[env-trinity] AP and Monterey Herals- Not everybody happy with CALFED and water export plans

Tom Stokely tstokely at trinityalps.net
Fri Oct 8 10:38:22 PDT 2004


They call CALFED a "consensus"?

OPERATIONS
Delta water transfer debated 
Fisherman and environmentalists pan proposed plans to send water down south 
Associated Press - 10/7/04
By Don Thompson, staff writer
SACRAMENTO -- A day after Congress sent President Bush ambitious legislation to restore California's vulnerable Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, state and federal water regulators pushed ahead with plans to divert more CalFed water to Southern California despite concerns over endangered wildlife. 

The federal Bureau of Reclamation and state Department of Water Resources want to integrate their parallel reservoir and pumping systems and sign long-term water contracts with rural irrigation districts and urban water districts. 

That could alter everything from the amount of scarce water flowing to thirsty crops and parched Southern California, to water available for fish in the Delta and in rivers from the American in Sacramento to the Trinity and Klamath in northwestern California. 

California's two Democratic U.S. senators and a half-dozen Democratic House members, including House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, have called for delays and more information before water regulators act. 

But the agencies continued with an informational hearing that played to a packed auditorium and went an hour overtime Thursday, though officials promised nothing that will endanger wildlife will be finalized without a complete environmental review. 

"Why wasn't this run through CalFed? Why have a CalFed?" wondered Dennis O'Connor, consultant to the state Senate Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources, referring to what is formally known as the California Federal Bay-Delta Program authorized Wednesday by Congress. 

The agencies have been working with CalFed, said Susan Ramos, Reclamation's assistant regional director. But the pending water contracts that would send more water flowing to Los Angeles and San Diego were hammered out in a series of closed-door sessions in Napa in July 2003. 

The contracts lasting 25 to 40 years would have a "massive impact" on California's complex circulatory system, in which water from Northern California is channeled through the Delta and pumped south over the Tehachapi Mountains, said Hamilton Candee, senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council. One agreement would send 27 percent more water through the state's Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant near Stockton. 

"It's what's driving this train," Candee said. "Somebody wants to get those contracts signed by the end of the year" before a potential change in administrations. 

Fishing organizations complained the proposals would hurt vulnerable stocks, potentially endangering fall run salmon returning up the American River. More than 180,000 have died the last three years, complained activist Dan Bacher, eclipsing the 68,000 killed in the massive 2002 Klamath River die-off. 

The problem is an age-old one in California, said Mark Rockwell, vice president for conservation for the Northern California Federation of Fly Fisherman. 

"There isn't enough water to go around -- and if there is it it's not at the right temperature" to sustain fish, Rockwell said. 

Regulators and critics now are both waiting for an environmental assessment of the dangers from the pending water agreements to salmon and other endangered fish if more Northern California water is pumped through the Delta to the southern half of the state. #


On the Net:  Read the relevant Bureau of Reclamation documents at www.usbr.gov/mp/cvo/index.html. 

http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~2454077,00.html#





CALFED PROGRAM
CalFed bill hailed by water users, criticized by environmentalists
Associated Press - 10/7/04
By Brian Melley, staff writer
SACRAMENTO - A joint federal and state water program intended to unite farmers, city folk and nature lovers was hailed by water users Thursday, but criticized by environmentalists who said a congressional reauthorization bill did not do enough to improve habitat.

President Bush is expected to sign the $395 million California Federal Bay-Delta Program bill passed Wednesday by the House of Representatives that aims to restore the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The system feeds the nation's most productive farm land while providing drinking water to 22 million Californians.

The bill, which has been the subject of six years of debate and negotiations and has shrunken from once seeking more than $1 billion, reauthorizes the so-called CalFed program that was conceived to improve water supply and quality and save threatened wildlife.

Tim Quinn, a vice president for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California serving 18 million people, called the bill historic for making peace among factions who have long fought over the state's limited water supply.

Farmers throughout the Central Valley and water agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California were all united in their support of the bill, which had support from both parties in the state's congressional delegation, he said.

''Californians have never been this united on how to manage their water in the future,'' Quinn said. ''It's a turning point.''

Environmental groups, however, said the bill was flawed because it doesn't authorize additional money for ecosystem restoration, said Barry Nelson of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Nelson said money in the program once devoted to bringing back salmon can now be diverted to buying water. He also said rigorous reporting required for people selling land to federal agencies to restore habitat will make it cumbersome and slow improvements.

''It's painfully ironic that a bill that's supposed to promote restoration is interfering with restoration activities,'' Nelson said.

CalFed was started a decade ago as a long-term multibillion project bringing the first major changes to California's water systems since the 1960s.

The state, the federal government and water users are supposed to pay a third each for the program, but Congress has not reauthorized the bill, costing the state millions in the past few years.

Under the bill passed Wednesday, $90 million will be spent to reconstruct levees and several major storage projects will be studied. It will also speed approval of 49 water recycling projects and ensure water for fisheries.

Water flows will increase to Southern California, and the feasibility of restoring the Salton Sea, which is suffering from increasing salinity, will be studied.

Supporters of the bill said it will increase the flexibility to move water through a system of canals, reservoirs and the delta, an intricate web of levees and rivers where the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers join and flow to San Francisco Bay.

''It balances the program as it was designed to be balanced,'' said Jeff McCracken of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. ''The balance now is it's going to go ahead and look at water supply and continue to look at restoration. It's always looked at restoration.''

Carl Zichella of the Sierra Club said the balance now tilts in favor of large water users. He said environmental rules to save threatened and endangered species were required to offset years of damage from dams and reservoirs.

''The ability to save ecosystems,'' he said, ''I think is in question now.''

The California Bay-Delta Authority that coordinates the program chose not to comment on criticism.

''It's not our job to debate stakeholders in the program,'' said spokesman Keith Coolidge.

Tom Birmingham, general manager of Westlands Water District that consists of nearly 600,000 acres of arid farmland in the San Joaquin Valley, said the bill was a breakthrough that would improve conditions for farmers and other users.

If implemented as originally envisioned, he said the program has the potential to eliminate the state's longtime water conflicts. But he added that some groups will probably always be opposed to pumping more water south of the delta.#


http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/9868152.htm


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