<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
This is just incredible. It's not water for farmers, it's water for cash. The article says Feinstein is acting primarily at the behest of Stewart Resnick. Who is Stewart Resnick? To wit:<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br><div><a href="http://www.c-win.org/news/alternet-how-limousine-liberals-water-oligarchs-and-even-sean-hannity-are-hijacking-our-water-s">http://www.c-win.org/news/alternet-how-limousine-liberals-water-oligarchs-and-even-sean-hannity-are-hijacking-our-water-s</a></div><div>"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; ">The leader of these recent water privatization efforts in California is a Beverly Hills billionaire named Stewart Resnick. Stewart and his wife, Lynda Resnick, own Roll International Corporation, a private umbrella company that controls the flowers-by-wire company Teleflora, Fiji Water, Pom Wonderful, pesticide manufacturer Suterra and Paramount Agribusiness, the largest farming company in America and the largest pistachio and almond producer in the world. Roll Corp. was ranked #246 on Forbes' list of America's largest private companies in 2008 and had an estimated revenue of $1.98 billion in 2007. ...</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;">"Public Citizen's "Water Heist" report uncovered evidence that the Beverly Hills farmer was instrumental in the privatization of the Kern Water Bank. Not surprisingly, Resnick's Paramount Farms emerged with a majority stake in the venture. In fact, Resnick's farm empire controls the Kern Water Bank so thoroughly that it is not easy to discern where Paramount ends and the Kern Water Bank begins. The Kern Water Bank Authority, which administers the bank, is located in Paramount's corporate office building outside of Bakersfield, California."</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></span></font></div><div>Keep reading (from the link above; many thanks to C-WIN) to learn about the $73 million sale of Central Valley Project water (that would be <i>public</i> water) to the Mojave Water District. These are the "farmers" that Feinstein represents, just as she has represented the destructive side of virtually every natural resource issue she has weighed in on. Don't be surprised if she inserts herself significantly into any upcoming Klamath legislation, however dead those deals ought to be by now.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>On Feb 13, 2010, at 8:35 AM, Emelia Berol wrote:</div><div><div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="font-family:'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div><br></div><div style="font-family:bookman old style, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><br><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Byron Leydecker <<a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a>><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> FOTR List <<a href="mailto:fotr@mailman.dcn.org">fotr@mailman.dcn.org</a>>; Trinity List <<a href="mailto:env-trinity@mailman.dcn.org">env-trinity@mailman.dcn.org</a>><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Fri, February 12, 2010 3:25:02 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [env-trinity] SF Chron 2 12 10<br></font><br> <div class="Section1"> <h1><span style="color:black;">Feinstein proposes Central Valley water plan</span></h1><p class="byline"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;color:black;"><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:clochhead@sfchronicle.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:clochhead@sfchronicle.com">Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau</a></span></p><p class="date"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;color:black;">Friday, February 12, 2010</span></p><p><strong><span style="font-size:9.5pt;color:black;">(02-12) 04:00 PST Washington -</span></strong><span style="font-size:9.5pt;color:black;"> -- </span><b><span style="color:black;">Sen. Dianne Feinstein ignited a firestorm among fellow California Democrats on Thursday as word spread of her proposal to divert Northern California water to Central Valley farmers.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;"><b><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial", "sans-serif";color:#222222;text-transform:uppercase;">Images</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2010/02/12/MNBT1C05E1.DTL&o=0"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana", "sans-serif";color:#015660;text-decoration:none;"><span><image001.gif></span></span></a><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2010/02/12/MNBT1C05E1.DTL&o=1"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana", "sans-serif";color:#015660;text-decoration:none;"><span><image002.gif></span></span></a><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana", "sans-serif";color:black;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2010/02/12/MNBT1C05E1.DTL&o="><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;"><span><image003.gif></span></span></span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:#015660;text-decoration:none;">View Larger Images</span></a> </span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana", "sans-serif";color:black;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana", "sans-serif";color:black;">Feinstein needs to be put on notice that she will have to become a Republican if she wants to run for governor in this state. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">She might as well switch parties, she has never been a true Democrat anyway. </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana", "sans-serif";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; ">More News</span></span></p><div><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Verdana", "sans-serif";color:black;"> </span><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><p><b><span style="color:black;">Feinstein wants to attach the proposal as an amendment to a fast-tracked Senate jobs bill. She is pitching the plan as a jobs measure to address the economic calamity in the Central Valley. It would increase farm water allocations from 10 percent last year to 40 percent this year and next, an amount that farmers say is the bare minimum they need.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">Bay Area Democrats were livid, accusing Feinstein of concocting the plan in secret, upending fragile water negotiations that Feinstein has supported and pitting California's Central Valley against its coast. Telephone calls flew as lawmakers learned of Feinstein's plan. </span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">"I was pretty shocked," said Rep. Mike Thompson, a St. Helena Democrat and ally of North Coast salmon fishermen who support efforts to save fish species that are declining. </span></b></p> <h3><span style="color:black;">Influential farmer</span></h3><p><b><span style="color:black;">Feinstein has long supported California agriculture but began to weigh in on the side of farmers in the water wars after requests from Stewart Resnick, the well-connected owner of Paramount Farms, which grows citrus and nuts on 118,000 acres in Kern County. </span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">In September, Resnick wrote Feinstein complaining that "sloppy science" by federal wildlife agencies was causing farm water shortages. A week later, Feinstein forwarded the letter to Obama administration officials, who authorized a review by the National Academy of Sciences.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">"It seems to be a complete reversal of her position," Thompson said. "The entire Bay Area delegation had agreed we would do this National Academy of Sciences report to find out scientifically what should and shouldn't be done, and for her to turn that on its head and go out unilaterally with this proposal does not take into consideration the needs of all of California."</span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">Thompson accused Feinstein of "trying to spin this as a job saver, but that ignores the jobs up north that depend on water." He compared Feinstein's plan to the Bush administration's water diversions in the Klamath River Basin in 2002 that severely damaged fisheries and were later reversed.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, said, "Best I can see, she's making a decision that jobs in the Bay Area and Northern California and the Peninsula south of San Francisco aren't as important as jobs in the Central Valley."</span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">Feinstein contends that the amendment to the jobs bill would not waive the Endangered Species Act but instead follow a 2003 precedent that guaranteed water deliveries in New Mexico despite restrictions imposed to protect the silvery minnow. </span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">Miller, a former chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said Feinstein's amendment would suspend federal environmental laws that protect fish.</span></b></p> <h3><span style="color:black;">Verifying the science</span></h3><p><b><span style="color:black;">Feinstein made no mention Thursday of her demand for the National Academy of Sciences report, due next month, to verify the science behind fish-conservation demands.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">Resnick's business has given $29,000 to Feinstein's campaigns and $246,000 more to Democratic political committees during years when she sought re-election, according to a report by California Watch, an investigative journalism nonprofit organization, that was published in The Chronicle in December.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater (Merced County), defended Feinstein's move. "The situation in the valley is continuing to deteriorate, and we have a situation where even with more rain than usual, we could have less allocations than last year," Cardoza said. He said even with large cutbacks in water allocations to farmers, delta smelt and other fish populations have not improved.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">Cardoza said recent studies show the pumps that environmentalists say pulverize fish are in fact destroying only a handful. "The pumps were shut down for six or 10 additional fish," Cardoza said. "This is the height of insanity, and it's time we quit devastating the California economy and understand what is really going on here."</span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">In a statement Thursday, Feinstein said that recent weeks of heavy rain and Sierra snowfall have brought snowpacks to 130 percent of their normal level. At the same time, "water has been gushing past the canals and into the oceans while farms on the west side of the (Central) Valley are likely to receive a very low percentage of their water allocations for a second year because that water cannot be pumped and stored." </span></b></p> <h3><span style="color:black;">Political jockeying</span></h3><p><b><span style="color:black;">Feinstein's action comes after months of political jockeying between Republicans and Democrats over whether the Endangered Species Act is destroying California's farming industry. Several fisheries on the coast from southern Oregon to San Luis Obispo have been shut down for three years for lack of runoff, idling commercial and recreational fishing and devastating the small businesses that depend on it. </span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">Farmers have also seen water supplies evaporate. Before this season's heavy rains, a three-year drought forced big cuts in their water allotments, forcing 400,000 acres to lie fallow and pushing unemployment in some towns toward 40 percent.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="color:black;">Farmers, fishermen and environmentalists had been negotiating on a long-term remedy to the decline of California's delta estuary, one of the largest in the world and on a scale with Florida's Everglades, but even more heavily damaged by a century of water diversions.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman", "serif";"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman", "serif";"> </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";"></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";"></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";"></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";"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;">415 383 4810 land/fax (call first to fax)</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman", "serif";"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;">415 519 4810 mobile</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman", "serif";"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;"><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net" target="_blank" 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";"></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;"><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org" target="_blank" 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";"></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" 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";"></span></b></p><div> <br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div> <br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div> <br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div> </div> </div></div><div style="position:fixed"></div> </div><br> <span><image001.gif></span><span><image002.gif></span><span><image003.gif></span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">env-trinity mailing list</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="mailto:env-trinity@velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us">env-trinity@velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/env-trinity">http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/env-trinity</a></div> </blockquote></div><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div>--</div><div><div><div>Greg King</div><div>President/Program Director</div><div>Siskiyou Land Conservancy</div><div>P.O. Box 4209</div><div>Arcata, CA 95518</div><div>707-498-4900</div><div><a href="mailto:gking@asis.com">gking@asis.com</a></div><div><a href="http://siskiyouland.wordpress.com">http://siskiyouland.wordpress.com</a>/</div></div></div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span></span></span> </div><br></div></div></body></html>