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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Water
interests argue new state dam proposals<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>S.F.
Chronicle-9/29/09<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>By Kelly
Zito<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Thirty years ago, a chunk
of chain, an eyebolt and Mark Dubois helped end the era of big dam building in
California.</span></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><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dubois, a bearded,
6-foot-8, 30-year-old river guide from Sacramento, chained himself to a rocky
outcropping on the north bank of the Stanislaus River and stayed there for a
week, determined to prevent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from filling the
canyons behind New Melones Dam and submerging the limestone caves, verdant
meadows and petroglyphs of the river valley. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dubois lost that fight:
New Melones had been approved in the 1940s and was well under way when he and
the nascent Friends of the River got involved. But he and hundreds of others
who celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Stanislaus Campaign next month
believe their work is echoing through a new generation as another dam debate
emerges in California.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We didn't win 30 years
ago, but the world has changed," Dubois said in a telephone interview from
his home on Bainbridge Island in Washington state. "Even though (Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger) is pushing these dams, people know they don't make
sense."<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>As California grapples with
an aging water-delivery network, growing population, worsening water quality, a
drought and the potentially far-reaching effects of global climate change, dams
are again on the table. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Last month Schwarzenegger
insisted he would not sign off on any major overhaul of the water system
without money for new dams and reservoirs.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The governor has the
support of conservatives and the vast Central Valley, where many farmers are
convinced that new, man-made lakes will help offset dry spells and ease the
federal rulings that have cut water pumped through the ailing Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But environmentalists and
their liberal backers contend dams are a costly, ecologically dicey option set
against the backdrop of California's unprecedented budget cuts and alarms over
the decline of fisheries, waterways and water quality.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>By most accounts, New
Melones was not the boon promised. When federal engineers studied the project,
they far overestimated the water supply and underestimated demand. As a result,
for years much of the water has gone to flush out the delta and to fulfill
contracts in Stockton and elsewhere; little went to local water suppliers.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"It wasn't surprising
to us at all," said Steve Evans, conservation director at Friends of the
River. "New Melones was a project looking for a purpose."<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The several dams under
consideration do not have quite the same scenic or recreational pull as the
Stanislaus River. But memories of landscapes lost behind dams die hard. River
advocates point to the flooding of picturesque Hetch Hetchy Valley for San
Francisco's water interests and Friant Dam's catastrophic effect on salmon in
the San Joaquin River.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dams "make sense if
you don't care about taking care of the natural world," according to
Ronald Stork, senior policy advocate for Friends of the River.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>These days, however, the
debate has shifted to the economics of dam building.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>California already has
upward of 1,000 dams that provide water supply, flood control and hydropower -
built on the most productive and accessible sites, experts say. Each time
another dam is added to a river, billions are spent and the water supplied is
minimal.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We have to look
further than this reflexive, historical impulse that says building dams will
solve all our problems," said Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael.
"It's not true. Water recycling, conservation, efficiency... dwarf the
amount of water we could get through any (reservoirs) we build."<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Conservatives and their
supporters however, think they've forged a reasonable compromise that, though
expensive, will add an important tool for managing the state's water system.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"The magnitude of the
problem is so enormous that we can't afford to say no to one solution,"
said Chris Scheuring, environmental attorney for the California Farm Bureau. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Scheuring's group and
others stand behind three big projects they argue would not inflict the
environmental harm of past dams: The expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir in
Contra Costa County, the Temperance Flat dam on the San Joaquin River above
Friant Dam, and Sites Reservoir, which would flood the Antelope Valley in
Colusa County.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The $3.8 billion Sites
proposal, in particular, marks a departure from the norm because it is an
off-stream reservoir that does not obstruct a river. Through canals connected
to the Sacramento River, the Department of Water Resources says, water would be
pumped into the lake where it would be used to supplement flows into the delta
or allow deeper, colder reservoirs to hold back water for critical salmon runs.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Reservoir supporters say
Sites presents the best of all worlds. And they seem determined to ensure that
Sites and similar projects make it into any water legislation package.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We're not going to
approve another water bond package for billions that haven't improved water
reliability," said state Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto. "These are not
high dams on wild and scenic rivers. We're talking about a very responsible
approach."<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Peter Gleick, president of
Oakland's Pacific Institute, a nonpartisan water think tank, acknowledges that
Sites or Temperance Flat could add a certain amount of flexibility to the
system. But, he says, that slight improvement simply isn't worth the economic,
environmental and political cost.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Many of dams we
built in the last century brought us great benefit," Gleick said.
"But I think the era of new dams is over in California.”<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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