[env-trinity] Brown administration applies for permit to take endangered species in Delta Tunnels

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/10/10/1580366/-Brown-administration-applies-for-permit-to-take-endangered-species-killed-by-Delta-Tunnels

Photo of Delta smelt courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.


Brown administration applies for permit to take endangered species in  
Delta Tunnels

by Dan Bacher

Governor Jerry Brown and other state officials have constantly claimed  
the Delta Tunnels project will “restore” the Delta ecosystem, but they  
revealed their real plans on October 7 when the administration applied  
for a permit to kill winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley  
steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt and other endangered species with  
the project.


The California Department of Water Resources (DWR)  submitted an  
“incidental intake” application for the California Department of Fish  
and Wildlife (CDFW) in alleged “compliance” with the California  
Endangered Species Act (CESA) in order to build the Delta Tunnels,  
also known as the California WaterFix. In other words, they are  
applying for a permit to kill endangered species in the construction  
and operation of the three new water intakes on the Sacramento River  
and other facilities planned as part of the multi-billion dollar  
project.

The state and federal water export pumps on the South Delta that  
deliver subsidized water to corporate agribusiness interests on the  
west side of the San Joaquin Valley have killed hundreds of millions  
of fish over the past several decades. These fish include Sacramento  
splittail, a native minnow; endangered species such as winter-run  
Chinook, spring-run Chinook, Central Valley steelhead and Delta and  
longfin smelt; and introduced fish including striped bass, threadfin  
shad, American shad, black bass and white catfish.

The California WaterFix website announced, “Consistent with the  
federal Endangered Species Act process where DWR and U.S. Bureau of  
Reclamation recently submitted the California WaterFix biological  
assessment addressing incidental take of federally-listed species, DWR  
has submitted this application to DFW in compliance with Section  
2081(b) of CESA to address incidental take of state-listed species for  
the California WaterFix.”

“As identified in CESA, projects that may cause ‘take’ (translate:  
killing) of a state-listed species must obtain authorization from DFW  
prior to implementing the action,” California WaterFix officials  
stated. “Because California WaterFix would potentially cause  
incidental take associated with its construction and operation, DWR is  
required to apply for an incidental take permit (also known as a  
2081(b) permit.”

Key elements in the 2081(b) application include “documentation that  
the impacts of the incidental take are minimized and fully mitigated;  
funding is available for the minimization and mitigation measures; and  
incidental take authorized by the permit would not jeopardize the  
continued existence of a CESA-listed species,” the officials declared.

The California Code of Regulations (Title 14, Sections 783.0 - 783.8)  
provide details on the application and review requirements related to  
the 2081(b) permit.

For the complete incidental take permit, appendices and figures, go  
here: cms.capitoltechsolutions.com/…

Responding to DWR’s application for an incidental take permit, Barbara  
Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta (RTD),  
noted, “The California WaterFix , aka the Delta tunnels, was sold as  
protecting fish. All the years of propaganda about how  Delta Smelt  
would do better were laid out month after month for Californians.  
Well, the WaterFix has applied for a take permit to kill DeltaSmelt  
with the tunnels.”

As DWR submitted it’s application, Delta and longfin smelt, winter-run  
Chinook, and other fish species continued to move closer and closer to  
the abyss of extinction.

The population of Delta Smelt plummeted to a new low in the annual  
spring survey conducted by the California Department of Fish and  
Wildlife. The 2016 Spring Kodiak Trawl (SKT) index, a relative measure  
of abundance, is 1.8, a decrease from the 2015 index (13.8) and is the  
lowest index on record.

Only thirteen adult Delta Smelt, an indicator species that  
demonstrates the health  of the San Francisco Bay-Delta,  were  
collected at 8 stations contributing to the index in 2016. “This is  
the lowest catch in SKT history, and a steep decline from the 2015  
then-record-low catch of 88,” said Scott Wilson, Regional Manager of  
the CDFW Bay Delta Region, in a memo.

“Once the most abundant species in the estuary, we can now name smelt  
rather than count them," said Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the  
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA).

On October 7, Tom Cannon on the California Fisheries Blog responded to  
the Sacramento Bee’s report on August 31 citing claims by Dr. Ted  
Sommer of the California Department of Water Resources that Delta  
smelt are starving.

“Dr. Sommer related recent success in stimulating the north Delta food  
web by increasing flow through the Yolo Bypass in July as part of the  
state’s new strategy to help Delta smelt,” said Cannon. “I had  
reported earlier on the experiment and the strategy.  While Dr. Sommer  
was not implying that just adding some fertilizer to the north Delta  
would save the smelt, he was deflecting discussion and treatment away  
from the overriding cause of the collapse of Delta smelt: lack of  
spring-through-fall outflow to the Bay.”

“During August of this year, the normal heavy hand of Delta exports  
again reached out to degrade the critical habitat of what few smelt  
are left,” Cannon said.

To read the complete article, “Are Delta Smelt Starving,” go to:  
calsport.org/…

The Delta smelt collapse is part of an overall ecosystem decline  
driven by water diversions by the federal and state water projects.  
The CDFW's 2015 Fall Midwater Trawl demonstrates that, since 1967,  
populations of striped bass, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, American  
shad, splittail and threadfin shad have declined by 99.7, 98.3, 99.9,  
97.7, 98.5 and 93.7 percent, respectively, according to Jennings.

Background on the Delta Tunnels

The Delta Tunnels plan, Governor Jerry Brown’s “legacy project,” is  
based on the absurd premise that diverting more water out of the  
Sacramento River before it flows into the Delta would somehow  
“restore" its fish populations and ecosystems.

In reality, the construction of the two 35-mile long tunnels under the  
Delta would hasten the extinction of Central Valley steelhead,  
Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt,  
green sturgeon and other fish species. The project would also imperil  
the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath  
rivers, a fishery that for thousands of years has played an integral  
part in the culture, religion and food supply of the Yurok, Karuk and  
Hoopa Valley Tribes.

To read a transcript of my testimony before the State Water Resources  
Board regarding the petition by the Department of Water Resources and  
the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to add three new points of diversion  
from the Sacramento River for the Delta Tunnels, go to:  www.dailykos.com/ 
...


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