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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>State
must rescue delta from crisis<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Congressman George Miller,
State Senator Lois Wolk</span></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=date1><span style='font-size:8.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=date1><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>Sunday, April 12, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>California's
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of
the Americas, is in crisis. Multiple species of fish are in rapid decline.
First the delta smelt, and then the steelhead and salmon that once migrated
through the estuary by the tens of thousands. Now, even the orcas that feed on
the salmon are threatened. The dominoes are falling every day. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<ul type=disc>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;display:none'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";display:none'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/12/IN6E17038E.DTL"><span
style='color:#015660;text-decoration:none'>California water resources</span></a>
04.12.09 <o:p></o:p></span></b></li>
</ul>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>This crisis
didn't happen overnight. It came after years of mismanagement by the federal
and state water and wildlife agencies that ignored what the science was telling
them and resisted new realities about climate change. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Fortunately,
change in Washington is giving Californians new opportunities to rescue our
delta from the failed policies of the past. With a new administration committed
to sustainable energy and environmental policy, it is time to form a new
state-federal-local partnership to save the delta. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>We need this
vital region - its ecosystem and its economy - to thrive. Working together, we
can use new tools to meet our clean water needs, overhaul the responsible
agencies, and implement a new management plan that is grounded in science - and
gets results.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>But first we
must realize that there are no silver bullets that will solve all of California's
water woes. Suspending the federal Endangered Species Act certainly won't do
it. Nor will sprinting to commit billions of taxpayer dollars to dig a water
supply ditch the size of the Panama Canal around the delta. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Our years in
California water policy have taught us that you've got to put the right
policies in place before you decide to build expensive and divisive water
infrastructure. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Yet the state
Department of Water Resources is now spending more than $1.1 billion on canal
and water project planning - off budget, with no legislative oversight or
public accountability - while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Cabinet has asserted
that the state could break ground on a canal before the governor's term
expires. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>There are
better answers, both short and long term, that have a greater chance to bring
back our fisheries, deliver reliable clean water, and bolster, not threaten,
the delta region, including its $35 billion economy with more than 200,000
jobs. These solutions include the region's communities as partners, not
adversaries. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Immediately, we
should expand proven and cost-effective water supply strategies such as
conservation, recycling, groundwater cleanup, desalination, enhanced
coordination between reservoirs, and regional water supply projects in Southern
California and the Bay Area. President Obama's economic recovery package
included a record $126 million for water reuse projects across the West: a good
start, but only a drop in the bucket given the demands we face. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>In the longer
term, we believe that the delta needs a steward, an entity whose sole
responsibility is the recovery and health of the delta. We propose a Delta
Stewardship Council, which will include representation from different
perspectives, all bound by a legal obligation to restore and protect the delta
ecosystem. This would help resolve the confusion of 200 federal, state, and
local agencies bumping into one another, often at cross purposes, while
decision-makers' primary obligations are to outside interests with no responsibility
for this critical estuary's survival.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>The delta and
its watershed also need funding, a conservancy like those California has
established to preserve other natural treasures: the coast, the Sierra Nevada
and Lake Tahoe. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Much like the
Florida Everglades, the delta is a vital economic and environmental resource -
not just a plumbing fixture that two-thirds of the state relies upon for its
water supply. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Several months
ago, the Delta Vision Task Force took an important first step by identifying
two co-equal goals for delta policy: water supply reliability and restoring the
ecosystem. We believe in elevating a third goal, the delta itself as a place,
including the communities, economy, culture, historic, recreational and
environmental values that make it valuable to all Californians.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>We recognize
California's water supply challenges are real and interconnected to the crisis
in the delta. Both issues demand action and results. As residents and elected
representatives of the region, we urge all Californians to work together to get
the policy right before we make the problem worse. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=dtlcomment style='line-height:21.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Rep.
George Miller, D-Martinez, is a member of the House leadership and the former
chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. State Sen. Lois Wolk,
D-Davis, is chair of Senate Select Committee on Delta Stewardship and
Sustainability, and a member of Delta Protection Commission.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
cell</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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