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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Water
czar named to help state deal with drought<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=byline1><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>Tracie Cone, Associated Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=date1><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>Monday, June 29, 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'><strong>(06-29) 04:00 PDT Fresno</strong><b> --
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced several steps on Sunday that he hopes
would ease the toll of the state's water shortage on farmers, and said he would
assign a top deputy to help find solutions.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt'><b><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#222222;
text-transform:uppercase'>Images<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/06/29/BASL18FE96.DTL&o=0"><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#015660;
text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=220 height=148 id="Picture_x0020_22"
src="cid:image001.jpg@01C9F89B.788B6370"
alt="http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/06/28/mn-drought29_ph1_0500318388_part1.jpg"></span></a><span
style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/06/29/BASL18FE96.DTL&o=0"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext;
text-decoration:none'><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#015660'><img border=0 width=7 height=7 id="Picture_x0020_23"
src="cid:image002.gif@01C9F89B.788B6370"
alt="http://imgs.sfgate.com/graphics/utils/plus-green.gif"></span></span><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;color:#015660;text-decoration:none'>View Larger Image</span></a>
</span><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;display:none'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";display:none'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/29/BAKS18ENB7.DTL&type=newsbayarea"><span
style='color:#015660;text-decoration:none'>S.F.: 'Eyesore' cleaned up on
Masonic Avenue</span></a> 06.29.09<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>At a spirited town hall meeting in
California's agricultural heartland, Salazar told a packed auditorium that
Deputy Interior Secretary David J. Hayes will "bring all of the key
federal agencies to the table" to coordinate efforts.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Salazar said he wanted to direct $160 million
in Recovery Act funds for the federal Central Valley Project, which manages the
dams and canals that move water around the state, and will expedite water
transfers from other areas.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Members of the San Joaquin Valley
congressional delegation told Salazar that three years of drought were forcing
farmers to fallow hundreds of thousands of acres and to idle farmworkers.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>"The time for meetings and talk is
over," said Rep. George Radanovich, R-Fresno. "We need action
now." Farmers packed into the auditorium at Cal State Fresno erupted into
loud applause.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The congressional delegates and other
agriculture industry representatives asked Salazar to hasten the environmental
review of the so-called Two Gates proposal, which would place removable gates
in the central Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to block threatened fish, such as
the tiny smelt, from getting killed by the pumps.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>"We hope to make an expedited review of
that project," Salazar said after the meeting.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The cause of the state's water shortages is
not simply due to three years of below-average rainfall. Federal protections
for threatened fish has limited the transfer of water from lakes Shasta and
Oroville through the Delta into the state's system of aqueducts.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Searing 109-degree temperatures on Sunday
underscored the need for water, and farmers appealed for action.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>On the west side of Fresno County, the most
prolific agricultural county in the nation, farmers have been told they would
receive just 10 percent of their allocation this year, news that forced them to
fallow hundreds of thousands of acres.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>The farmers argued that cutting water
deliveries to farms in the San Joaquin Valley oversimplifies the problems
threatening salmon and smelt in the largest freshwater estuary in the west.
They have asked for Salazar to ease enforcement of the Endangered Species Act,
something he said he was reluctant to do.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>"At this time, that would be admitting
failure," Salazar said.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, told Salazar that
farmers were bearing full responsibility for environmental problems also caused
by wastewater discharges from cities and by invasive species that eat native
fish.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Lost in the chorus of catcalls and applause
were the voices of environmental groups, fishermen and coastal communities
impacted by the collapse of the salmon season. They were there to remind
Salazar that the North Coast fishing industry had been hard hit by a decline of
salmon in the delta, which has resulted in the cancellation of commercial
fishing season for the past two years.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific
Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, said that 23,000 commercial and
recreational people were unemployed because California's salmon fishery is shut
down, which has cost the economy $1.4 billion.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Researchers at UC Davis estimate that as of
May, water shortages in the San Joaquin Valley have cost roughly 35,000 jobs
and $830 million in farm revenue.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>Comedian Paul Rodriguez, who owns 40 acres of
nectarines near Dinuba and heads the Latino Water Coalition, mocked
environmentalists' argument that the decline in smelt is the "canary in
the coal mine" warning of a declining ecosystem.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p style='line-height:21.0pt'><b>"The canary is there so it will perish
and the miner can live, but these people got it backward: They want the fish to
live so we can die," Rodriguez said as audience members stood and cheered.<o:p></o:p></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>
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