[env-trinity] Today's Chronicle Editorial on $54 billion water bill/My letter in response

[Dan Bacher]

Today's S.F. Chronicle editorial: A $54 billion water bill:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/29/ 
EDJ019DHLC.DTL
My Letter in Response

Stop the Canal

It is absurd for the state to authorize a water project that could  
cost up to $54 billion (editorial, August 30) at a time when our  
state parks, teachers and childrens’ health care are in great  
jeopardy because of budget cuts.

I find it appalling that Senator Joe Simitian and Assemblyman Jared  
Huffman are sponsoring legislation that serves as a road map to  
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's peripheral canal. This proposed  
government boondoggle wouldn't create any new water - it would only  
take water from senior water rights holders to be delivered to junior  
water rights holders on the San Joaquin Valley's west side.

In spite of the Governor’s claim that the canal will result in  
“ecosystem restoration," this dangerous bill package will only  
exacerbate the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley salmon, delta  
smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail, American  
shad, striped bass and other California Delta fish populations by  
removing more water from the imperiled estuary.

Does it make any sense for the state to build a giant canal that will  
destroy Delta fisheries and Delta farmland while indebting  
Californians for decades to come? For action alerts, go to  
www.calsport.org.

DAN BACHER, Sacramento
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