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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=danielbacher@fishsniffer.com
href="mailto:danielbacher@fishsniffer.com">Dan Bacher</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, September 09, 2009 5:23 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Water Bill Update and Stop the Canal Action
Alerts!</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Geneva>Good Afternoon</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Geneva><BR
class=webkit-block-placeholder></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Geneva>Here are three breaking news
updates on the water bill package, including (1) an action alert from Bill
Jennings of CSPA, (2) an action alert from Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla of Restore
the Delta and (3) my article on Senator Lois Wolk withdrawing her authorship of
the Delta Conservancy Bill.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Geneva><BR
class=webkit-block-placeholder></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Geneva>Today was the third day since
Friday that Sacramento and Delta residents held a protest outside Senator
Darrell Steinberg's office against his campaign to push the water bill package,
a road map to the peripheral canal, through the Legislature by
Friday.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Geneva><BR
class=webkit-block-placeholder></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Geneva>Please call Steinberg and your
Legislators �to halt what Jennings aptly describes as a "Legislative Descent
into Madness." Steinberg's phone number is�916-651- 4006.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>Thanks�</DIV>
<DIV>Dan�</DIV>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>1. CSPA Action Alert!<SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-FAMILY: Geneva"></SPAN>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Geneva><BR
class=webkit-block-placeholder></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-FAMILY: Geneva">Time is short if
you give a damn about the Delta.� Cheers</SPAN>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 10px Geneva"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 12px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT
style="FONT: 12px Geneva" face=Geneva>Legislative Descent into
Madness</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 12px"><FONT style="FONT: 10px Geneva"
face=Geneva><FONT class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR>�But I don't want to go among mad people,� Alice
remarked. �Oh, you can't help that,� said the Cat: �we're all mad
here.�<BR><BR>Senate pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg is leading the California
Legislature down the rabbit hole into Lewis Carroll's strange land believing, in
the words of the Cheshire cat, �if you don't know where you are going, any road
will get you there.�<BR><BR>After ignoring the state's water problems for years
and faced with 9% approval ratings, Steinberg decided to solve the water crisis
in the waning days of the legislative session.� Bringing together 5 seriously
flawed water bills, he circumvented the normal policy committee legislative
process and created a joint conference committee to review and approve the bill
package.<BR><BR>As Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters put it, �legislators,
their staffers and hundreds of lobbyists are acting as if they're snorting meth,
frantically trying to write and enact hundreds of bills in the 2000 session's
final hours.�� <BR><BR>Together, the water bills represent an unprecedented
modification of the water code and an attack upon 130 years of water law and
legal opinion.� They establish water exports as coequal goals with restoration
of the Delta estuary, give a politically appointed council the supreme authority
to approve and fund a peripheral canal and exclude fishermen, environmentalist
and Delta communities from the process.� They will essentially institutionalize
the estuary's collapse and forestall effort to restore it. <BR><BR>Steinberg
stacked the conference committee with representatives from the southern San
Joaquin Valley and LA area and excluded representatives from the Delta counties
because he couldn't count on their approval.� Multiple bond issues to fund
conveyance and new dams were introduced.<BR><BR>Amazing coalitions of
environmentalists, fishermen, Delta farmers and water agencies have come out in
opposition to the Mad Hatter's rush to enact something, what ever it is.� CSPA
agrees that the state's water crisis needs to be addressed but we believe it
must be done right - not just right away. <BR><BR>After a dysfunctional series
of show hearings over the last week while horse-trading was occurring in he
backroom, the conference committee was unable to reach agreement by the Tuesday
deadline.� Republicans characterized the process as a �dog and pony
show.�<BR><BR>From there the process became, as Alice put it, �curiouser and
curiouser.�� <BR><BR>Steinberg, faced with the possibility of being deposed as
Senate pro Tem desperately began discussion with Governor and subsequently
announced that he would introduce a bill on the floors of the Assembly and
Senate on Friday for a vote later that evening.<BR><BR>Now we have discovered
that a secret 61-page bill is circulating among water agencies and we have been
told that it represents the results of the discussions between Steinberg and the
Governor.� It includes a $12.6 billion bond for water projects, excludes the
Delta from County of Origin laws and gives the Governor the power to appoint all
members of the Delta Stewardship Council.� Water exports will be coequal with
Delta restoration but it doesn't define any measures related to recovery of the
environment.� The State Water Project will be removed from under the Department
of Water Resources.� We're informed this bill will be introduced on Friday for
enactment the same day.<BR><BR>The bill represents an abdication of responsible
legislative oversight and due diligence.� It is fiscally irresponsible.� It will
increase debt service for bonds to 9% of the state's deficit budget.� It
provides subsidies to water agencies as basic health, education and public
security services are being slashed.� It's simply, a descent into legislative
madness. <BR><BR>The time to avert this train wreck is short.� All who believe
in the Delta and its fisheries as national treasures that deserve protection
need to take a moment to call your State Senate and Assembly representatives and
let them know that they must not only vote against Steinberg's water bill, but
they need to tell their colleagues to do the same.� <BR><BR>All who believe in
good government and deliberative process should call Senate President pro
Tempore Steinberg and let him know what you think of policy legislation that is
being written in the middle of the night without input from the Delta farming
and fishing communities.� Let him know what you think of a new water bond at a
time when the state is billions of dollars in debt and education is being
gutted. He can be reached at 916-651- 4006.<BR><BR>And don't forget to go to the
CSPA website at <A href="http://www.calsport.org">www.calsport.org</A> and sign
the petition and letters to your representatives.�<BR><BR>Bill Jennings,
Chairman<BR>Executive Director<BR>California Sportfishing Protection
Alliance<BR>3536 Rainier Avenue<BR>Stockton, CA 95204<BR>p: 209-464-5067<BR>c:
209-938-9053<BR>f: 209-464-1028<BR>e: <A
href="mailto:deltakeep@aol.com">deltakeep@aol.com</A><BR><A
href="http://www.calsport.org">www.calsport.org</A><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 12px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Geneva><BR
class=webkit-block-placeholder></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 12px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Geneva
size=2><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 10px">
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 13px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial><B><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Restore the Delta News & Action Alert
9/9/09</SPAN></FONT></B></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 13px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial" face=Arial
size=4><I>"Darkness is only driven out with light, not more darkness."</I>
---Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.</FONT></P>
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<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 16px Arial; COLOR: #ffffff"
face=Arial color=#ffffff size=5><B>Steinberg Moves to Revamp California
Water Policy in the Dark of Night</B></FONT></DIV></TD>
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<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(0,20,238)"><A
href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102698893329&s=697&e=001KEKz9vxKSnMhy5KqHkeFV8FUQv7G2_AduFWkR3bkmvegf0dtlfZlD8ORv8xc0549eEaNLVqNFJao-7jMbZHC3tB7n3TfdnJCLfF7okZiuTqSXf6JorZ-fg=="></A><BR></DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 13px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial"
face=Arial><FONT class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Restore the Delta staff
members have been busy attending Conference Committee meetings on water
policy and the five bill package reshaping the future of the Delta this
last week. The end result: the Conference Committee failed to meet its own
deadline yesterday. The Conference Committee report might be published
later on today.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 13px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial"
face=Arial><FONT class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">This, however, has not
slowed down Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg who political
insiders say is trying to push through a last minute water bill that will
have elements from the previous bills and a new water bond. It is our
understanding that Senate President Steinberg will introduce the bill on
the floor this week to be voted on at the last minute without public
vetting. The bill will require a 2/3 vote so that a referendum cannot be
set into motion by the public.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 13px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial"
face=Arial><FONT class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Here's what we need each
and every one of you to do. </SPAN></FONT><B><FONT class=Apple-style-span
size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Call your
State Senate and Assembly representatives and let them know that they must
not only vote against Steinberg's water bill, but they need to tell their
colleagues to do the same. Also, call Senate President pro Tempore
Steinberg and let him know what you think of policy legislation that is
being written in the middle of the night without input from the Delta
farming and fishing communities. Let him know what you think of a new
water bond at a time when the state is billions of dollars in debt and
education is being gutted. He can be reached at 916-651-
4006.</SPAN></FONT></B></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 13px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial"
face=Arial><FONT class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">To say that Restore the
Delta is exasperated by the events of the last two weeks is an
understatement. Through the Conference Committee process it became
apparent that not only were our expert Delta legislators, like Senator
Lois Wolk (5th Senate District), shut out of the process, but that
testimony committees were stacked with "experts" from outside the Delta,
and that testimony from in-Delta interests was being ignored by the
Conference Committee. Even more disturbing was a point during Monday's
hearing when some Delta advocates were actually taken to task by Senator
Flores and Senate President Steinberg for calling into question the
behind-the- scenes negotiations process.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 13px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial"
face=Arial><FONT class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Never mind that
representatives from the Westlands Water District and the Metropolitan
Water District were busy working a deal with Senator Steinberg and a
limited number of legislators and representatives from the Governor's
administration. Never mind this was happening behind closed doors, as a
way to safeguard authorization of new conveyance that would deplete the
Delta of the freshwater that it needs all under the banner of co-equal
goals for water management in California. Never mind that these policies
are being crafted so that Western Central Valley Agribusiness can have all
the water it wants, despite its junior water rights, and contracts written
years ago indicating that they were only entitled to extra Delta water
during wet years.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 13px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Verdana"
face=Verdana><FONT class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Take action today. Let your
legislator know that the people of the Delta want real solutions that will
create regional self-sufficient water supplies throughout California,
reduced Delta exports, and an equal seat at the governance table for our
region.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 13px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face=Verdana><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 13px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Verdana
size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">3. Lois Wolk
Article:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR
class=webkit-block-placeholder></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial" face=Arial><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Senator Wolk Withdraws Authorship of Delta
Conservancy Bill�</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial" face=Arial><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">by Dan Bacher</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial"
face=Arial><FONT class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">�</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR
class=khtml-block-placeholder></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial" face=Arial><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">In a strongly worded statement, Senator Lois Wolk
(D-Davis) today withdrew her authorship of Senate Bill 458, legislation
that would establish a Delta Conservancy, because of her concern than the
bill's amended version would serve as a "tool to assist water exporters
who are primarily responsible for the Delta's
decline."�</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial" face=Arial><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Wolk took this action after being notified by
Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) that her legislation would
be amended in a Water Conference Committee with provisions Senator Wolk
and the five Delta counties opposed. Wolk has been replaced with Senators
Steinberg and Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) as the authors of SB
458.�</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial" face=Arial><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">"When I learned that the Conference Committee
intended to alter key provisions of the bill, as well as other pieces of
the water package, it was clear I could no longer carry this legislation,"
said Senator Wolk. "What began as a sincere effort to create a state and
local partnership to restore the Delta and sustain the Delta communities
and economy is becoming, day by day, amendment by amendment, a tool to
assist water exporters who are primarily responsible for the Delta's
decline."</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial" face=Arial><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Wolk's withdrawal of the legislation authorship
comes as a huge, diverse coalition of northern California water agencies,
Delta farmers, fishermen, conservationists, environmental justice
advocates, California Indian Tribes and others are opposing Steinberg's
mad rush to push water legislation through the Capitol by Friday, the last
day of the legislative session. They are asking Steinberg and the
Committee to delay the legislation, a thinly-veiled road road map to the
peripheral canal that greatly undermines the public trust and California
water rights law, until next session.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial" face=Arial><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Democrats and Republicans failed to come up with a
water deal� by the 5 p.m. deadline yesterday that Steinberg had
arbitrarily set. Steinberg, in an effort to push a peripheral canal and
water bond that would result in increased water exports out of the Delta,
excluded Wolk, Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (D-Davis) and other Delta
Legislators from the politically-stacked 14 member Water Conference
Committee.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial" face=Arial><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">"It is regrettable," said Wolk of the amendments
to her bill and the exclusion of Delta legislators and residents from the
water bill process. "Without the Delta communities as working partners in
this effort it is unlikely to succeed."�</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial><BR
class=webkit-block-placeholder></FONT></DIV></SPAN></FONT>
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