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<img width=300 height=257 id="Picture_x0020_1"
src="cid:image001.png@01CB406A.FEB97870" alt="cid:3365152799_1289424"><br>
ILLUSTRATION BY CHAD CROWE<br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-size:36.0pt'>Water grab<br>
</span></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Proposition 18’s off the
ballot, but the governor’s stealth water plan moves forward</span></b><br>
<br>
By Burt Wilson <br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>In a
surprise announcement at the end of June,</span></b><b><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
revealed that he had asked the state Legislature to yank his coveted water
bond, Proposition 18, off the November ballot and reposition it for the 2012
elections. Last week, the Legislature gave him exactly what he wanted.<br>
<br>
If this leaves you wondering why the governor would abandon the bill he thought
would be his greatest gubernatorial victory—a wholesale revision of the
California Water Plan—you’re not alone. Such a massive revision was
supposed to be Arnold’s supreme political legacy.<br>
<br>
Was it really too costly in this era of debt and deficits? Was the presence of
too much pork a reason to kill it? Did the governor fear it would be rejected
at the polls and cost him some prestige?<br>
<br>
No, no and no again. I believe the water bond was pulled because the governor
figured out a better way to get a through-Delta-water conveyance system that
would do the job the water bill was designed to do, but without all the water
bill headaches! In short, here is the outline of Arnold’s secret plan to
raid Northern California water and send it south.<br>
<br>
Most Californians never did understand the water bond completely, because it
was so disingenuously promoted to the public. The deception began with the formation
of the governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force Delta Vision Committee in 2006,
which defined and framed the issue as establishing what the group conceived as
“co-equal goals” to “restore the Delta ecosystem” and
“maintain a reliable water supply.” It was hard for anyone to argue
with that.<br>
<br>
To the casual observer, these co-equal goals seemed to be a harbinger of good
water policy in the works, but far from being co-equal, the dual goals were
actually mutually exclusive. In fact, the goals cancel each other out because
taking more water from the Delta—to “maintain a reliable water
supply” was meant for the entire state! And any more water sent to
Southern California would destroy the ecosystem, not save it.<br>
<br>
Was the committee really just about creating a smoke screen for a water grab?
The answer lies in the machinations of that great hidden force in California
politics, the California Business Roundtable. The roundtable foresees a
population growth of 20 million new people for California in the next 20 years.
Where will they go? Most of them will end up in Southern California.<br>
<br>
The CBR and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a major
force in the political maneuvering for more water, envision this gigantic
influx of people to be a boon to future economic development in the southland.<br>
<br>
But only if they can get more water.<br>
<br>
The MWD lost its Colorado River water allotment in 2003 and, ever since, has
been looking to the north to supply it with more of California’s liquid
gold. Long known for its water grab in the Owens Valley, the MWD can’t
get any more water from the north without a wholesale revision in the
California Water Plan, principally one that mandates the equal distribution of
California’s water resources over the whole state which, of course, would
mean diverting more Northern California water south.<br>
<br>
The Freeport Regional Water Project facility on the Sacramento River boasts
state-of-the-art fish screens and eight pumps that can divert 185 million
gallons of river water a day.
<br>
<br>
The governor’s stealth plan began with the newly created Delta
Stewardship Council, led by the crafty Blue Ribbon Delta Vision chair and
former Sacramento mayor and state legislator, Phil Isenberg. (Throughout the
entire committee process, Isenberg never brought up his conflict-of-interest
involvement as a lobbyist for the Irvine Ranch Water District in Southern
California.)<br>
<br>
The council was created with the passage of Senate Bill 1 by the state
Legislature. Its creation did not have to go to a public vote and only required
a majority legislative vote, which it got. Even though the use of <i>Delta</i>
contributes an aura of localness, its website says its members have a
“broad statewide perspective” on water issues. This ties in neatly
with the fact that the DSC is empowered to veto or approve anything proposed by
the more than 400 water agencies scattered throughout California.<br>
<br>
In short, Isenberg was made, literally, California’s water
czar—calling the shots for the governor.<br>
<br>
The existence of the secret plan surfaced this year, innocently enough, on
April 7, with the opening of a new water intake at the Freeport Regional Water
Project facility on the Sacramento River at Freeport. This facility, complete
with state-of-the-art fish screens, has eight pumps that are able to divert 185
million gallons of Sacramento River water a day into a tunnel—now under
construction—which would eventually serve the Sacramento County Water
Agency and the East Bay Municipal Utility District.<br>
<br>
At the opening ceremonies, plans were also revealed for <i>five more intake
facilities</i> to be built along the Sacramento River from Clarksburg to
Courtland. These intakes would handle even more capacity than the Freeport
facility. Additionally, plans call for these intakes to be connected to a
tunnel which would carry the water south to the Clifton Court Forebay, where it
would be pumped south via the California Aqueduct system.<br>
<br>
The professed theory behind this move is supposedly to establish a new Delta
diversion point that would supplant the Clifton Court Forebay. But it’s
really a new through-Delta conveyance system to feed water diverted from the
five Sacramento River intakes directly into the Forebay, circumventing the violent
sucking action of the two 40-foot pumps there that not only kill fish, but
cause the rivers to run backwards, ravaging the levees.<br>
<br>
Evidently, Arnold hopes that by showing compassion for the fish (which,
incidentally, is the mandate of a federal judge) people will ignore the fact
that he’s diverting more water south.<br>
<br>
Plans to carry out this scenario include three possible methods to convey the
water south from the Sacramento River intake facilities. The middle conveyance
route is a deep tunnel running from the Courtland area straight down to the
Clifton Court Forebay, where water gets pumped south.<br>
<br>
So, to repeat, what we have here is the prospect of a through-Delta water
conveyance system that would not require passage of the water bond itself! Its
purpose would be to fuel the future economic growth of Southern
California—an effort that will require almost double the water the MWD is
getting now. Without the water, nothing can be built because all of the
developers there have to assure the state of an adequate water supply in order
to start any construction. This is why developers and construction companies
were the largest backers of the water bill!<br>
<br>
The big question, of course, is: Where will the money for the tunnel and the
intakes come from?<br>
<br>
This is where Arnold gets really creative. The governor has expressed privately
that the authority for building such a conveyance infrastructure and the money
to pay for can simply be appropriated by law due to the passage of the
Burns-Porter Act in 1960—yes, <i>1960</i>—which created the
original California Water Plan.<br>
<br>
Section 12201 of the updated state water code reads, “The Legislature
finds that the maintenance of an adequate water supply in the Delta sufficient
to maintain and expand agriculture, industry, urban and recreational
development in the Delta area … and to provide a common source of fresh
water for export to areas of water deficiency is necessary to the peace,
health, safety and welfare of the people of the State.”<br>
<br>
This document gives the governor the authority to provide facilities to send
more Northern California water south because the state water code is state law
and is, therefore, seen as a mandate for state funds. As for the money, it can
be simply appropriated from the state budget or taken from the billions already
set apart for improvements but so far left unspent—the public be damned.<br>
<br>
Ultimately, the governor’s stealth plan should be revealed for what it
is.<br>
<br>
Sending more water downstate to Southern California carries huge risks for
Sacramento and Northern California’s environment. Better the Delta
Stewardship Council heed the prophetic words of philosopher Henry George, who
said, “Taking water from where it is needed and sending it to where it is
scarce is simply bad water policy.”</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;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/fax</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
mobile</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>
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