Assembly Will Hold Oversight Hearing on Bay Delta Conservation Plan

Assembly Will Hold Oversight Hearing on Bay Delta Conservation Plan

by Dan Bacher

The California Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s controversial proposal to build a peripheral canal/tunnel – on Tuesday, November 16, in the State Capitol, Room 437, starting at 1:00 PM.

A broad coalition of environmental organizations, fishing groups, Indian Tribes, water agencies, cities and counties is strongly opposed to the plan to facilitate the export of more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water agencies.

“At this hearing, we plan to get an update regarding the status of the BDCP process and information regarding the BDCP-related document the state has announced it will release on December 1,” said Tina Cannon Leahy, Principal Consultant of the Committee.

“The BDCP is being prepared through a collaboration of state, federal, and local water agencies, state and federal fish and wildlife agencies, environmental organizations, and other interested parties,” said Cannon Leahy. “These organizations have formed a steering committee tasked with identifying water flow and habitat restoration actions to recover endangered and sensitive species and their habitats in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta."

Currently, the BDCP is analyzing an isolated “conveyance facility” – a canal around or a tunnel under the Delta – in conjunction with habitat restoration and other measures as the basis of a Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Community Conservation Plan. This plan will provide the State Water Project Delta facilities operated by the California Department of Water Resources with federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and California Endangered Species Act (CESA) coverage for a fifty-year permit term and may provide ESA/CESA coverage for Mirant Delta LLC’s Delta Power Plants.

“It is anticipated that an ESA consultation on the plan would also provide the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation with new federal biological opinions and incidental take statements for the federal Central Valley Project,” said Cannon Leahy.

The hearing will begin with opening comments, followed by a “State Leadership Update” panel featuring Lester Snow, the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency.

Snow’s presentation will be followed by “Panel 2″ on Stakeholders’ Perspectives. The speakers will be Roger Patterson, Assistant General Manager, Metropolitan Water District; Jason Peltier, Chief Deputy General Manager, Westlands Water District; Cynthia Koehler, California Water Legislative Director, Environmental Defense Fund; Jonathan Rosenfield, Ph.D., Conservation Biologist, The Bay Institute; Melinda Terry, Manager, North Delta Water Agency; and Don Nottoli, Delta Stewardship Council Member, Delta Protection Commission Chair, and Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.

No members of California Indian Tribes, recreational fishing groups, commercial fishing organizations, or environmental justice groups were invited to speak on the panels, even though they will be impacted dramatically by the construction of a peripheral canal or tunnel.

Mark Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu (McCloud River) Tribe, said he was not surprised that the Committee didn't ask any Tribal representatives to participate on the panels, since the state of California has a long history of failing to recognize the sovereign rights of Tribes.

"The state refuses to acknowledge that there are still Indians here in California and that we still practice the traditional ways," said Franco. "When we go through elections, there is nobody elected who truly represents Tribal people. We don't have any representation like agribusiness and other interests do. We have water and water rights issues, but there is never really a discussion of who's first in time and first in use. The government discusses everybody's issues but those of Tribal people."

"We have a new Governor, Jerry Brown. How open will his door be to us?" Franco asked.

The “Stakeholders Panel” will be followed by a public comment period. Franco said he plans to address the Committee about the Tribal perspective on the BDCP during the public comment period.

Last week 43 cities, counties, water districts, and associations from all over Northern California sent a letter to Karen Scarborough, Undersecretary of the Natural Resources Agency, expressing concerns about the lack of Due Process in consideration of the BDCP plan document scheduled for release November 18, according to Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta.

They expressed “foundational concerns” about water rights and Delta flows, and about funding. “The November 18th document should describe in detail the benefit that the PREs [potentially regulated entities] will receive, as well as any benefits that the public is expected to receive and pay for,” they noted.

Attached to this letter was another letter to sent to Scarborough on September 3 by Stuart L. Somach, General Counsel of Glenn Colusa Irrigation District (GCID), expressing concerns about the “ranges of operations” being considered by the BDCP.

“GCID supports efforts to achieve the coequal goals set forth in SB 7x 1, but remains concerned that the obligations for meeting these goals will fall upon parties not responsible for the Delta’s existing conditions and who will not benefit from the activities contemplated by SB 7x 1,” said Somach.

Long-standing principles of California water law would be violated if upstream senior diverters were expected to forego diversions in order for BDCP to meet its goals, according to Somach. “Area of origin” statutes protect Northern California water supplies from injury by export projects (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2010/11/09).

BDCP proponents claim that the plan will "restore" the Delta ecosystem. However, the BDCP is "more likely to drive at least one native species to extinction than to help it recover, federal biologists have found," according to an article by Mike Taugher in the Contra Costa Times on November 5 (http://www.contracostatimes.com/environment/ci_1653823).

“The Bay Delta Conservation Plan, which has racked up nearly $140 million in study costs, would reduce the flow of water through the Delta and send more to farms and cities, according to a review obtained by Bay Area News Group,” Taugher said. “The waning flow would draw brackish Bay water deeper into the estuary and reduce freshwater flushing, spreading habitat changes that have degraded the estuary and harmed native species.”

In a dramatic counterpoint to the contention of BDCP proponents that the plan will “restore” the Delta, the biologists concluded, “Therefore, overall habitat conditions under the proposed project are likely to be worse than present day conditions or future conditions (if the project is not built).”

The biologists' conclusions serve to back the contention by BDCP opponents that the construction of the peripheral canal/tunnel is likely to lead to the extinction of collapsing populations of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail and other fish species.

The BDCP “principals” have been holding secret meetings lately to fast-track the Governor’s plan to build a peripheral canal and new dams. Bill Jennings, chairman/executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), Jim Crenshaw, president of CSPA, Bret Baker, a Delta pear farmer, biologist and Restore the Delta board member, and I disrupted a secret BDCP meeting at the California Farm Bureau office in Sacramento on September 30 to protest the closed process.

In a surrealistic example of living political theatre, 50 participants in the closed door meeting decided to leave rather than to allow the four of us listen to the proceedings (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2010/10/08).

It is no surprise to canal opponents that "San Joaquin Valley leaders" held an event, "Thank you Arnold! A Valley Tribute to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger," in Fresno on November 9 to honor Schwarzenegger for his steadfast committment to favoring San Joaquin Valley agribusiness over fish, fishermen and family farmers in the water wars.

The latest information on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, including meeting minutes and draft documents can be found at: http://bdcpweb.com/Home.aspx. Brochures and facts sheets on the most current BDCP proposals can be accessed here: http://bdcpweb.com/BDCPPlanningProcess/BrochuresAndFactSheets.aspx.

For more information, contact: Tina Cannon Leahy, Principal Consultant, Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, 1020 N Street, Suite 160, Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 319-2096 office, Tina.Leahy [at] asm.ca.gov.