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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif";">Secret
plans for 45-mile long Delta water tunnel leaked </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif";">Central
Valley Business Times-9/20/10</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A 45-mile long tunnel that would drain fresh
water from the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta -- so wide in diameter that small
planes could fly
through it -- is being talked about in secret meetings in
Sacramento.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Broad plans for the tunnel have been worked
out, although
the planning document prepared by the state’s Natural Resources
Agency with the
plans says that it is “presented only for purposes of facilitating
discussion
and is not intended as any preliminary or final decision….”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“These are government officials using taxpayer
funds to try
to develop a scheme for spending billions more taxpayer funds and
they are
doing it in a non-public way,” says Jonas Minton, water policy
advisor for the
Planning and Conservation League, a Sacramento-based nonprofit
lobbying
organization specializing in environmental issues, and a former
deputy director
of the California Department of Water Resources.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It includes many, many specifics that are in
the form of a
proposal. And perhaps this was a slip-up, but in the first
appendix included
with the document … it’s actually entitled ‘state proposal.’” says
Mr. Minton.
“Although they’re saying that this is just an issue paper, it
certainly comes
across as more than that.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mr. Minton says that at this point there is no
indication
that others involved in Delta water manager, such as environmental
groups or
science-based regulations “have any intention of accepting this
proposal.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Stockton-based group Restore the Delta,
which says it
advocates “on behalf of local Delta stakeholders with government
water agencies
to ensure that water management decisions will protect and benefit
local Delta
communities,” says the hush-hush process of the state in trying to
craft a
Delta deal has raised the hackles of state and federal lawmakers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It says the lawmakers have sent a letter urging
Natural
Resources Agency Director Lester Snow and U.S. Interior Secretary
Ken Salazar
to open up the closed-door talks now underway.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The letter includes a series of questions
including a
request to know just who is meeting behind the closed doors and
why they were
invited to participate and others were ignored.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“This most recent exclusion only serves to
further frustrate
and anger those within the Delta community who are genuinely
interested in
working constructively with the state and federal agencies and the
newly formed
Delta Stewardship Council,” says the letter. “In short, this new
‘Delta
Principals Group’ process represents a return to the closed-door
deal-making
that has historically resulted in further degradation of the
Delta.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The letter officially requests that the
meetings be more
inclusive and transparent</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Signing the letter were U.S. Reps. John
Garamendi,
D-Sacramento; Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento; Jerry McNerney,
D-Pleasanton; George
Miller, D-Martinez; and Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, along with
state Sen. Lois
Wolk, D-Davis; state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg,
D-Sacramento;
state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord; and state Assembly Members
Bill
Berryhill, R-Ceres; Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo; Alyson Huber, D-El
Dorado Hills;
Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, and Mariko Yamada, D-West Sacramento.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While the Natural Resources Agency is talking
water tunnels,
other groups are going about their missions involving the fate of
the Delta.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The new Delta Independent Science Board (ISB)
comprised of
10 nationally and internationally prominent scientists is
scheduled to hold its
first meeting Sept. 30-Oct. 1.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of
2009
established the Delta ISB, whose members were to be appointed by
the Delta
Stewardship Council, which was also created by the Delta Reform
Act as an
independent agency of the state of California. The Delta ISB
replaces the
previous CALFED Independent Science Board.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The meeting is set for 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. on
Sept. 30 and
Oct. 1 in the Delta Room, 5th Floor at 650 Capitol Mall,
Sacramento.# </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a
href="http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=16351">http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=16351</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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