[env-trinity] Happy Holidays! State and Feds will release EIS for Delta Tunnels plan tomorrow

[Dan Bacher]

California Governor Jerry Brown today lauded the release of the  
“final” environmental documents for the controversial Delta Tunnels, a  
plan that fishermen, Tribal leaders, conservationists, family farmers  
and environmental justice advocates consider to be the most  
environmentally destructive public works project in California history.


Brown touted the California WaterFix, his proposal to build two  
massive tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, as  
“California’s effort to modernize the state’s water infrastructure.”

“This project has been subjected to 10 years of detailed analysis and  
more environmental review than any other project in the history of the  
world,” said Brown in a statement. “It is absolutely essential if  
California is to maintain a reliable water supply.”

Brown also made his case for the tunnels in an article in the  
Sacramento Bee, “Jerry Brown plunges ahead on twin tunnels,” written  
by Dan Morain, the Bee’s Editorial Page Editor.

“We’ve put everything we have into it,” Brown told Morain in an  
interview.  “The best scientific thinking says California needs the  
project.”

The decision to grant the permits for the Delta Tunnels won’t be made  
until next year after President-Elect Donald Trump enters office, so  
you can bet that Brown, in spite of his posing as the alleged  
"resistance" to Trump's environmental policies, will be doing  
everything he can to convince Trump to support his “legacy" project.

Referring to Trump, Brown told Morain, “I don’t think the president  
wants to destroy the economy of California… It’s not about being  
conservative or liberal. It’s about having the plumbing that meets the  
needs of the 21st century.”

In a statement, Restore the Delta, a coalition opposed to the Delta  
Tunnels, contested Governor Brown’s claim that the tunnels plan is  
backed up by the “best scientific thinking.”

“Governor Jerry Brown told the Sacramento Bee that Delta Tunnels  
proposal is based on the best scientific thinking,” said Barbara  
Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta (RTD).  
“That is simply not true. He left out that fish do worse with the  
tunnels, and that millions of Delta residents will be left with  
degraded water that will not meet Clean Water Act standards.”

“The Governor failed to remember the dangers for Delta residents  
associated with the project, from toxic algal blooms, to increased  
boron and selenium in drinking water, to greenhouse gas emissions  
equivalent to 600,000 new cars on the road each year from  
construction," she said.

“This forgetting on Governor Brown's part is reckless and dangerous as  
he makes his appeal to President-elect Trump to support the project.  
Governor Brown is supporting a project that will leave Stockton,  
California, a majority-minority city, and other Delta environmental  
justice communities with degraded water -- all for the benefit of rich  
water exporters in the San Joaquin Valley, Southern California, and  
Silicon Valley,” she stated.

“Shame on Governor Brown. What dishonest pandering,” Barrigan-Parrilla  
concluded.

To read all of the environmental documents in the 90,000 page  
Environmental Impact Report/ Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/ EIS)  
for the Delta Tunnels, visit the Final Environmental Impact Report  
webpage.

Yesterday, Restore the Delta also pointed out the 90,000 page document  
is “not a green light for the Delta Tunnels but rather should be  
understood as the submission of homework by sponsoring agencies  
(California Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of  
Reclamation) to be evaluated by state and federal regulators who will  
determine if proposal can meet environmental and water quality  
standards under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and  
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A feat no previous  
version of the proposal has achieved.”

Not “The Resistance” — Brown’s real environmental  legacy exposed

I'm constantly amazed how Jerry Brown constantly receives fawning  
coverage from the mainstream media when he appears at climate  
conferences in California and across the globe, even though his actual  
policies on fish, wildlife, water and the environment are among the  
most destructive of any governor in recent California history.

Many  mainstream reporters and editors have done very little research  
into the actual environmental policies of Jerry Brown, preferring to  
act as virtual stenographers and press release writers for the  
Governor. Although I have written about Brown’s environmental policies  
in many articles published in an array of media outlets, it’s a good  
idea to review them once again as this year nears its end.

The Governor’s “legacy project,” the Delta Tunnels/California Water  
Fix, undoubtedly poses a huge threat to the ecosystems of the  
Sacramento, San Joaquin, Klamath and Trinity river systems, in  
contrast to the Brown’s claim in Morain’s article that the tunnels,  
combined with “Delta restoration,”  ”could help native fish rebound  
from the edge of extinction.

  The project is based on the untenable premise that taking more water  
out of a river before it reaches the estuary will somehow “restore”  
the San Francisco Bay Delta and its precious fish and wildlife species.

Unfortunately, the California WaterFix is not the only environmentally  
devastating policy promoted by Governor Jerry Brown. Brown is  
promoting the expansion of fracking and extreme oil extraction methods  
in California and is overseeing water policies that are driving winter  
run-Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt and other species closer  
and closer to extinction.

As if those examples of Brown’s tainted environmental legacy weren’t  
bad enough, Brown has promoted carbon trading and REDD policies that  
pose an enormous threat to Indigenous Peoples around the globe; has  
done nothing to stop clearcutting of forests by Sierra-Pacific and  
other timber companies; presided over record water exports from the  
Delta in 2011; and oversaw massive fish kills of Sacramento splittail  
and other species in 2011.

Jerry Brown also oversaw the “completion” of so-called “marine  
protected areas” under the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act  
(MLPA) Initiative, overseen by a Big Oil lobbyist and other corporate  
interests, in December 2012. These faux “Yosemites of the Sea” fail to  
protect the ocean from oil drilling, fracking, pollution, corporate  
aquaculture and all human impacts on the ocean other than sustainable  
fishing and gathering.

Brown’s “Dirty Hands” exposed in groundbreaking report

Governor Brown’s anti-environmental policies, particularly his fervent  
support of fracking in spite of his cynical eco-babble about "green  
energy” and “defending science,” are the result of the millions of  
dollars that Brown has received from Big Oil, Big Ag and other  
corporate interests in recent years.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) on September  
23 opened an investigation into the California Democratic Party in  
response to a report by a prominent consumer group claiming that the  
party acted as a “laundry machine” to funnel donations from oil,  
energy and utility companies to Brown’s 2014 election campaign.

Consumer Watchdog released the report, Brown’s Dirty Hands, on August  
10, 2016, at a time when Brown faces increasing criticism from  
environmental, consumer and public interest groups regarding  
administration policies they say favor oil companies, energy companies  
and utilities over fish, water, people and the environment.

The report tabulated donations totaling $9.8 million dollars to Jerry  
Brown’s campaigns, causes, and initiatives, and to the California  
Democratic Party since he ran for Governor from 26 energy companies  
with business before the state, according to Court. The companies  
included the state’s three major investor-owned utilities, as well as  
Occidental, Chevron, and NRG.

The report alleges that energy companies donated $4.4 million to the  
Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party gave $4.7 million to  
Brown’s re-election between 2011 and 2014. Consumer Watchdog submitted  
its report to the FPPC as a sworn complaint.

As this FPPC investigation proceeds, the big corporate money behind  
Governor Jerry Brown's controversial environmental policies is facing  
increasing scrutiny from public trust advocates. November 4 was the  
second anniversary of the passage of Proposition 1, Brown’s  
controversial water bond, a measure that fishing groups, California  
Indian Tribes, grassroots conservation groups and environmental  
justice advocates opposed  because they considered it to be a water  
grab for corporate agribusiness and Big Money interests.

Proponents of Proposition 1 contributed a total of $21,820,691 and  
spent a total of $19,538,153 on the successful campaign. The  
contributors are a who’s who of Big Money interests in California,  
including corporate agribusiness groups, billionaires, timber barons,  
Big Oil. the tobacco industry and the California Chamber of Commerce.  
They provide a quick snapshot of the corporate interests behind the  
questionable environmental policies of Brown. For more information, go  
to: www.counterpunch.org/...)

Brown spouts “green” rhetoric when he flies off to climate conferences  
and issues proclamations about John Muir Day and Earth Day, but his  
actions and policies regarding fish, water and the environment should  
be challenged by all of those who care about the future of California  
and the West Coast.

To read Brown’s Dirty Hands, go here: www.consumerwatchdog.org/...

For more information about the real environmental record of Governor  
JerryBrown, go to: www.dailykos.com…


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