[env-trinity] Trinity Journal- Water tunnel plan prompts task force here

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.trinityjournal.com/news/environment/article_7ed4cf3a-128e-11e2-a089-0019bb30f31a.html 


Water tunnel plan prompts task force here

Sally Morris The Trinity Journal | Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 6:15 am
Aiming to fast-track the formation of a Trinity County position on the proposed Bay Delta Conservation Plan and its twin tunnels many view as nothing more than a ruse to convey more water south, the Board of Supervisors has enlisted help from an ad hoc task force of local talent to report back with recommendations by its Nov. 6 session.
Board members also recognized long-term involvement is critical if the county is to have any say in what becomes of its resources.
“Our water policies date back to the 1980s. A lot of good work was done, but we really need to update it with a firm policy that protects our county of origin rights and makes sure Trinity County is at the table and represented on these issues,” said Board Chairman Roger Jaegel. He acknowledged the county is facing many tough issues and competing priorities, “but I think water is the biggest one.”
Last Wednesday’s board meeting was entirely devoted to the topic, with a presentation about the proposed federal and state Bay Delta plan by Tom Stokely, retired Trinity County natural resources planner for Trinity County and now a director for the California Water Impact Network.
He was followed by Weaverville attorney Liz Johnson who spent the early years of her career working for a wealthy water lobbying firm in Sacramento.
 “That’s my confession, but in the process I learned a lot about the players. We are facing a thirsty beast that really knows how to use the system and has the money to. It’s been pretty much a closed club — very hard to penetrate though not impossible, but it will take much creativity and I advise you to approach this as you would a very lethal enemy,” she told the board.
Stokely presented a traveling slide show he has prepared on the proposed Bay Delta Conservation Plan unveiled in July by Gov. Jerry Brown and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. A draft environmental impact statement is being prepared on the project that envisions two tunnels, 30 to 40 feet in diameter, running 150 feet under the Delta for 35 miles.
Their purpose is to bypass the environmental and pumping constraints of the Delta and provide a more reliable flow of water from north to south, particularly if rising sea level causes the levees to fail, making the supply for Southern California unusable because of salt.  
“They aren’t telling us how much water will be pumped. They say they’ll build it and figure that out later. They say this plan will save fish. It is so dishonest it bothers me. They show a six percent dead pool at Trinity Lake with water so low you’d have to pump water up to the hole to let it out, yet they conclude no negative impact,” Stokely said.
He believes the $14 billion estimated price tag is also false — it will more likely reach as high as $65 billion “and once you start a project like this, you have to finish it. They’ll study the fish needs and wetlands results for 15 years and determine fish flows and diversion rates later in 15 years.”
Stokely said a proposed cost/benefit analysis of the project died in the Legislature “because they don’t want the public to know. If it were really so great, you’d think they’d welcome that analysis.”
He and Johnson both encouraged Trinity County to engage with neighbors and partners throughout the Northern California region to obtain a seat at the table as future decisions are being made. Other suggestions include fighting for a minimum carryover storage at Trinity Lake to ensure cold water temperature objectives can be met for instream fish survival; enforcement of existing water quality regulations statewide; a statewide water availability analysis; improvement of Delta levees; reduction of Delta exports by retiring selenium contaminated ag land from production and increasing efficiency and water conservation measures in the metropolitan areas.
“The more agencies we can encourage to withdraw their support for the tunnels, the more costly it becomes for the rest, making it less feasible,” Stokely said, adding farmers who hold senior water rights are on board for a fight because “they have everything to lose. The state has allocated about four times more water than is actually available. It’s supposed to be surplus water, but in dry years it isn’t. It’s paper water that is already over-allocated.”
Sup. Debra Chapman said she is “appalled — farmers with fallowed land full of toxins are allowed to sell their unused water back to Westlands Water District, yet Trinity County gets not one penny. I don’t know how we get to the table without lawyers and we don’t have money for that.”
Johnson advised that Trinity County has creative and knowledgeable people engaged on its behalf, but cautioned that at least on water, “We need to coalesce and speak with a unified voice.”
She added the existing Delta bottleneck “is significant to us because it is what keeps our water from going south. It is also a demanding resource that dictates some pumping of our water to the south to address other problems created by other projects. Unfortunately, we are in the ballgame as long as our water goes through there, but we are looked at as yokels. We really have to align ourselves with some other folks.”
She noted that in 1982, Brown’s proposed peripheral canal was voted down by an atypical canvas of voters representing not only diverse Northern California interests, but also by Southern Californians concerned about cost.
“There are other options. We are an arid state with water poorly distributed so it’s incumbent on us to be creative. If Dubai can get along with desalinized water, why can’t we? We live on the Pacific Ocean. You do not need to bring our water down when you can do those kinds of projects more efficiently and create jobs,” Johnson said.
Stokely and Johnson offered their volunteer service on a task force to help create an immediate response from Trinity County to the proposed tunnels. Others assigned to the group include Arnold Whitridge, a long-time Trinity River advocate and former county supervisor; current Sups. Debra Chapman and Judy Pflueger who have the Trinity River and Trinity Lake in their districts; County Administrative Officer Wendy Tyler and a representative of the Trinity Public Utilities District.
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