Peripheral canal foes introduce bill to protect Delta

Peripheral canal foes introduce bill to protect Delta

by Dan Bacher

Two Delta legislators, Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) and Assemblyman Bill Berryhill (R-Ceres), have introduced legislation to ensure that the imperiled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is protected from potential conveyance projects to export water to San Joaquin Valley agribusiness and southern California.

Wolk’s legislation, coauthored by Berryhill, establishes specific criteria and assurances that will enable the state to meet its "co-equal goals" for the Delta as established by a package of laws, enacted in November 2009, that canal opponents criticized for creating a "clear path" to the construction of the peripheral canal.

"Those goals are to provide a more reliable water supply for California—and to protect, restore, and enhance the Delta ecosystem," according to a news release from Wolk's office. "By law, these goals must be achieved in a manner that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place."

In 1980 during his second term as Governor, Jerry Brown negotiated the legislative package that included several important protections for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, according to Wolk. Thirty years later, Wolk and Berryhill are revisiting Brown’s proposed safeguards for the Delta "as a means of protecting the region from future attempts to siphon off its water."

“When Californians voted down Governor Brown’s proposed peripheral canal 30 years ago, they decided that the safeguards included in that package were not strong enough to protect this valuable and irreplaceable resource,” said Senator Wolk, an outspoken advocate for the protection of the Delta’s environment, economy, and communities.

“Now, a new canal or tunnel is being proposed with even weaker protections for the Delta then were promised before," Wolk explained. "Our legislation ensures that, at a bare minimum, if a new facility is built, critical guarantees are written into State law to provide real, enforceable protections for the Delta ecosystem and the Delta communities, while also enhancing water reliability statewide.”

Wolk’s Senate Bill 200 would provide unequivocal commitments to maintain water quality within the Delta in order to support vital Delta agriculture, recreation, and drinking water. Additionally, the bill would ensure that communities within the Delta have access to adequate water supplies—and would encourage the development of alternative water supplies in regions that rely on imported Delta water, and improvements in the efficiency of the State and Federal projects within the Delta.

The bill, supported by the Delta Counties Coalition, would also:

• Require planning, specific operational criteria, and other measures that contribute to the recovery of Delta fish species and protect beneficial uses of water within the Delta to be in place prior to construction of any new water conveyance infrastructure in the Delta.

• Establish enforceable water flows and reductions in Delta water exports to protect water quality and other environmental conditions in the Delta, the Suisun Marsh, and the San Francisco Bay.

One provision would authorize the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to administer a study to "determine the interrelationship between Delta outflow and fish and wildlife resources in the San Francisco Bay System and waste discharges into the San Francisco Bay system." For decades, federal and state officials have avoided studying this complex relationship that is essential for understanding the decline of Central Valley salmon and Delta pelagic (open water) fish species.

The bill would also require the Department of Water Resources to study the possible interconnection between the State Water Resources Development System and water supply systems serving the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, and San Mateo, and the City and County of San Francisco.

Dante Nomellini, a Stockton attorney and veteran of the battle against the peripheral canal in the previous Brown administration, hasn't reviewed the specific language of the current legislation, although he is familiar with the language of the original SB 200. He did emphasize that any protections can be overridden once the peripheral canal/tunnel is in place.

"All of these protections can be circumvented through the use of emergency powers both at the state and federal level," said Nomellini. "An isolated conveyance system, once in place, will take the water and destroy the Bay Delta ecosystem."

He also noted that the House of Representatives has passed a Continuing Resolution Bill that has stripped funding to protect Central Valley salmon under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This legislation would prevent the National Marine Fisheries Service from enforcing the biological opinions that protect the Central Valley salmon and steelhead from extinction, letting Delta export pumping go back to maximum levels.

"We think the intentions of the Senator and Assemblyman in sponsoring the legislation are good," commented Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta. "We look forward to Delta leaders working with them to strengthen the bill."

Barrigan-Parrilla added that Delta advocates need to work for the passage of an amendment to the State Constitution that protects flows in rivers and recognizes that water is a public trust resource.

Senate Bill 200 has been introduced at a time when the Delta ecosystem is in its biggest crisis ever. Central Valley salmon and Delta pelagic fish populations have collapsed to record low levels, due to increased water exports and declining water quality in recent years. Fishermen, members of Indian Tribes, environmentalists, family farmers and Delta residents fear that the construction of a peripheral canal/tunnel would lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, southern green sturgeon, southern resident killer whales and other species.

The Brown administration, like the Schwarzegger administration that preceded it, supports the construction of a peripheral canal/tunnel. The Obama administration has also officially endorsed the peripheral canal, being the first federal administration to do so. Even the G.W. Bush administration didn't endorse the canal's construction.

Wolk said she will also be introducing legislation this session intended to reduce reliance on water from the Delta, as well as another bill to reform water financing in California to make it "more efficient, transparent, and effective."

For more information about SB 200, call Craig Reynolds, Senator Wolk's Office, 916-651-4005.