[env-trinity] Fishermen, Enviros, Tribes Blast Plan to Export More Delta Water

[Daniel Bacher]

State And Federal Government Rush Plan To Increase Delta Diversions

by Dan Bacher

The state and federal governments are attempting to rush through a complex 
plan that would expand the pumping capacity of the Delta pumps, paving the 
way for more water to ship south to the Westlands Water District and 
Southern California.

Environmental, fishermen’s groups and Indian tribes argued during two public 
meetings in Sacramento held jointly by state and federal agencies in 
Sacramento on October 7 and October 12 that the Operations Criteria and Plan 
(OCAP)  would spell doom for salmon, steelhead and other fish now recovering 
from years of massive water diversions and habitat degradation.

“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 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 public meetings appear to be “dog and pony shows” masquerading as 
attempts to get “public input” when the real decisions have already been 
largely made behind the scenes in backroom secret agreements like the “Napa 
Agreement” last year.  The state Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the 
federal Bureau of Reclamation plan to integrate their parallel storage and 
pumping facilities and sign 25 to 40 year contracts with San Joaquin Valley 
irrigation districts.

The Bureau and DWR are seeking immediate approval to begin implementing the 
water deal, in spite of criticism by 15 representatives led by Congressman 
George Miller, and Senators Boxer and Feinstein and State Senator Mike 
Machado that not enough public involvement or oversight was included. The 
Bureau, DWR and a few favored water districts developed the joint-state 
federal plan away from public scrutiny. They completely excluded Indian 
tribes, fishermen’s organizations and environmental groups from the process.

Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of 
Fishermen’s Associations, at the October 7 meeting referred to an explosive 
Sacramento Bee story that documented how NOAA Fisheries biologists were 
ordered to revise a draft biological opinion to be less protective of winter 
run chinooks. He asked the Bureau’s Chet Bowling whether he knew of any 
political interference with the OCAP biological opinion and whether the 
report would be peer reviewed.

“I don’t have personal information on that,” Bowling responded.

When Gary Mulcahy of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe questioned whether the 
expansion of Shasta Dam was being considered under the biological opinion, 
Bowling said it wasn’t on the table in the OCAP review process.

“This is a life and death issue for our tribe, since the raising of the dam 
would flood several of our sacred sites,” said Mulcahy. “The raising of 
Shasta Dam is a key component of the expansion of the storage capacity of 
the state and federal projects. When I bring this up at a meeting, they say 
we can talk about one piece of the plan but not another. The problem is that 
you can’t talk about one piece of the plan without talking about the other. 
And all of this plan is contingent on Shasta Dam being raised to provide 
more capacity for water storage.”

And when I asked a federal biologist how the Bureau of Reclamation’s OCAP 
process was going to deal with the extensive pre-spawning salmon mortality 
in the American River (181,709 over the past three years) because of low, 
warm water, he responded that fishermen were catching less fish in the ocean 
and too many fish were moving in to the river for the available habitat.

In a press conference on October 12, representatives from conservation 
organizations and Indian tribes vigorously attacked the OCAP process. One of 
the problems about this process is that it is very hard to get a straight 
answer on how much water will be actually exported.

In an interview with Bob Simms of KFBK Radio, a Bureau of Reclamation 
official, Jeff McCracken contended that the water exported by the federal 
government through 2020 would be actually less than it is now. Environmental 
groups argue that the Bureau and state are practicing a “shell game’ where 
the amount of water they claim is destined for export is different depending 
upon whom they're talking to.

According to Barry Nelson, policy analyst of the Natural Resources Defense 
council,  the Bureau is operating two different sets of books. “They told 
the fish agencies that just under 700,000 acre feet of water – 61 percent of 
capacity, will be diverted. At the same time, they have told Westlands Water 
District in their 12a pricing documents that they will give them 100 percent 
of their deliveries, 1,100,000 acre feet of water,” he stated.

Nelson said the plan proposes to export 600,000 additional acre-feet of 
water. This is separate from proposed transfers within the system.

“OCAP provides for a massive increase in Delta diversions,” said Nelson. 
“They are turning Calved into a sham. CalFed was intended to develop 
balanced solutions in an open process. The Napa Deal and OCAP are a huge 
step backward. They represent a return to confrontations and back room deals 
at the expense of water quality and healthy fisheries.”

Zeke Grader said now is a good time to actually reduce water diversions, 
rather than signing new long-term water contracts that provide for more 
diversions. Grader emphasized that Central Valley salmon provide 90 percent 
of the salmon caught commercially and recreationally off the California 
coast, as well as a large percentage of fish taken off Oregon and 
Washington.

“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,” he stated. “These agencies are putting hard working 
fishing families out of work to provide corporate welfare for agribusiness.”

The subversion of science, the exclusion of the public from the real 
decisions regarding their public trust resources and the favoring of 
agribusiness and big municipal water districts over other water users smacks 
of political corruption and deal making at its worst.

“It appears that the agencies are taking their marching orders from the Bush 
administration,” said Christina Swanson, fisheries biologist for the Bay 
Institute. “If they don’t like the scientist’s finding, they simply sweep 
the data under the rug.”

And restoring water to rivers like the San Joaquin River below Friant Dam, 
as ordered under a recent federal court decision, seems even more improbable 
with an increase in water exports.  "There are five year old catfish in the 
San Joaquin below Friant that haven't learned how to swim yet," quipped John 
Banks of the California Striped Bass Association.

The OCAP process is clearly yet another example of political science 
triumphing over natural science – and the fish, Indian tribes, recreational 
anglers and commercial fishermen are all losing. Everybody concerned about 
this blatant water grab should send a letter immediately to the Congressman 
and Senators asking them to suspend the water contract process until the 
public has more real input into the OCAP Process.