Action Alert

I don't like pushing Alex's opinion piece on the 37th District special election down the page. Everyone interested in Green Politics should read it. And when you are done, read Gregg Jocoy's comments on the same subject from South Carolina.

However, I also think that it is important for every California reader to pay attention to the following action alert and CALL GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER on Monday morning. I received 3 copies of this alert this morning: one from Restore the Delta whose Healthy Delta Communities effort we helped sponsor, one from the Planning and Conservation League and one from Dan Bacher, the editor of the Fish Sniffer magazine. This is moving so fast that none of these organizations have this alert on their web site's yet.

The facts that triggered this coordinated action are those that I posted yesterday. There is really a sense of urgency about this, because the plans that are working their way through the Sacramento Bureaucracy are just a reflection of the needs of powerful special interest groups, including water districts that claim to represent the "people" but are closely tied to City / Developer growth at all costs planning.

__ from the Planning and Conservation League __

ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS IN THE DELTA

DELTA SMELT ARE on the BRINK of EXTINCTION

Results from a just completed survey by the Department of Fish & Game:


--Scientists failed to find any smelt in 30 of 36 stations in the Delta

--The survey found only 25 smelt overall; a 93% drop from 2006

--This is the worst return in the history of this survey, in fact these numbers are ONE TENTH of previous record lows



NO RESPONSE TO SAVE THESE FISH

--Even though SEVERAL Delta species have been collapsing for SIX YEARS, the State has refused to commit to actions to avoid extinction

--Last year the State and Federal water projects exported near RECORD amounts of water through massive pumps in the Delta Smelt?s habitat

--The State pumped 55 BILLION gallons of "EXTRA" water in January even while they were telling the Judge there was no problem with smelt

MORE DELTA FISH ARE HEADED TOWARD EXTINCTION

Severe declines in multiple fish populations show that the Delta ecosystem is collapsing. Since 2005 the State and Federal governments have known about the problem, but have failed to commit to actions to save the Delta.

WHAT MUST BE DONE TO SAVE THE DELTA SMELT?

Scientists' recommendations to help the Delta Smelt must be immediately implemented (see attachment below).

Call the Governor and tell him to commit to actions to save the Delta Smelt before its too late!

Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Phone: 916-445-2841
http://www.govmail.ca.gov/

More information:

Tom Philp of the Sacramento Bee?s Blog provides a link to the Delta Smelt Working Group's recommendations to respond to the delta smelt crisis:

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/water/archives/DSWG_Briefing_Statement_15May07.pdf

Hank Shaw's blog on this issue:

http://blogs.recordnet.com/n/blogs/blog.aspx?en=&redirCnt=2&nav=main&webtag=sr-hshaw





During May 2007, pumps have taken more smelt (84) than the Delta survey (8):

http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvo/vungvari/dsmeltsplitdly.pdf

Department of Fish and Game

20 mm survey: http://www.delta.dfg.ca.gov/data/20mm/CPUE_map.asp

Notes from Delta Action Team (State and Federal Agencies)

http://wwwoco.water.ca.gov/calfedops/dat/2007/05_08_2007.pdf

See how this year's most recent DFG survey of Delta Smelt compares to similarly-timed surveys in years past: (click here to view).