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<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>Task Force report:
Build peripheral canal<br>
Project could threaten delta agriculture<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>Capital Press
– 10/24/08<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>By <st1:PersonName
w:st="on">Hank Shaw</st1:PersonName></span></font></b><font size=4><span
style='font-size:14.0pt'><br>
<br>
Momentum is growing to construct a peripheral canal around the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta, but doing so could jeopardize the century-old farming
traditional in the estuary.<br>
<br>
A task force appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger voted 6-0 last week to
recommend that the state build the canal in conjunction with the existing
method of moving fresh water through the delta toward the giant pumps near <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Tracy</st1:City></st1:place>.<br>
<br>
On Friday, Oct. 17, the Delta Blue Ribbon Task Force issued its findings,
codified in a report that required five drafts to complete. Its chief
recommendation is to hold the environmental health of the estuary as a co-equal
to the needs of the farmers and citizens who rely on water from the pumps.<br>
<br>
Most experts agree something needs to be done to save the West's largest
estuary. <br>
<br>
Thousands of farmers and millions of urban residents drink water moved from <st1:place
w:st="on">Northern California</st1:place> through the delta down to the State
Water Project or Central Valley Project aqueducts; the delta serves as the
system's hub.<br>
<br>
But the hub is rusty and broken. Levees that hold water back from the sunken
islands are old and leaky. Water quality has deteriorated enough to put the
area's ecosystem on the verge of collapse. The entire region is just an
earthquake away from disaster and even without a quake, sea levels are rising
enough to flood several islands within the next generation.<br>
<br>
The estuary has been home to some of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>'s
richest farmland since the Gold Rush. Delta asparagus is world-famous and
vegetables are the area's moneymaker. Wheat, rice and corn are also grown
there.<br>
<br>
The prospects of the delta remaining so bountiful look dim.<br>
<br>
The report released Friday does say that "Delta agriculture is the heart
of the regional economy and central to the delta's culture and sense of
place."<br>
<br>
Preserving agriculture in the delta will be a priority, even with the canal.
But not everywhere in the estuary. <br>
<br>
Farmers with land outside proposed floodplains and who aren't in the center of
the delta would fare the best. The report specifically says farming should be
promoted on Twitchell, Sherman and <st1:place w:st="on">Jersey</st1:place>
islands. <br>
<br>
What farming might look like under the new regime is unclear. The report talks
about farming for carbon sequestration or for wildlife - which in practical
terms means letting the land return to the tules that once covered the
estuary's network of islands.<br>
<br>
Under the proposal, farmers who plant tules or other crops that lock in
greenhouse gases would get credit under the cap-and-trade program the state is
developing to fight global climate change. The farmers could then sell that
credit for cash.<br>
<br>
Farmers in the center of the delta may be out of luck. UC-Davis scientist Jay
Lund, who helped develop a Public Policy Institute of California study that
influenced the task force's decisions, likened those farmers to miners who have
played out a mine.<br>
<br>
"For some of those farmers, (who are) farming on islands that will be
flooded, they will be in a different business," <st1:City w:st="on">Lund</st1:City>
said at a forum on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Peripheral</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Canal</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> held last week.
"Essentially we've mined those islands."<br>
<br>
Tim Quinn, who leads the California Association of Water Agencies, said he
predicted that the state would have to buy out many central delta farmers.<br>
<br>
"One thing that will happen to some of the landowners is that they'll have
a lot more money after this is all over and done with," Quinn said at the
forum.<br>
<br>
Building the canal is by no means assured. <br>
<br>
There is little the task force recommends that can be done without approval by
the Legislature and a canal would likely need additional approval by voters in
a ballot measure.<br>
<br>
Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders are expected to renew discussions over
both a canal and several new dams as part of a larger water bond this winter;
talks bogged down last year because of the budget crisis</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><em><i><font color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, JCT</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810 cell</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a>
(secondary)</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a href="http://fotr.org">http://fotr.org</a>
</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"></a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
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12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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