Obama Administration Releases Report Backing Peripheral Canal

Obama Administration Releases Report Backing Peripheral Canal

by Dan Bacher

On December 15, the Obama administration officially announced its support for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal/tunnel, a project opposed by fishermen, Indian Tribes, environmentalists, family farmers and Delta residents.

A coordinated report issued by six federal agencies calls for the construction of a "new water conveyance system" - the peripheral canal/tunnel - to move water from north of the California Bay-Delta to corporate agribusiness on the side of the San Joaquin Valley and to Southern California water agencies.

The federal report, which complements a related report issued Wednesday by the Schwarzenegger administration, urges "continued progress toward completion of the California Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) and supports major elements of the plan as a promising means of addressing the critical needs of both the Bay-Delta ecosystem and the state’s water delivery structure," according a news release from the Department of Interior.

"After years of drought, growing stress on water supplies, and with the Bay-Delta in full environmental collapse, it has become clear to everyone that the status quo for California's water infrastructure is no longer an option," said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Salazar went on to praise Governor Schwarzenegger for developing "forward-thing solutions," in spite of the fact the Schwarzenegger administration has presided over the collapse of Central Valley chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and young striped bass populations by exporting record amounts of Delta water from 2004 to 2006.

"Governor Schwarzenegger and the State of California have worked tirelessly and in partnership with us to develop responsible, forward-thinking solutions that can help us break the cycle of shortages and water conflicts," Salazar gushed. "This is the moment to push forward with solutions, apply the best science available, and build a water future for California that is good for our economy, guards against the impacts of catastrophic earthquakes and other natural disasters, and helps restore California's Bay-Delta to health.”

Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke also lauded the release of the "coordinated report," repeating the "co-equal goals" rhetoric that defined the failed CalFed process and now defines the BDCP.

“Through the Interim Federal Action Plan for the Bay Delta, the Obama Administration has made significant progress working with California to address the State’s complex and long-standing water issues," stated Sutley. "However, there is still much more work to do. Finalizing a Bay Delta Conservation Plan is a key part of establishing a long-term sustainable future for California’s water system. Any solution must address the dual goals of water supply reliability and ecosystem health, be science-based, and be developed with the full engagement of stakeholders. We look forward to working with Governor-Elect Brown to continue and accelerate our progress.”

“Over the long-term, rebuilding the ecology of the Delta and securing the reliability of California's water delivery systems carries huge promise for growing jobs across California, from the salmon-dependent fishing communities of coastal California to the farming communities of the Central Valley to Los Angeles basin,” said Locke. “We will continue to focus on critical next steps, including applying the best scientific research available to inform sound decisions and long-term planning."

Locke failed to indicate how two mutually exclusive goals - restoring salmon populations and the jobs that depend on them and providing increased, more "reliable" supplies of water for unsustainable corporate agribusiness on drainage impaired land and land developers in southern California - can possibly achieved at the same time.

“The progress we’ve made together is historic,” gushed California Secretary for Natural Resources Lester A. Snow, the man who has prosecuted Schwarzenegger's "scorched earth" policy towards fish and the environment, welcoming the federal support. “No group of federal, state and local interests, diverse stakeholders and committed individuals has ever come this far with a strategy to restore the Delta ecosystem and develop a more modern way to deliver our water. This is another important step we take together, but there is more to be done.”

Inexplicably in light of the collapse of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations, the federal agencies are completely abdicating their mandate to protect the public trust by supporting this peripheral canal/tunnel plan. They are doing this even though the best available science, including the federal biological opinions protecting Central Valley salmon and Delta smelt, point to the key roles that water exports and declining water quality play in fish declines.

The release also claims that "Preliminary modeling results summarized in the state's BDCP Highlights suggest that a new north-south water conveyance facility could be operated in a manner that would generate average annual water exports over the long term that are more reliable, and greater, than the average annual exports that would be achievable under current constraints. For context, this modeling also suggests that these quantities may be comparable to the average annual Delta exports that have occurred since the Bay-Delta Accord, 15 years ago."

The key word here is "greater." As environmentalists, fishermen, Indian Tribes and scientists have pointed out for many years, what the Delta needs is less water exported out of it, not more.

The Obama and Schwarzenegger administrations have instead committed themselves to increasing Delta exports, while calling for the "restoration" of tens of thousands of acres of marshes, wetlands, and habitat to greenwash the destruction of the Delta ecosystem. The building of the canal and this "restoration" farce will result in kicking many family farmers and Delta residents off their land in order to deliver water to rich water privateers like Stewart Resnick of Paramount Farms, who has made millions of dollars in selling subsidized water back to the public for an enormous profit.

The peripheral canal/tunnel will cost an estimated $23 billion to $53.8 billion, according to an economic analysis conducted by Steven Kasower and Associates in 2009. Fishermen, Tribes and grassroots environmentalists fear that increased exports of water from the Delta will lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail and other collapsing populations of fish.

As Mark Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, told me at a rally against the peripheral canal at the State Capitol in Sacramento in July 2009, “The peripheral canal is a big, stupid idea that doesn’t make any sense from a tribal environmental perspective. Building a canal to save the Delta is like a doctor inserting an arterial bypass from your shoulder to your hand– it will cause your elbow to die just like taking water out of the Delta through a peripheral canal will cause the Delta to die.”

The Obama administration has definitely signed on to "change" - change for the worse. Fishermen, Indian Tribal members, conservationists, family farmers and Delta residents must rise up and organize to stop this abdication of the public trust to serve the interests of agribusiness, southern California land developers and corporate water privateers.

The DOI press release is available at: http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Obama-Administration-Announces-Support-for-Essential-Elements-of-the-California-Bay-Delta-Conservation-Plan.cfm.