[env-trinity] Water Grab Press Event at Discovery Park Today!

[Daniel Bacher]

Friends of the River • Natural Resources Defense Council  • Pacific Coast 
Federation of Fishermen’s Associations • Planning and Conservation League• 
The Bay Institute • Delta Keeper

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: October 13, 2004

Contacts:
Steve Evans, Friends of the River: (916) 442-3155 x221
Barry Nelson, Natural Resources Defense Council: (415) 205-6703
Mindy McIntyre, Planning and Conservation League:  (916) 313-4518
Zeke Grader, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations: (415) 
561-5080

Environmental Groups Warn That Backroom Deal to Increase Delta Diversions 
Threatens Water Quality and Endangered Salmon
CalFed Program to Solve State Water Problems at Risk of Falling Apart

SACRAMENTO, CA. (October 13, 2004) – In a move reminiscent of California’s 
past history of back room water deals, state and federal agencies are 
preparing to finalize plans to increase diversions from the Sacramento-San 
Joaquin Delta to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. 
Environmental and fishing groups say the complex plan, if approved, would 
further degrade delta water quality and spell disaster for struggling 
fisheries in many Northern California rivers and streams.

The California Bay Delta Authority will discuss the scheme at a meeting 
today at 1:00 p.m. at 650 Capitol Mall in Sacramento. The plan was developed 
by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, California Department of Water Resources 
(DWR) and a few favored water districts, while excluding environmental and 
fishing groups and other stakeholders.

“Kiss Northern California rivers goodbye if the state and federal agencies 
get the plumbing in place to suck more water out of the delta,” said Steve 
Evans, conservation director of Friends of the River. “Already, water 
exports are killing salmon and poisoning water quality in upstream rivers 
and the delta. Increasing diversions will only add to the problem, while 
subsidizing corporate cotton growers in the San Joaquin Valley and urban 
sprawl in Southern California.”

The plan – known as the Operating Criteria and Plan (OCAP) – by state and 
federal officials would increase the capacity of pumps near Tracy in order 
to siphon enormous amounts of additional water from the delta to provide new 
supplies of cheap water to large agribusinesses and urban developers.

Last year the bureau and DWR met secretly with the Metropolitan Water 
District of Southern California, Westlands Water District and Kern County 
Water Agency to forge the so-called Napa Agreement, a deal to divvy up the 
additional water they hope to pump from the delta. Conservation groups and 
elected officials condemned the deal as a raid on Northern California’s 
water supply lacking public involvement or oversight. Recently, Senators 
Boxer and Feinstein, 15 representatives led by Congressman George Miller, 
and state Senator Mike Machado, chair of the Agricultural and Water 
Committee, criticized the deal, demanding an opportunity for more public 
involvement. Yet the bureau and DWR are seeking immediate approval to begin 
implementing the deal under OCAP.

“The Bureau of Reclamation and agribusiness are trying to bring to the 
bay-delta the same style of management that led to disasters on the 
Columbia, Klamath and Trinity Rivers, ignoring science while deal-making in 
smoke filled rooms,” said Zeke Grader, executive director of  the Pacific 
Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “These agencies are putting 
hard working fishing families out of work to provide corporate welfare for 
Central Valley agribusiness.”

Conservationists say the plan could cause the collapse of CalFed, the 
state-federal cooperative program to restore the bay-delta, while improving 
water quality and providing reliable supplies for state water users.

“The state and federal agencies are turning CalFed into a sham,” said Barry 
Nelson, senior policy analyst with NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). 
“CalFed was intended to develop balanced solutions in an open process. The 
goal was to restore water quality and a healthy environment for the entire 
state, not just provide more water for a few favored water districts. We’ve 
seen in recent years that cooperative efforts work, but the Napa Deal and 
OCAP are a huge step backward. They represent a return to confrontation and 
back room deals at the expense of water quality and healthy fisheries.”

Scientists say that proposed changes in upstream dam operations to provide 
for increased delta pumping could lead to the extinction of the Sacramento 
River’s endangered winter run Chinook salmon. That’s because draining 
reservoirs to move water to the pumps could result in higher temperatures 
than the fish can tolerate later in the year, especially in dry years.

Christina Swanson, Ph.D., fisheries biologist for The Bay Institute, noted 
that NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency charged with protecting salmon, 
recently was accused of buckling under political pressure when it modified a 
draft report finding that the winter run could be endangered even further. 
“It’s clear that the agencies are taking their marching orders from the Bush 
administration,” she said. “If they don’t like the scientists’ findings, 
they simply sweep the data under the rug.”

Conservationists say that increased pumping is totally unnecessary. “There 
are cost effective strategies for meeting California’s water needs,” said 
Mindy McIntyre, water policy specialist for the Planning and Conservation 
League. “Our solutions include conservation, water recycling and groundwater 
desalination. We can meet the growing demand at a lower cost without further 
imperiling wildlife and water quality.”

# # #

PRESS ADVISORY

For Immediate Release: October 12, 2004

For more information:
Craig Tucker, Friends of the River:		916-207-8294

Environmental Groups Warn That Backroom Deal to Increase Delta Diversions 
Threatens Water Quality and Endangered Salmon
CalFed Program to Solve State Water Problems at Risk of Falling Apart

WHAT:  Despite concerns voiced by conservation groups, scientists, local 
farmers and elected officials, state and federal agencies are moving ahead 
with plans to divert ever increasing amounts of water from the 
Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta to satisfy the  thirst of San Joaquin 
agribusiness and Southern California Developers.  A large coalition of 
conservation and fishing organizations are hosting a press conference to 
highlight the disastrous effects such diversions could have as well as the 
secrecy in which these policies were developed.

WHO: Friends of the River, Planning and Conservation League, Natural 
Resources Defense Council, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s 
Associations, the Bay Institute, Delta Keeper

WHEN: Wednesday, October 13 at noon.

WHERE: Discovery Park, by the riverside. The park is located beside I-5 in 
downtown Sacramento. From I-5 take the Richards Blvd. off-ramp then go west 
to get to the South entrance of the park, or follow the Garden Highway exit 
east from I-5 to find the North entrance. Signs denote the park's location 
from I-5.