[env-trinity] Big Ag Files Motion Attacking Hearing Officers In Tunnels Proceedings/Stewart Resnick Is Advisor to Embattled UC Davis Chancellor Katehi

[Dan Bacher]

Good Afternoon

Below are my latest two pieces, the first about corporate agribusiness  
interests filing a motion to disqualify two State Water Board hearing  
officers from overseeing the California Water Fix
hearing process and the second an updated piece about Stewart Resnick,  
the Beverly Hills Nut King, being advisor to embattled UC Davis  
Chancellor Linda Katehi.

Thanks
Dan
http://fishsniffer.com/index.php/2016/03/22/state-water-contractor-files-motion-attacking-water-board-officers-in-delta-tunnels-proceedings/

Big Ag Files Motion Attacking Hearing Officers In Delta Tunnels  
Proceedings
  by Dan Bacher |  posted in: Spotlight |  0
On Monday, the San Luis Delta-Mendota Water Authority (SLDMWA),  
representing corporate agribusiness interests, filed a legal motion to  
disqualify State Water Resources Control Board Hearing Officers  
Felicia Marcus and Tam Doduc from overseeing the permit process for  
the California Water Fix to build the Delta Tunnels.

The Water Authority alleges the Hearing Officers have “predetermined a  
critical issue” before them, Delta flow criteria.

SLDMWA is one of the water districts placed on “negative credit watch”  
last week due to its bond guarantor, Westlands Water District,  
engaging in “Enron accounting.” The Water Authority consists of water  
agencies representing approximately 2,100,000 acres of 29 federal and  
exchange water service contractors within the western San Joaquin  
Valley, San Benito and Santa Clara counties.

Westlands agreed to pay $125,000 to settle the charges filed against  
them by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), making it only  
the second municipal issuer to pay a financial penalty in an SEC  
enforcement action. (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/us/california-water-district-fined-by-sec-over-enron-accounting.html 
)

“The San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority (“Water Authority”)  
hereby moves fordisqualification of Hearing Officers Felicia Marcus  
and Tam Doduc,” according to the motion. “This motion is made on the  
ground that the Hearing Officers have predetermined a critical issue  
that will be before them in this proceeding.”

“When a judge, in court or an administrative adjudication, has  
predetermined an issue, the judge must be disqualified to protect the  
due process rights of all parties,” the Water Authority claims.

The motion alleges that the Hearing Officers “revealed” that they  
“have already reached a “significant conclusion regarding appropriate  
Delta flow criteria” in a formal order issued on February 11, 2016.

In their order, the Hearing Officers conclude: “The appropriate Delta  
flow criteria will be more stringent than petitioners’ current  
obligations and may well be more stringent than petitioners’ preferred  
project.” Hearing Officers’ Ruling on Pre-Hearing Conference  
Procedural Issues (“February Order”), p 4.

The Water Authority claims the Hearing Officers “did not qualify or  
caveat their conclusion in any way. The February Order reveals they  
have already decided to impose ‘more stringent’ flow criteria.”

The motion is available at: http://farmwater.org/swrcbmotion.pdf?e1a235

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director, of Restore the Delta,  
responded to the motion’s filing by stating, “Clearly, the large  
agribusiness water districts on the west side of the San Joaquin  
Valley know that the tunnels do not pencil out unless they grab more  
water from the Bay-Delta estuary.”

“They are seeking to manipulate the State Water Resources Control  
Board permitting process to that end. We can’t help wondering what  
they fear? Are they worried about what Department of Water Resources  
or Bureau of Reclamation staff testifying under oath will reveal about  
water flows?” she asked.

In 2010, fishery scientists from environmental NGO’s, fishery  
agencies, and independent groups reached consensus at State Water  
Resources Control Board hearings that the Bay-Delta estuary needed  
more water flow entering and flowing out of the Delta, according to  
Barrigan-Parrilla.

The State Water Resources Control Board concluded at that time, ‘The  
best available science suggests the current flows are insufficient to  
protect public trust resources.’

“The SLWDMA motion to disqualify hearing officers is an attempt to  
revise those findings,” she said. “They are vying to establish that  
more flows through the Delta are not needed so that they can, instead,  
grab the water to fill the tunnels, in order to make them financially  
viable.”

“What is an even greater shame is that Governor Brown has the power to  
stop this 12 to 24 month permit process currently underway at the  
State Water Resources Control Board for a project that does not have a  
detailed finance plan outlining who will pay. Westlands, one of the  
SLDMWA agencies, clearly does not have money to pay for the project.  
But instead, Governor Brown is allowing this ill-timed process to move  
forward and these special interest water districts to manipulate legal  
water planning processes that impact the Delta and the future of the  
entire state,” stated Barrigan-Parrilla.

She concluded, “California does not need the Delta Tunnels. It needs  
the Governor to stand up to special interest water districts that  
manipulate science and finances to their own ends, and to instead lead  
the real experts, who work for the public good, toward creating a  
sustainable water future for all Californians.”

The motion was filed at a time when opposition to Governor Jerry  
Brown’s Delta Tunnels Plan is mushrooming throughout the state – and  
as it is becoming increasingly clear that the California Water Fix  
makes no environmental, economic or scientific sense.

In fact, in the video from a recent hearing in the California  
Legislature, it appears that a Brown administration official is  
admitting that financial support for Governor Brown’s controversial  
Delta Tunnels Plan is rapidly collapsing.

On March 11, Secretary of Natural Resources John Laird spoke on behalf  
of the administration during a hearing in San Francisco by the Senate  
Select Committee on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta entitled,  
“Pending Delta Decisions and their Potential Economic and Other  
Impacts on San Francisco & the Bay Area.”

Laird responded to the news that the Westlands Water District, the  
largest agricultural water district in California and longtime  
proponent of the tunnels, used “Enron accounting” to mislead investors  
about a $77 million bond sale, resulting in a settlement with the  
Securities and Exchange Commission over civil charges.

He described the news as “disturbing” – and then admitted that “it  
(the California Water Fix to build the Delta Tunnels) won’t move ahead  
unless people, it pencils out for people and they sign up and they  
pay.” (http://fishsniffer.com/index.php/2016/03/18/is-brown-administration-official-admitting-delta-tunnels-plan-is-collapsing/ 
)








2. http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/6/1497033/-Agribusiness-Tycoon-Resnick-Is-Advisor-to-Embattled-UC-Davis-Chancellor-




Stewart Resnick Is Advisor to Embattled UC Davis Chancellor Katehi

by Dan Bacher

  UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, made infamous throughout the world  
for her leadership role at the university when students were pepper  
sprayed by campus police during an Occupy protest in the fall 2011, is  
under fire again.


Just as students called for her resignation because of the pepper  
spraying and student repression that occurred under her watch,   
Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy (D-Sacramento) on Friday, March 4, called  
for her to resign for accepting questionable paid corporate board  
seats with for-profit educational organizations. Other legislators  
have also joined McCarthy in calling for her to resign.

UC Davis students are currently occupying Chancellor Katehi’s office  
on the fifth floor of Mraka Hall as they demand that she resign or be  
fired. They are also demanding that “the hiring process is redesigned  
so that UC Davis students and workers are not only a part of this  
process, but a major deciding body in the selection and confirmation  
of a new Chancellor.” For more information, go to:   
firekatehiblog.wordpress.com

In February, Katehi took a board position with the De-Vry Education  
Group, a “for profit company under federal scrutiny for allegedly  
exaggerating job placement and income status,” according to the  
Sacramento Bee. She resigned from that position on March 1. (http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/the-public-eye/article64041327.html 
)

Then on Thursday, March the Bee reported that “Katehi received a total  
of $420,000 in income and stock across the 2012 to 2014 fiscal years  
as a board member of John Wiley & Son’s a publisher of textbooks,  
college materials and scholarly materials.”

Katehi has apologized for accepting the corporate board positions –  
and said she will donate the money she received to student scholarships.

Kathehi’s acceptance of the paid board positions and her role in the  
pepper spray fiasco are just one of the controversies she has become  
enmeshed in during her career. When she served as provost at the   
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign before assuming the UC Davis  
position in 2009, the Chicago Tribune revealed that hundreds of under- 
qualified students were admitted only after the intervention of  
powerful people. She told the San Francisco Chronicle that she knew  
nothing about these “improper admissions.”  (www.sfgate.com/...)

In addition, Katehi plays a key role in the national security  
apparatus. In 2010 Katehi was appointed to the National Security  
Higher Education Advisory Board, “which promotes discussion and  
outreach between research universities and the FBI,” according to the  
UC Davis website. (www.ucdavis.edu/...)

“The board was established in 2005 and includes about 20 presidents  
and chancellors of major research universities,” Dave Jones reported  
in the “University News” section of the website. “The chair is Graham  
Spanier, president of Pennsylvania State University. Because of the  
nature of some of the material they discuss, board members must hold  
‘secret’ security clearances.”

In the spring of 2011, internal UC Davis emails revealed surveillance  
and infiltration tactics employed by campus officials during campus  
tuition increase protests.

A Public Records Act request by UC Davis student Bryan Sparks resulted  
in the release of 280 pages of documents that “disclosed a  
surveillance and infiltration program by university officials to  
monitor, and shape the protests, and also the narrative reported by  
the news media, according to a news release from ACLU of Sacramento  
County. The documents dated from July 1, 2010 through December 6, 2010.

Board of Advisors has deepened corporate influence at UC Davis

Not only has Katehi profited from her positions with private  
educational and textbook organizations and has presided over a  
surveillance and infiltration program at the campus, but she has  
deepened corporate influence over the UC system by choosing Beverly  
Hills billionaire Stewart Resnick, a promoter of Governor Jerry  
Brown’s California Water fix to build the Delta Tunnels and many  
attacks on laws protecting salmon and Delta fisheries,  as one of her  
Board of Advisors  at UC Davis. (chancellor.ucdavis.edu/...)

Resnick serves with other corporate leaders such as Riley P. Bechtel,  
chairman of the board of the Bechtel Corporation, and John S. Watson,  
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Chevron  
Corporation, on the Board of Advisors. For the complete list of  
Katehi’s Board of Advisors, go to: chancellor.ucdavis.edu/…

The UC Davis website explains the purpose of Katehi’s Board of Advisors:

“Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi has created a Chancellor’s Board of  
Advisors to offer independent, expert advice on how the university can  
continue on its path toward academic excellence and financial strength  
and stability.

The board provides support, mentoring, guidance and expertise, helping  
the chancellor and campus leadership chart a course for UC Davis to  
become one of the nation’s top five public research universities.

The Chancellor’s Board of Advisors is comprised of a diverse group of  
leaders from business, science, the judiciary and academia. The  
advisors each bring a deep understanding of and commitment to UC  
Davis, its mission and its goals, including the recently announced  
2020 Initiative and the campus’s Vision of Excellence. “

Resnicks are the “Koch Brothers of California Water”

Resnick, and his wife, Lynda, the co-owners of The Wonderful Company,  
are the Power Couple of Corporate Agribusiness in California who have  
become virtual royalty in a state known for its entrenched "pay to  
play" politics.

The Resnicks have become infamous as the "Koch Brothers of California  
Water" for the many thousands of dollars they contribute to candidates  
and propositions in California every election. For example, Stewart  
Resnick donated $150,000 to Yes on Prop 1, Governor Jerry Brown’s  
water bond campaign, in 2014. (www.dailykos.com/...)

They have also dumped many hundreds of thousands of dollars into the  
campaign coffers of Jerry Brown, Senator Dianne Feinstein and many  
other politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, over the years,  
along with making contributions to the arts and Stewart Resnick's  
favorite “environmental” NGO, Conservation International.

The Resnicks’ deep ties to the University of California system,  
including Stewart Resnick’s “service” on UC Davis and UCLA boards,  
comes as their foundation has donated millions of dollars to the  
university.

Resnicks serve on other UCLA and other university panels

Stewart Resnick’s position on the Board of Advisors of Chancellor  
Linda Katehi is not the only one in the educational system than he  
holds. According to the UC Davis website, Stewart Resnick is a member  
of the Executive Board of the UCLA Medical Sciences and a member of  
the Advisory Board of the Anderson School of Management, at UCLA , his  
alma mater. Resnick holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business  
administration from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)  
and Juris Doctorate from UCLA Law School.

It is at UCLA where Resnicks exert their influence the most with the  
millions of dollars they have donated. On May 24, 2013, the UCLA  
School of Law announced that it had received a $4 million gift from  
the Resnick Family Foundation to establish the Resnick Program for  
Food Law and Policy.

"The gift provides for as much as another $3 million in matching  
endowment funds,” according to a news release from the UC School of  
Law. “The new program, the first of its kind at a top tier law school,  
will explore ways to hasten improvements in the modern food system. In  
addressing questions of food safety, distribution and access, the  
Resnick Program will focus on reforming food law and policy for the  
benefit of the consumer.” (law.ucla.edu/...)

Dean Rachel F. Moran praised the Resnicks for their donations,  
stating, “Alumnus Stewart Resnick ’62 and his wife Lynda,  
entrepreneurs and dedicated philanthropists, have long used their  
charitable donations to promote public health. We are deeply grateful  
for their generosity and their commitment to advancing sound food law  
and policy.”

Stewart Resnick explained his vision for the Resnick Program:

“UCLA Law is a globally respected institution of higher education  
located in the food capital of the world. We grow more food in  
California than anywhere else, and the emphasis on health and wellness  
here ideally positions UCLA to take a leadership position. The rise of  
the global food trade has generated a modern food system that is  
different than anything the world has ever experienced.

 From the farm to the fork, this system has given rise to profound  
health, social, and cultural consequences. Our goal with this donation  
is to help consumers better understand exactly what they’re eating.  
It’s also an opportunity to improve the clarity and accuracy of food  
labeling and broaden access to healthy food options. I’m very  
optimistic that this program can save lives.”

Ironically, while Stewart Resnick claims to support broadening “access  
to healthy food options,” he has become the poster boy for  
industrialized corporate agribusiness, kept alive by unsustainable  
water exports. He and his wife have for years fought against laws that  
protect salmon and other fish, a healthy wild food source, and protect  
the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the  
West Coast of the Americas.

UCLA hospital named after the Resnicks

University officials also named a hospital after the Resnicks, the  
Stewart & Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA (NPH), in  
"honor of their support" for UCLA’s medical care programs.

According to the hospital's website, the 74-bed acute psychiatric  
hospital is "among the leading centers in the world for comprehensive  
patient care, research and education in the fields of mental health,  
developmental disabilities and neurology. A key part of UCLA Health  
System, Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital is the major psychiatry  
teaching facility of the UCLA Center for the Health Sciences." (www.semel.ucla.edu/...)

The Resnicks contributed $15 million to the construction of the Ronald  
Reagan UCLA Medical Center that opened in June 2008. In 2002, they  
received the UCLA Medal, the university’s highest honor, in  
recognition of their “extraordinary contributions to the campus.” In  
2005, the law school bestowed upon Stewart the UCLA School of Law’s  
Alumni of the Year Award.

Resnick is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Bard College,  
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; a member of the Board of Trustees of the J.  
Paul Getty Trust; and trustee of the California Institute of Technology.

The Resnicks have played an instrumental role in promoting campaigns  
to eviscerate Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for Central  
Valley Chinook salmon and Delta smelt populations and to build the  
fish-killing Delta Tunnels.

Marketing public water for profit

Resnick, while he served as an “environmental leader” on the Board of  
Directors of Conservation International, bought subsidized Delta water  
and then sold it back to the public for a big profit as Delta fish and  
Central Valley salmon populations crashed.

“As the West Coast’s largest estuary plunged to the brink of collapse  
from 2000 to 2007, state water officials pumped unprecedented amounts  
of water out of the Delta only to effectively buy some of it back at  
taxpayer expense for a failed environmental protection plan, a  
MediaNews investigation has found,” according an article by the late  
Mike Taugher in the Contra Costa Times on May 23, 2009. (www.revivethesanjoaquin.org/...)

Environmentalists have castigated the Resnicks, the largest orchard  
fruit growers in the world, and other corporate agribusiness interests  
for planting thousands of acres of new almond trees during the drought  
while Governor Jerry Brown is mandating that urban families slash  
water usage by 25 percent. (www.eastbayexpress.com/...)

Besides their influence over the UC system, the Resnicks' have spent  
millions on arts and charities through the Resnick Family Foundation.

The Resnicks have managed to use their wealth not only to exert  
enormous influence over water politics in California, but over the  
educational sphere as well, as we can see.

In addition to serving on UC Davis and UCLA boards and panels, the  
Resnicks have also extended their influence over California water  
policy by forming “Astroturf” groups like the Coalition for a  
Sustainable Delta and the Californians for Water Security to promote  
the construction of Jerry Brown’s Delta Tunnels and legislative  
attacks on the Endangered Species Act and other laws protecting  
Central Valley salmon and steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt and other  
fish species. (restorethedelta.org/...)

Among the companies the Resnicks own include Paramount Citrus,  
Paramount Farming and Paramount Farms, “the world’s largest growers,  
processors and marketers of citrus, almonds and pistachios,” according  
to UC Davis. Their holdings also include POM Wonderful, grower of  
pomegranates and maker of the POM Wonderful pomegranate juice;  
Teleflora, the largest floral wire service in the world; and FIJI  
Water, the largest imported bottled water in the United States.

The couple also owns Suterra, the “largest biorational pest control  
company” in the United States, and JUSTIN Vineyards and Winery, a  
winery based in Paso Robles focusing on Bordeaux-style blends and  
single varietals.

Westlands Water District also exerts enormous influence

While the Resnicks exert enormous influence over California politics  
and institutions, another agribusiness giant, the Westlands Water  
District, rivals them in their ability to manipulate environmental  
politics in California. An article in the New York Times on December  
30, 2015 exposes the huge political power that Westlands wields in  
state and national politics.

"A water utility on paper, Westlands in practice is a formidable  
political force, a $100 million-a-year agency with five lobbying firms  
under contract in Washington and Sacramento, a staff peppered with  
former federal and congressional powers, a separate political action  
committee representing farmers and a government-and-public-relations  
budget that topped $950,000 last year," the Times said. (www.nytimes.com/...)

Linda Katehi’s drawing of income from corporate boards, the presence  
of Stewart Resnick on the boards of UC Davis and UCLA, and the  
formidable political force that Westlands Water District represents   
are just three examples of the growing collaboration between  
corporations, billionaires and government in California and across the  
nation that has led to the capture of the regulatory apparatus by Big  
Money interests.







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