[env-trinity] Westlands Out of BDCP

[Byron Leydecker]

Westlands bails out of Bay Delta Conservation Plan 

 

FRESNO

November 22, 2010 10:23pm 

 

.  Politically powerful district complains of meddling by Interior
Department .  'Your myopic and unscientific obstructionism will bring this
entire effort . to a halt' 

 

The 900-pound gorilla in California's never-ending water wars, the Westlands
Water District, has bailed out of an effort to resolve water supply and
restoration issues called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, saying it is "a
project that is likely to deliver no more and potentially less water to the
public than they are receiving today." 

 

The purported goal of the BDCP is identifying water flow and habitat
restoration actions to recover endangered and sensitive species and their
habitats in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta while supplying
water to points south of the Delta, including farming and ranching companies
on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, many of which get water from
Westlands. 

 

"Through this action we are trying to get BDCP back on track," says Thomas
Birmingham, general manager of Westlands. 

The massive water supply district contends that the U.S. Department of the
Interior wants to reduce water deliveries from the Delta. 

"Your myopic and unscientific obstructionism will bring this entire effort
at water reform and ecosystem restoration to a halt," says Westlands
President Jean Sagouspe, in a letter to Department of the Interior Deputy
Secretary David Hayes. 

 

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the largest estuary on the west coast of
North America. Fresh water pumped from it supplies about 23 million
Californians. Pumping restrictions had been imposed during the recent years
of drought to protect fish populations. 

 

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http://aquafornia.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/WWD-Press-Release
-11-22-10.pdf

 

http://aquafornia.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Sagouspe-to-Hayes
-Transmittal-FINAL-22-November-2010.pdf

 

 

Byron Leydecker, JcT

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 land

415 519 4810 mobile

 <mailto:bwl3 at comcast.net> bwl3 at comcast.net

 <mailto:bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org> bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org
(secondary)

 <http://fotr.org/> http://www.fotr.org 

 

 

 

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