[env-trinity] Salmon Disaster Relief Funds

Tue Sep 23 13:39:26 PDT 2008

Bush Withholds Salmon Disaster Money As He Pushes For Corporate Bailouts! 

by Dan Bacher 

While George W. Bush wants taxpayers to give Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson a $700 billion blank check to bail out Wall Street for its reckless
speculation and greed, the administration announced last week that it would
release only $100 million of the $170 million appropriated to salmon
fishermen and businesses impacted by this year's salmon fishing closure off
the California and Oregon coasts and in Central Valley rivers. 

Representatives Peter DeFazio (OR-04) and Mike Thompson (CA-01), along with
10 other members of Congress, wrote to President Bush on September 19 urging
him to distribute the full $170 million in disaster aid to fishermen and
businesses suffering from the closure of the salmon fishing season on the
West Coast caused by the collapse of the Sacramento River fall run chinook
salmon population. 

"Playing games with the livelihood of fishers across the Pacific Northwest
is yet another sign that the Bush Administration has no commitment to
protect our valuable river systems, and no interest in helping the fishing
communities and economies that rely on them," the letter stated. "It is also
completely unacceptable. We insist that you comply with congressional intent
and immediately release the full $170 million in federal disaster aid for
Pacific Northwest fishers." 

The other Representatives who signed the letter were Baird, Blumenauer,
Capps, Eshoo, Farr, Hooley, Matsui, Woolsey, Wu and George Miller. 

"The Bush Administration has once again put politics ahead of people," said
North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA). "Because of the
Administration's disastrous policies, Pacific coast fishing families have
been devastated. Congress appropriated $170 million in federal disaster
relief, but this latest proposal by the Bush Administration to withhold a
large portion of these funds shows no regard for hardworking fishing
families nor their livelihood." 

"I am absolutely astounded that the Administration is not distributing the
full $170 million Congress allocated in the Farm Bill to deal with the
salmon disaster," DeFazio said. "Instead, they are trying to steal $70
million from salmon fishermen and give it to an incompetent defense
contractor. The fishing community of Oregon is already suffering because of
the flawed Bush policies in the Sacramento River basin. They should not have
to suffer again because the President has hired people in Florida who can't
count. We've been there before." 

In a news release, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez offered no
reason why the other $70 million owed to the fishermen and businesses wasn't
being released immediately. 

"The salmon fishery has been a mainstay of the West Coast's ocean fishing
revenues for many years," said Gutierrez. "This year's closure left
thousands of fishermen and dependent businesses struggling to make ends
meet. This disaster aid package of $100 million will help them get back on
their feet." 

Brian Gorman, spokesman for NOAA Fisheries, said the remaining $70 million
of Congressionally appropriated disaster-relief money "is expected to become
available later in the year as the $100 million is spent."

"The administration requested to transfer $70 million for the Census, but I
have no idea if there is support for this in Congress," Gorman added. "If
there is no vote to do otherwise, the funds will remain as originally
designated and the disaster relief aid will become available after October
1. I expect all of the money to be distributed." 

He noted that the agency will provide the money in the form of a grant to
the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. The commission will
distribute the money, based on the agreements reached with the states, to
fishermen and related businesses affected by this year's closure of the
ocean salmon fishing season off California, Oregon, and Washington.  

The governors of all three West Coast states requested a federal disaster
declaration as a result of the closures. The declaration, issued by
Gutierrez in May, paved the way for Congress to appropriate the $170 million
disaster-relief package in July. 

The states of Washington, Oregon, and California estimated damages to the
fishing industry to total $290 million. The full disaster aid is needed
immediately in order that fishermen can make boat payments, insurance
payments, mortgage payments, and keep food on the table. 

In June, the Office of Management and Budget that puts together the
President's annual budget sent Congress a revised budget request for more
funding to carry out the 2010 Census. The White House is requesting $546
million more for the Census, and has proposed using $70 million of the $170
million in salmon disaster money allocated in the Farm Bill, to pay for the
cost over-runs, according to DeFazio and Thompson. 

The Administration entered into a contract with the Harris Corporation, a
Florida defense contractor, to conduct the Census, but the contractor has
run into serious cost over-runs amounting to hundreds of millions of
dollars. Congressmen DeFazio and Thompson and 13 other members of Congress
sent President Bush a letter at that time that they say was "largely
ignored" by the Administration. 

The refusal to dispurse the $70 million in salmon aid relief now is
particularly outrageous because the Bush and Scharzenegger administrations
are largely responsible for the unprecedented fishery collapse. The
population of the Sacramento fall run chinook salmon population has declined
from over 800,000 in 2002 to less than 60,000 fish this year. 

The Bush and Schwarzenegger administrations claim that "ocean conditions"
are responsible for the collapse, but all of the available evidence
demonstrates that it is water policies that favor agribusiness and corporate
water developers over fish, the environment and local communities that
caused the dramatic decline. The collapse undoubtedly occurred because of
record water exports from the California Delta by the state and federal
projects to drainage-impaired land in the San Joaquin Valley during the
years this year's returning salmon were supposed to go to sea. For example,
2005 was a record export year with 6.4 million acre feet of water diverted
from the estuary. 

It is believed that many salmon never made out of Bay-Delta estuary, but
were instead chopped up in the Delta pumps, disoriented and stranded in dead
end sloughs because of reverse flows caused by pumping, and deprived of
forage. At the same time, the state of California failed to put its hatchery
salmon into salt water acclimation pens, as they had done previously, during
2005 and 2006. This resulted in increasing loss of salmon to predators when
the stunned salmon were released into San Pablo Bay. 

I believe that you can't fully understand the Central Valley chinook salmon
collapse without understanding the dramatic decline of four California Delta
pelagic species - delta smelt, longfin smelt, juvenile striped bass and
threadfin shad. A team of federal and state scientists have pinpointed water
exports as the number one cause of the "Pelagic Organism Decline," followed
by toxic chemicals and invasive species. 

As Peter Moyle, prominent U.C. Davis fishery scientists, recently stated,
"Overall, blaming 'ocean conditions' for salmon declines is a lot like
blaming Hurricane Katrina for flooding New Orleans, while ignoring the many
human errors that made the disaster inevitable, such as poor construction of
levees or destruction of protective salt marshes. The listings of the winter
and spring runs of Central Valley Chinook as endangered species were
warnings of likely declines on an even larger scale. Continuing on our
present course will result in the permanent loss of a valuable and iconic
fishery unless we start taking corrective action soon." 

Meawhile, the Bush administration, while trying to steal money allocated to
the victims of a fishery collapse engineered by the Bush and Schwarzenegger
administrations, wants to soak the taxpayers for another $700 billion for
corporate criminals who should be in jail, not receving another handout.
That's on top of $1.1 trillion for other recent bailouts, including A.I.G.,
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Bear Stearns. Just when you think the Bush
regime has sunk to a new low, it will always find a way to reach a lower
level of criminality in its policy of "socialism for the rich." 

Note: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing
on the Harris Corporation and the problems with the Census on June 11, 2008.
<http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2001>
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2001. 

The text of the letter sent to President Bush is below: 

September 18, 2008 

The Honorable Jim Nussle, Director 

Office of Management and Budget 

Washington, DC. 20503 

Dear Director Nussle: 

We write with increasing concern regarding full disbursement of the $170
million appropriated by Congress to compensate fishers for the unprecedented
closure of the West Coast salmon fishery. 

Earlier this week, NOAA Fisheries (NOAA) indicated that it would be
dispersing $100 million of the $170 million appropriated by Congress to
provide aid to affected fishers. NOAA further indicated that the remaining
$70 million may be disbursed if further need was demonstrated, and "if
Congress did not act to rescind the funds." We have been informed that NOAA
is not dispersing the full amount now because OMB has not yet released the
funds. We find this unconscionable. 

First, as we expressed to you in June, it is unacceptable that the
Administration has proposed - and now seems to be trying to implement - a
plan to take disaster aid from the fishing communities of California, Oregon
and Washington to pay for cost overruns associated with this
Administration's questionable contract with the Harris Corporation to
complete the 2010 census. Indeed, the reason why Congress had to step up to
provide this emergency aid to fishers in our states is because of this
Administration's unlawful and shortsighted policies regarding the Pacific
Northwest's rivers. 

Second, we have received no satisfactory explanation for why OMB can legally
withhold funds that Congress has appropriated for a specific purpose such as
this. The states of Oregon, Washington, and California have followed the
process set out in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which provides for emergency
assistance. Now that NOAA has accepted the application from Pacific Fishery
Management Council, and has approved the $170 million grant to the states,
OMB is legally obligated to release the funds so that affected fishers may
receive the aid they desperately need. The law provides for no further
"assessment of need," and we are aware of no precedent for OMB's alleged
"phased" disbursement of these funds. 

To us, the fact that OMB is withholding $70 million, when it proposed in
June to reprogram this exact same amount to pay for the Administration's
mistakes with its census contract, smacks of political gamesmanship. Playing
games with the livelihood of fishers across the Pacific Northwest is yet
another sign that the Bush Administration has no commitment to protect our
valuable river systems, and no interest in helping the fishing communities
and economies that rely on them. It is also completely unacceptable. We
insist that you comply with congressional intent and immediately release the
full $170 million in federal disaster aid for Pacific Northwest fishers. 

Sincerely, 

Baird 

Blumenauer 

Capps 

DeFazio 

Eshoo 

Farr 

Hooley 

Matsui 

Thompson, Mike 

Woolsey 

Wu 

Miller, George 

Byron Leydecker, JCT

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810

415 519 4810 cell

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org (secondary)

http://fotr.org 

 <mailto:bwl3 at comcast.net>  

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