Schwarzenegger Mouthing Off at U.N.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, of all people, was mouthing off at the United Nations. There he was: Terminator of the Delta, on a world stage boasting about how in the Golden State: "What we’re doing is changing the dynamic, preparing the way and encouraging the future... And now green, clean technology — along with biotech — will take California to the next level.”

Dan Bacher posted an angry article on Dissident Voice. Check it out:

Schwarzenegger Addresses UN about Climate Change as He Plans the California Delta's Destruction

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s address to the United Nations yesterday about global climate change is one of the most blatant examples of hypocrisy that I’ve ever witnessed. Schwarzenegger challenged the leaders of the world’s nations to “solve global warming” as he continues to push the California Legislature to accept a $9 billion water bond package that would build an environmentally devastating Delta canal and more dams.
. . .
While the Governor is planning the destruction of the California Delta, the West Coast’s most significant estuary, by campaigning for the building of a canal and more dams, he is touting his “green” credentials by calling for a “new race fueled by billions of dollars” to find new energy technologies.
. . .
Rather than preaching about “climate change” in a carefully choreographed photo opportunity before the United Nations, the Governor should have the courage to impose water pollution standards on corporate agribusiness and to reduce water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by mandating increased water conservation and taking drainage impaired land in the San Joaquin Valley out of agricultural production. However, he refuses to do this because the people that are destroying the Bay-Delta Estuary and polluting Central Valley rivers are the same folks that fund the campaigns of Schwarzenegger and other corrupt politicians.

You can't make this stuff up.

Peripheral Canal

In several of my previous posts, I have referred to the Peripheral Canal as being a bad idea that Gov. Schwarzenegger has resurrected from it's voter rejection back in the 1980's. However, you should not take my word for it. Jonas Minton, writing in the Sacramento Bee this week has done a much better job. Minton, one time Deputy Director of the Department of Water Resources, State of CA, has surely forgotten more about this project than I would ever know.

While Minton is surely knowledgeable himself, he is wary of what the Governor is NOT telling us.

Look at the critical information they are not telling us: How large would such a canal be? How much would it cost? Would it be $1 billion, $5 billion, $10 billion? Who would pay for it? Who would benefit (e.g. corporate agriculture) and what subsidies would they receive? How would it survive a rise in sea level? The proposed intake near Hood just south of Sacramento and the canal would be less than 5 feet above current sea level. If billions of gallons of freshwater were diverted each day before entering the Delta, what would that do to the farms and fish dependent on that water?

The Governor's prescience seems much like that of President Bush in the lead up to the Iraq War. From Bob Woodward we learned that Bush started to plan the Iraq war only 3 months after 9/11. Such is the risk of leadership that one has to personally carry the full responsibility for every such decision. You have to be right every time. Bush wasn't and it looks as if Schwarzenegger isn't either.

Now is the Time

I have not posted for quite a while, so I have a buildup of frustration and will post several things this AM. It only took a magazine cover to wake me from my slumber.

You should all pick up a copy of Time Magazine this week. I call your attention to the cover where photo of the new storm floodwall in New Orleans carries this caption.

Two years after Katrina, this floodwall is all that stands between New Orleans and the next hurricane. It's pathetic. How a perfect storm of big money politics, shoddy engineering and environmental ignorance is setting up the city for another catastrophe.

The author, Michael Grunwald, pulls no punches and blows away a number of myths, not the least of which was that Katrina was a horrendous Cat 5 storm at New Orleans.

The most important thing to remember about the drowning of New Orleans is that it wasn't a natural disaster. It was a man-made disaster, created by lousy engineering, misplaced priorities and pork-barrel politics. Katrina was not the Category 5 killer the Big Easy had always feared; it was a Category 3 storm that missed New Orleans, where it was at worst a weak 2.

You can read the entire story here.

When I think of the amount of effort that people like Susan King put into the recovery effort I just get sick. When I contrast the on the ground leadership of Malik Rahim to the mess described by Grunwald, I feel like crying. Such a missed opportunity and such empty promises where Bush's promise to rebuild was just another declaration of the end to major combat. It is worse than pathetic, the word Time used on their cover. It is criminal.

This is particularly important for us in this state and at this time. We are dealing with many of the same issues: failing levees that need major repair if not replacement, big money politics at every turn, politicians who care more for their own image or career than the welfare of the people that they represent. There is not a single plan for the future of the Sacramento / San Joaquin Delta that meets the smell test. Sure, Núñez, Perata and Schwarzenegger promise to get things done. But they won't. Follow the money. When it comes time to do something, the money will be less than needed. It will get used on some legislator's pet project. There will be no accountability.

When the Green Party of California convenes it's general assembly in Riverside, perhaps there should be a moment of silence during which we can all think about the money that could have helped repair the levees in New Orleans but went instead to build a highway off-ramp to a riverboat casino. Then think about what we can be doing to make sure that it does not happen again, here, in this state, on our watch.

This is one issue that I will not let drop and I ask all of you to do the same.

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).

Delta Smelt Population Crash

Hank Shaw is an ever observant reporter of "politics in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys." He is also Capital Bureau Chief for the Stockton Record.

On his blog today, he provides astounding new evidence of the continued collapse of the population of delta smelt, a general indicator of the health of the delta.

Let me remind you that there is currently a law suit under which a judge has set a date for the shut down of the Tracy Pumps, supplying water for irrigation in the Central Valley and also for the Metropolitan Water District in SoCal. This, because the Department of Water Resources has ignored California's Endangered Species Act.

In his typical fashion, Shaw gives a net assessment.

Bottom line: This smelt survey is so scary it could spark emergency action, which could translate into less water for Southern California -- in a dry year.

Metropolitan Water District gambles with your water.

The Metropolitan Water District is playing with your future. In an action that I can only define as stupid, they have chosen to take a chance that the California Delta area will never have a major earthquake. Maybe they should ask the people of Northridge if that is a good bet.

A recent (04/26/07) report by Alex Breitler of the Stockton Record gives the full background on this decision. They have decided that it better to let any earthquake happen and then fix the Delta Levees rather than taking steps not to shore up the levees in anticipation that such a quake will happen.

District board members voted to stockpile repair materials at strategic spots around the Delta; then, if a quake occurs, that rock could be used to patch up levees perhaps along the Middle River, creating a sort of pathway channeling fresh water from the central Delta to the export pumps near Tracy.

The effects of a major breach would be devastating to the local areas around Stockton and Tracy, but, hey, no problem, we don't live there.

At some point in time, we are going to learn that we all live in the Delta. Over 18 Million Californians drink water from the delta. Over 700,000 acres of farmland are irrigated with Delta Water. But, hey, salt water would be good for the crops, no?

According to the water district web site.

Public involvement is central to our resource management efforts, and through these pages we want to provide you with a comprehensive listing of information about our Board and their actions.

Metropolitan is governed by a 37-member Board of Directors, each appointed by the District's 26 member agencies.

The Board, which establishes and administers policies for Metropolitan, invites the public to attend its monthly meetings, and also to comment on its agenda items or other matters before the board.

I don't see very much public involvement in the operation of this board. It is all about power politics. Remember Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

Last night, a grassroots organization called Restore the Delta had a meeting regarding Healthy Delta Communities. Green Activist Kalmran Alavi was there and reported the following on several Green Party email lists.

In lecture hall full of Siera Club bigwigs, UC scientists, senator and congresspeoples staff, associated press and other reporters, Agricultural extension representatives, prominent farmesrs, environmentalists, fish & wildlife and fish & game beuraucrats, sports fishing and hunting interests, big time grape growers-vintners and a whole array of Sacramento types, only one entity, not a person, received honorable mention:

The MC-organizer announced that the whole thing was made possible by endorsment and generous financial contribution of the Green Party.

Greens all over this state should be making a major issue out of the Delta and what the powers are planning for our common resource. We will never have sustainable solutions for water in California until we start treating water as part of our Commons, to be owned by all and not by a few.

A Delta Bill: Historic or Forgotten Moment

Among all of the stake holders that are trying to influence the State of California's plans for the Sacramento - San Joaquin River Delta, perhaps the most articulate is Dan Bacher, editor of the Fish Sniffer, a magazine aimed specifically at those who fish. Bacher is also one of the leading progressive voices in the Sacramento area.

In the most recent issue of the Fish Sniffer, Bacher points out a lot about what is wrong with the manner in which we make decisions about the future of the Delta, and through that process, about the future of California. The focus is specifically on SB 27, a bill introduced by State Sen. Joe Simitian (D. Palo Alto) as a vehicle for sorting out what should be done. Simitian talked to the Fish Sniffer.

“The Delta is going to hell in a hand basket,” said Simitian. “A precious resource is at risk. Twenty-three million Californians are understandably concerned about the security and quality of their water. And Northern Californians continue to worry about how much of 'their water,' as they think of it, will be shipped to other parts of the state.”

This bill would force the Department of Water Resources to pick one of 5 scenarios for the future of the Delta as specified in the special report from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). However, in both the PPIC Study and the current Schwarzenegger backed Delta Vision Process, there are multiple constituencies without a voice. Bacher reports from the first hearing.

Gary Adams, president of the California Striped Bass Association, was concerned that the people most impacted by the Delta food chain crash - recreational anglers and Delta residents - would not be listened to in the process for the implementation of this bill, just as they have been marginalized in the Governor's controversial “Delta Vision” process.

On May 2, Restore the Delta will be holding a "Health Delta Communities" event. This is an effort to make all of us aware of just what is at stake. This event has received funding in the name of the Green Party of California. I would hope that we all pay attention to it. Bacher is just one of the panel of experts who will participate in this event.

DWR "had" a plan for the delta.

I need to let you know that I am on the up and up. I don't make this stuff up about the delta. I may have said the the Department of Water Resources was in denial about the threat to "shut down the pumps" but that was obviously a mistake as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle this week.