PCL Insider: Assembly Committee Passes Bad Delta Smelt Bill

PCL Insider: News from the Capitol

Bad news for the delta - Assembly committee passes SB 994, GUTTING PROTECTIONS FOR DELTA SMELT

Despite strong opposition from the environmental community and concern from fish biologists, SB 994 (Florez, Ashburn, Steinberg) received enough votes to pass out of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife this morning and is now headed to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.

SB 994 attempts to sidestep environmental protections for the threatened Delta Smelt, which have been in severe decline for the past eight years. If passed, the bill would create a loophole allowing water diverters to comply with endangered species protection laws without providing habitat restoration, water quality improvements, and necessary freshwater flows within the ailing Delta as required by those same laws. Instead, SB 994 would tie the hands of the Department of Fish and Game by requiring the department to issue necessary environmental permits as long as water diverters simply pay into a fund for a massive Delta Smelt hatchery.

The committee analysis includes a stinging criticism of the bill's approach by fish biologist Dr. Peter Moyle, the foremost expert on Delta Smelt. "Trying to keep Delta Smelt going by raising them in hatcheries and releasing them is like trying to raise sheep in a drought-seared pasture surrounded by a forest full of hungry wolves," explains Moyle.

When pressed this morning in committee about the lack of evidence that a Delta Smelt hatchery would actually help restore the species, Senator Florez responded that the bill's intent was simply to establish an "interim" and "experimental" hatchery. Yet the bill has no sunset clause or time limitation, and it allows diverters to base compliance with environmental laws on the experimental hatchery.

PCL and a coalition of environmental organizations, including all of the environmental organizations involved in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), an effort to provide long-term endangered species permits for water diversion, registered opposition for SB 994. One primary concern of the coalition, in addition to the blatant attempt to undermine environmental protections, is that SB 994 would compromise the good-faith efforts of the BDCP and the Governor's ongoing Delta Vision process.

Barbara Byrne of the Planning and Conservation League said, "The fact that water diverters and some legislators are supporting SB 994 against the advice of Delta Smelt experts brings into question their commitment to restoration of the Delta ecosystem. This divisive measure does not bode well for the future success of collaborative processes and legislation on water and the Delta."

PCL will continue to fight for protection of the Delta and against this measure as it moves on to the Appropriations Committee.

For more information, contact PCL's Water Policy Analyst Barb Byrne.


PCL BACKS NEW LEGISLATION - SB 68 (KUEHL) - TO ADD CLARITY TO THE CEQA PROCESS

Keeping with our proud tradition of defending and improving the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), our state's most important tool to protect public health and the environment, PCL is once again partnering with Senator Kuehl to pass legislation to make important clarifications to the CEQA process.

This new legislation, SB 68 (Kuehl), makes clear which parties must be included and named in CEQA litigation.

Under current law, the parties that must be named in a lawsuit are all of the "recipients of approval" - those folks who were given an approval for a particular project. However, it's often very unclear who those parties actually are. For example, in some cases the developers appoint project managers, who are not necessarily recipients of approval, to represent them in the CEQA process. If a party should have been named but was not, the entire CEQA case is thrown out of court. To ensure an important case is not thrown out, local residents must cast a wide net and include all the parties they believe could potentially be recipients of approval.

SB 68 makes clear that the recipients of approval are those entities listed in the official Notice of Determination or Notice of Exemption.

This simple and modest bill helps ensure that important CEQA cases can be heard by our courts and that the entire CEQA process is fair and just. This important measure passed out of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee yesterday afternoon and now moves to the Assembly Floor.


VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED: STATE'S NEW GLOBAL WARMING PLAN TO HIT THE ROAD IN JULY, AIR BOARD SEEKS FEEDBACK

During its board meeting on Thursday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will release its draft AB 32 Scoping Plan, detailing how the state will reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. After the board meeting, CARB staff will hold five public hearings to receive feedback on their draft:

Tuesday, July 8th - Diamond Bar
Monday, July 14th - Fresno
Thursday, July 17th - Sacramento
Friday, August 8th - San Jose
Friday, August 15th - San Diego

We've been told that the draft Scoping Plan will include a broad array of measures, including increased energy efficiency, renewable power development, and improvements in land use planning, and policies to put a price on certain greenhouse gas emissions.

CARB staff will present a final version of the Scoping Plan to the CARB board in October and the board will vote on the Plan in late November.

To find out more about the public workshops, contact PCL's global warming program manger, Matt Vander Sluis.


TEJON RANCH CONSERVATION AGREEMENT GETS INKED, NEW CONSERVANCY FORMED

Last Tuesday in San Francisco, PCL participated in the signing ceremony of the official Tejon Ranch Conservation and Land Use Agreement, providing permanent conservation protection for 240,000 acres of Tejon Ranch, the largest single privately owned landholding in California.

Joining PCL in the Agreement are the Tejon Ranch Company, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Audubon California, and the Endangered Habitats League.

PCL Board President Bill Center, General Counsel Gary Patton, and Board Member Lynn Sadler were all on hand for the signature ceremony. Center notes that the Agreement first announced on May 8th, which protects at least ninety percent of the Ranch from future development, was "just the beginning" of efforts to protect and preserve the Tejon Ranch.

The conservation protections guaranteed by the Agreement will be implemented by the Tejon Ranch Conservancy, a new and independent conservation organization whose mission is "to preserve, enhance and restore the native biodiversity and ecosystem values of the Tejon Ranch and Techachapi Range." The Conservancy held its first meeting last Tuesday.

The Agreement creates an impressive "conservation bottom line." While the five environmental groups signing the Agreement have pledged not to oppose proposals in three areas of the Ranch, development proposals on those lands will have to go through the full permit and environmental review process, which will ultimately involve review by local, state, and federal environmental agencies, and include full public participation.

The Ranch is located in Kern and Los Angeles Counties at the intersection of four different ecosystems - the Sierra Nevada Range, the Mojave Desert, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Coast Range.


NO MORE AERIALS IN THE SKY: SPRAYING OF URBAN AREAS TO FIGHT LIGHT BROWN APPLE MOTH
ABANDONED FOR LESS RISKY APPROACH

Last Thursday, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) suspended aerial spraying over urban areas in its program to eradicate the light brown apple moth. PCL and other environmental and health organizations had insisted on abandoning aerial spraying for more ecologically sound programs.

CDFA will instead pursue the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) in which large quantities of sterilized, infertile insects are released to derail the spread of the wild population. This technique has been used successfully in California against invasive insects, such as the Medfly. Limited releases of the sterile moths will begin in 2009 with a full-scale program developed by 2011.

Given the overwhelming public outcry over the aerial spraying and the support for alternative tools and strategies, we think that a holistic approach to invasive species control and pesticide regulation for all California is within our reach. Working together, California can have a safer and more sustainable future.


FROM OUR "WE MISSED ONE FILES" - ASSEMBLYMEMBER NOREEN EVANS TAPPED TO CHAIR THE ASSEMBLY BUDGET COMMITTEE

In May, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass named Assemblymember Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) to chair the Assembly Budget Committee starting next December. This critical committee, currently chaired by termed-out Assemblymember John Laird, reviews and revises the Governor's proposed budget each year. Assemblymember Evans has received a 100 percent score from the California League of Conservation Voters each year since coming to the Assembly in 2004.