004, the Tribe held a War Dance at Shasta Dam to protest the federal government's plan to rise the dam, a plan that would inundate Puberty Rock and other sites sacred to the Tribe.

The same federal government that is refusing to close the river for the ceremony is the same one that plans to raise Shasta Dam. "We've already been flooded out one time when Shasta Dam was built," said Sisk. "We won't be flooded again. If the dam is raised, Puberty Rock will be 25 feet under water."

Then in April 2009, the Tribe held a two-day War Dance on the banks of the American River in Sacramento to to bring attention to decades of injustice and destruction of their cultural sites by the federal government. Male dancers in traditional feathered headdresses, accompanied by female singers in white dresses, performed the ancient ceremony around a sacred fire to the steady beat of a wooden drum.

After that ceremony, Tribal leaders and their pro bono lawyers filed a lawsuit at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Columbia. The suit against six federal agencies and two current federal agency heads alleged that their actions have resulted in the "destruction or damage" to the Tribe's sacred cultural sites in Shasta County.

The Tribe was federally recognized until 1985 when a clerical error eliminated the Winnemem from the list of recognized Tribes.

The Tribe has played a leadership role in the battle to restore the Delta and stop the construction of the peripheral canal to export more water to corporate agribusiness and Southern California. The Tribe is now working on an ambitious plan to reintroduce winter run chinook salmon, now thriving in the Rakaira River in New Zealand, to the McCloud River above Shasta Dam.

Here is the video of Sunday's disturbance at the Winnemem's ceremony. Please share and take action for the rights of indigenous people to hold ceremony in peace and dignity: http://youtu.be/nW9WClzC5Og/

Please contact the US Forest Service, and anyone else you think could make a difference, to tell them to allow a closure of the river for their Coming of Age ceremonies:

Randy Moore, Regional Forester

707-562-8737

rmoore [at] fs.fed.us

For more information, go to the following links:

Press Release: War Dance Scheduled for May 24-May 27

http://www.winnememwintu.us/20...

Photos from Winnemem Wintu May 26th War Dance

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7...

Video:

Day 1 -- War Dance for Safe Coming of Age Ceremony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Day 2 -- War Dance for Safe Coming of Age Ceremony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Day 3 -- War Dance for Safe Coming of Age Ceremony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Day 4 -- War Dance for Peaceful Coming of Age Ceremony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Boats Close River For Winnemem Wintu Ceremony - May 26 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Media Coverage

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/...

http://www.redding.com/photos/...

http://www.krcrtv.com/news/311...

http://www.indybay.org/newsite...

After the failure of the Assembly Appropriations Committee to pass AB 2421 in Sacramento today, representatives of environmental and consumer groups reiterated their call for an independent cost-benefit analysis before committing the public to pay tens of billions of dollars to build a peripheral canal or tunnel to export Delta water to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies.

AB 2421 (B. Berryhill) required that an independent third party costs and benefits of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal or tunnel be submitted to the Legislature prior to the BDCP's inclusion in the Delta Plan, or by June 30, 2013, whichever comes first.

"Urban water users would pay billions of dollars for a massive Peripheral Canal or Tunnel," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta."Those who'll pay deserve to know the cost and how ratepayers would benefit. We will continue to pursue this important taxpayer and consumer safeguard."

Adam Scow, California Campaigns Director of Food & Water Watch, said the Assembly Appropriations Committee's failure to pass AB 2421 to require a basic cost-benefit analysis of the peripheral canal "demonstrates the power of Corporate Agriculture over our State representatives."

"The peripheral canal, estimated to cost between $14 and $30 billion, will allow Westlands Water District and the Kern County Water Agency to grab more water at the expense of California taxpayers and the environment," said Scow. "It is incumbent upon the people of California to put an end to this wasteful and unnecessary canal, as they did 30 years ago in June of 1982."

A diverse coalition of Southern California ratepayers, consumer and environmental groups, fishermen, family farmers and elected officials backed AB 2421, while agribusiness groups, the California Chamber of Commerce, Westlands Water District and southern California water agencies including the Metropolitan Water District opposed the bill.

On Thursday, Restore the Delta and an array of consumer and environmental leaders protested the announcement by the Brown administration that it plans to ignore massive negative impacts and go ahead and build a peripheral canal or tunnel and "figure out the damage afterward."

In a series of phone conversations with Delta local county representatives and environmental groups, the California Natural Resources Agency, headed by Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, is announcing a framework based on "decision trees" that will determine how much flow and habitat is needed in the Delta over a fifteen year evaluation period after the project is under construction, according to a news release from Restore the Delta and Food & Water Watch (http://www.restorethedelta.org/1852).

"It's outrageous to go ahead and try to build a Peripheral Canal and say you will decide how to operate it and address the problems it causes afterwards," said Bill Jennings, Executive Director of California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. "A peripheral canal or tunnel will kill striped bass, salmon, Delta and longfin smelt and other fish. The striped bass, like salmon and Delta smelt, will be sacrificed on the altar of massive and unwise water exports. The administration's actions would result in declining water quality and would be colossal mismanagement by the state and federal government."

Resnicks contributed $99,000 to Jerry Brown's campaign

It is no surprise that Brown is pushing so hard for the construction of the canal, since one of Brown's biggest campaign contributors is Stewart Resnick, the Beverly Hills billionaire agribusiness tycoon who owns Paramount Farms in Kern County. Resnick is a big advocate of the canal and increased water exports from the Delta - and has waged a relentless campaign to exterminate striped bass and to eviscerate Endangered Species Act protections for Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other species.

Resnick and his wife Lynda contributed $99,000 to Jerry Brown's 2010 campaign (http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/brown-and-whitmans-contributions-...).

"It's ironic that the Resnicks, among California's wealthiest 1 percent, contributed $99,000, since it's the 99 percent that will pay for the peripheral canal," said Adam Scow.

The Resnicks are known not only for their inordinate influence over California water politics, but their deceptive business practices. An administrative law judge recently upheld a Federal Trade Commission ruling that the Resnicks engaged in deceptive claims promoting pomegranate benefits.

The FTC ruled that POM Wonderful LLC, its sister corporation Roll Global LLC, and principals Stewart Resnick, Lynda Resnick, and Matthew Tupper violated federal law by making deceptive claims in some advertisements that their POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice and POMx supplements "would treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction."(http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=21104

For more information on the Resnicks' contributions to political campaigns, go to: http://blogs.alternet.org/danb...

Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) on Thursday condemned the latest developments regarding the controversial Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) after his office received a briefing on the outcome of meetings held last week between federal and state government officials.

The new plans call for the construction of a massive conveyance system, the peripheral canal or tunnel, that would ship more Delta water to Southern California water agencies and San Joaquin Valley corporate agribusiness interests.

McNerney described the BDCP as "little more than a Build the Darn Canal Plan" - and the latest development as a "blatant attack on the Delta communities."

"This information confirms what we have known all along; the Governor and Secretary of the Interior intend to build a canal that would steal water from millions of people in our area and give it to wealthy special interests from Southern California," said McNerney. "Their plan will destroy one of the most important water resources in the country and harm the livelihoods of the four million people who call the Delta region home."

"Now we know beyond a shadow of a doubt what the BDCP actually stands for," he stated. "It's little more than a Build the Darn Canal Plan. The people who reside in the Delta region have been shut out of this process from the beginning. Any plan that includes a peripheral canal is unacceptable. It would devastate our local economy and cost countless jobs."

"From the beginning, I have said that any plan related to the Delta must include the input of the farmers, families and small business owners whose livelihoods stand to be devastated by a peripheral canal. The latest developments don't address the concerns of the Delta communities in any meaningful way," said McNerney.

"Agriculture is the economic backbone of the Delta. The special interests from south of the Delta are trying to steal our water, which would lay waste to our farmland and our economy. The latest development is a blatant attack on the Delta communities.

"The federal and state governments must come to the table and include meaningful input from the Delta region. This process has been crafted behind closed doors, and I call on Governor Brown and Secretary Salazar to finally make this plan fair and equitable for the Delta communities," he concluded.

On the same day that McNerney blasted the BDCP, Restore the Delta and an array of consumer and environmental leaders protested the announcement by the Brown Administration that it plans to ignore massive negative impacts and go ahead and build a peripheral canal or tunnel and "figure out the damage afterward."

In a series of phone conversations with Delta local county representatives and environmental groups, the California Natural Resources Agency, headed by Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, is announcing a framework based on "decision trees" that will determine how much flow and habitat is needed in the Delta over a fifteen year evaluation period after the project is under construction, according to a news release from Restore the Delta and Food & Water Watch (http://www.restorethedelta.org/1852).

"The water contractors associated with BDCP have spent a quarter of a billion dollars of California water rate payers' money to create a project that was supposed to restore the Delta," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. "They failed to produce such a project. So instead, the State is preparing to announce a project that has the potential to divert the majority of Sacramento River water without first ensuring protections for the Delta."

"Resources Secretary Laird has the audacity to say that the canal will be built first, and they will figure out the good science after it's built," said Barrigan-Parrilla. "The administration is selling this new BDCP Plus Plan as an improvement because BDCP partners are willing to wait to see what 'new' science will decide regarding project operations. But what is clear that the biological science does not support the project, so they are hoping that political science will solve the problem."

A broad coalition of Delta residents, fishermen, Indian Tribes, family farmers, grassroots environmentalists and elected officials opposes the construction of the canal because it would lead to the destruction of the ecosystem of the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas. It would take Delta farmland out of agricultural production under the guise of "habitat restoration" in order to increase water exports to corporate agribusiness interests on the San Joaquin Valley's west side to irrigate toxic, drainage impaired land that should have never been irrigated.

The peripheral canal's construction would hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species, according to agency and independent scientists alike.

"All in all, they are simply going to throw more money after bad money," said Barrigan-Parrilla. "Gov. Brown proposes to continue the draining of the Delta, imperiling the Delta environment and communities, and would take prime Delta farmland to make up for habitat lost by serving unsustainable huge corporate agribusinesses on the west side of the valley."

Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) on Thursday condemned the latest developments regarding the controversial Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) after his office received a briefing on the outcome of meetings held last week between federal and state government officials.

The new plans call for the construction of a massive conveyance system, the peripheral canal or tunnel, that would ship more Delta water to Southern California water agencies and San Joaquin Valley corporate agribusiness interests.

McNerney described the BDCP as "little more than a Build the Darn Canal Plan" - and the latest development as a "blatant attack on the Delta communities."

"This information confirms what we have known all along; the Governor and Secretary of the Interior intend to build a canal that would steal water from millions of people in our area and give it to wealthy special interests from Southern California," said McNerney. "Their plan will destroy one of the most important water resources in the country and harm the livelihoods of the four million people who call the Delta region home."

"Now we know beyond a shadow of a doubt what the BDCP actually stands for," he stated. "It's little more than a Build the Darn Canal Plan. The people who reside in the Delta region have been shut out of this process from the beginning. Any plan that includes a peripheral canal is unacceptable. It would devastate our local economy and cost countless jobs."

"From the beginning, I have said that any plan related to the Delta must include the input of the farmers, families and small business owners whose livelihoods stand to be devastated by a peripheral canal. The latest developments don't address the concerns of the Delta communities in any meaningful way," said McNerney.

"Agriculture is the economic backbone of the Delta. The special interests from south of the Delta are trying to steal our water, which would lay waste to our farmland and our economy. The latest development is a blatant attack on the Delta communities.

"The federal and state governments must come to the table and include meaningful input from the Delta region. This process has been crafted behind closed doors, and I call on Governor Brown and Secretary Salazar to finally make this plan fair and equitable for the Delta communities," he concluded.

On the same day that McNerney blasted the BDCP, Restore the Delta and an array of consumer and environmental leaders protested the announcement by the Brown Administration that it plans to ignore massive negative impacts and go ahead and build a peripheral canal or tunnel and "figure out the damage afterward."

In a series of phone conversations with Delta local county representatives and environmental groups, the California Natural Resources Agency, headed by Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, is announcing a framework based on "decision trees" that will determine how much flow and habitat is needed in the Delta over a fifteen year evaluation period after the project is under construction, according to a news release from Restore the Delta and Food & Water Watch (http://www.restorethedelta.org/1852).

"The water contractors associated with BDCP have spent a quarter of a billion dollars of California water rate payers' money to create a project that was supposed to restore the Delta," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. "They failed to produce such a project. So instead, the State is preparing to announce a project that has the potential to divert the majority of Sacramento River water without first ensuring protections for the Delta."

"Resources Secretary Laird has the audacity to say that the canal will be built first, and they will figure out the good science after it's built," said Barrigan-Parrilla. "The administration is selling this new BDCP Plus Plan as an improvement because BDCP partners are willing to wait to see what 'new' science will decide regarding project operations. But what is clear that the biological science does not support the project, so they are hoping that political science will solve the problem."

A broad coalition of Delta residents, fishermen, Indian Tribes, family farmers, grassroots environmentalists and elected officials opposes the construction of the canal because it would lead to the destruction of the ecosystem of the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas. It would take Delta farmland out of agricultural production under the guise of "habitat restoration" in order to increase water exports to corporate agribusiness interests on the San Joaquin Valley's west side to irrigate toxic, drainage impaired land that should have never been irrigated.

The peripheral canal's construction would hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species, according to agency and independent scientists alike.

"All in all, they are simply going to throw more money after bad money," said Barrigan-Parrilla. "Gov. Brown proposes to continue the draining of the Delta, imperiling the Delta environment and communities, and would take prime Delta farmland to make up for habitat lost by serving unsustainable huge corporate agribusinesses on the west side of the valley."