[env-trinity] River Herald News: Water Wars continue as Golden State’s drought persists

[Tom Stokely]

http://rivernewsherald.org/articles2013/bdcp_12-31-2013.html
Water Wars continue as Golden State’s 
drought persists
BDCP’s release calls on Delta residents to comment in 120-day period 
December 31, 2013
Galen Kusic
Editor
 
  
Photo By Jarrod R. Kohls
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance Executive Director Bill Jennings speaks in protest to the adoption of the Delta Plan in Sacramento. Photo By Jarrod R. Kohls
Director of Fish and Wildlife Chuck Bonham visited Staten Island, future site of the proposed twin tunnels in September. The media tour was specifically for southern California journalists to learn more about the Delta and BDCP. 
With recent news accounting for interest and inflation, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan’s actual price tag looks somewhere between $51-67 billion. That is a far cry from the $24.5 billion estimate that has consistently been noted as the accurate mark by state officials.
2013 saw one of California’s most active and important years in water politics history. The BDCP was unveiled before our very eyes after seven years of planning and $200 million shelled out by the water contractors, the Delta Plan was adopted with a unanimous vote, and protests around the region and state spread like wildfire to oppose Gov. Jerry Brown’s twin tunnel legacy project.
While the report in the San Jose Mercury News came out last week that these inflated cost numbers were accurate, DWR spokesperson Nancy Vogel responded that these are not “new estimates” and that state water contractors knew that they would have to account for interest and inflation on the proposed numbers all along.
“Each public water district paying for the BDCP will approach financing from their own perspective – bond terms, length of financing, etc. – so we present the total planning, construction, operations and maintenance and mitigation costs in real terms of $25 billion,” said Vogel.
She explained that with each milestone in the project, their respective boards review financing and commitments and make a determination if they will continue to finance the effort.
“Some might view this as unusual high drama because they oppose the project, but in general it’s good governance to continually review financial commitments to an effort of this magnitude,” she said. “Also, a water bond does not necessarily need to pass in 2014 for the BDCP to go forward. There are federal and state funds available to begin habitat restoration.”
Vogel lastly outlined that in the recently released EIR/EIS, 15 project alternatives are analyzed, including a “no action/no project” alternative. She explained that over 100 alternative solutions were considered in the EIR/EIS process, but it appears that the proposed plan will continue – two 40-foot diameter tunnels submerged 150-feet below the Delta.
DWR still has not gained access to 105 landowners property within the Delta, as the case is still tied up in court. Until that land is studied and surveyed beneath the surface – no project will begin construction, and the “unknown” will continue to dominate talks of conveyance and habitat restoration in the Delta.
2013 saw opponents to the plan rise to the occasion as they did in 1982 when Gov. Brown’s peripheral canal plan was defeated with a referendum. Now, Restore the Delta, dozens of environmental groups, lawmakers and activists are leading the fight against what opponents call “the ultimate destruction of the West Coast’s largest estuary” under the name of Californians for a Fair Water Policy.
Congressional leaders from the region came together in unison to fight against the proposal, calling it “bad plumbing before policy,” a “boondoggle” and an “archaic 19th century idea.” Congressman John Garamendi has produced his own Water Plan for all California.. The plan itself consists of six basic elements – conservation, recycling, the creation of new storage systems, “Fix the Delta” – right sized conveyance, levee improvements and habitat restoration, a science driven process and the protection of existing water rights.
“They’re going to take all the water out of this river – I think that’s their plan, take it all. No way, no how can that happen,” said Garamendi at a press conference in late May on the Sacramento River. “Let there be a fight, let it be this one. Let it be about maintaining the extraordinary agriculture economic viability of northern California."
Dr. Robert Pyke and the California Planning and Conservation League both came out with alternative proposals to the plan – estimated at a much lower cost with smaller conveyance facilities. These were brought before the Delta Protection Commission, as the government entity wrote a letter to Gov. Brown and The White House that they do not support BDCP in its current form. The 9-0 vote with two abstentions from state employees was a landmark decision that could have some clout when it comes to BDCP getting permits from the state and federal wildlife agencies.
As California is currently in its driest year on record with an estimated 20 percent of normal snowpack, pumping to southern California from the Tracy pumps was shut down to protect Delta smelt earlier in the year. This could become a more regular process, as there is no sign of rain coming anytime soon – and millions depending on Delta water to irrigate crops.
Conservation has become the staple of any argument in water, as citizens are being asked to use less. The overall trend is that Californians are using less water than ever before, but there is a long way to go to achieve efficiency.
  
Photo By Jarrod R. Kohls
Joy Baker mourns the "Death of the Delta" as she carries the coffin symbolizing all of the communities, industries and species potentially decimated by the twin tunnels project. Photo By Galen Kusic
Dr. Jerry Meral officially retired from the California Natural Resources Agency on Dec.31, but has gained employment with the Natural Heritage Institute as Director of the California Water Program. He is pictured here fighting off sleep at a meeting in Courtland on unavoidable impacts to the Delta from BDCP. 
“The salmon used to flourish with the farming that was there,” said Restore the Delta board member and Roberts Island resident Rogene Reynolds. “Until the ‘60’s when the State Water Project came on. It is not the farming, it’s not the levees – it is the pumping. I cannot understand why the BDCP does not completely investigate the cost/benefit of reducing pumping.”
The BDCP’s goal with construction of three conveyance facilities in the north Delta is to reduce reliance on the south Delta for pumping. Regardless, the south Delta would be used at least half the time to pump water south – still killing millions of fish at the pumps year after year.
“The BDCP does not solve the dry year problem,” said Contra Costa Water District General Manager Greg Gartrell. “It doesn’t matter how big of a pipe you have, if you don’t have water to put in it – you don’t get any water. If you want to have dry year supplies, you’ve got to have more storage. It’s simple.”
In other news, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congressman Garamendi proposed a Delta National Heritage Area. While Feinstein is for the construction of the tunnels, Garamendi, a longtime Walnut Grove resident strongly opposes the plan from all angles.
“A Delta NHA will be a valuable tool to help the Delta gain visibility as a destination for recreation and tourism activities, thus assisting with both economic development and public education,” said California Delta Chambers Executive Director Bill Wells in a letter to former DPC Executive Director Mike Machado. “Since the Delta NHA is a community-driven approach to heritage conservation and economic development, it is imperative that there be public-private partnerships to support historic preservation, natural resource conservation, recreation, heritage tourism, and educational projects to tell the “Delta story.”
Machado retired from his post as executive director of the Delta Protection Commission in June, as Eric Vink took over as his successor. The Delta Protection Commission Advisory Commission started up again, and will play a major role in the BDCP public commenting process.
State Senator Lois Wolk is also strongly opposed to BDCP, and has authored SB42, an alternative water bond that focuses largely on the same elements of Garamendi’s water plan – a more holistic and healing approach to the Delta ecosystem than what is being proposed currently from BDCP.
“The BDCP is at the top of a stove about to boil over,” she said at McCormack Ranch in September. “It is a contractor driven plan with the result of a 50-year permit. The public is on the hook for any additional funding. There are going to be changes – who’s on the hook for that?”
In June the Delta Stewardship Council approved the long-awaited Final Delta Plan, which will essentially govern the Delta per the Delta Reform Act of 2009 for the next 50 years. The 7-0 unanimous vote was unexpected, as Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli has been opposed to BDCP since its inception.
With the Delta Plan in place, it allows the possibility for BDCP to gain permits and be incorporated into the Delta Plan.
“We can say yes, they did comply with the law, or no, they did not comply – or we can ask questions,” said DSC Chair Phil Isenberg. “We were not granted the authority to change the BDCP. If it meets the requirements of law, it will be incorporated in the Delta Plan.”
Nottoli still opposes BDCP adamantly, as the two are completely separate entities.
“The really compelling thing to me is that we have no reason to expect that next year will be any different or the year after that will be different,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin. “This conflict will continue to play out year after year until we make fundamental changes in the way that we manage the Delta and move from a species by species approach to protecting the fish in the Delta to a more comprehensive approach.”
Cowin discussed that the Delta’s health has continued to suffer, but that after seven years DWR and various state and federal agencies are ready to “reverse” those trends. He noted that this plan received an unprecedented amount of consensus from said agencies.
“This plan (BDCP) isn’t about waging war, it’s about resolving some of the most critical resource management conflicts in California,” he said.
Over the summer with the increasingly successful Restore the Delta campaign of “Save the Delta! Stop the Tunnels!” – Caltrans confiscated numerous signs along Highway 160 on the Sacramento River, citing that they were too close to the roadway.
This unleashed a firestorm of journalistic and political backlash – as Caltrans returned the signs and protesters were instructed to place signs 14 feet back from the roadway.
“They said there would be $10,000 fines if they were not moved,” Restore the Delta Executive Director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla said. “They were very clear about it. We don’t know where the orders came from – we want to know who ordered the decision, but at the same time whether it was an employee or it was higher up, it’s kind of irrelevant because what this exemplifies is the culture of state agencies and how they treat people in the Delta and that culture and making those decisions starts with the Governor and goes down through the government.”
The Pear Fair parade this year saw a huge outpouring of support against the tunnels, and state and county officials coming together to form the Delta Coalition. Together, a formidable opponent has been placed in Gov. Brown’s way between his legacy project and what folks in the Delta say “Big Dumb Concrete Pipes.”
A small victory for residents of the Delta included the optimization of the BDCP project, which included reducing the intermediate forebay near Hood from 250 acres to 40. This proposed forebay was moved east of Stone Lakes Wildlife Refuge, a major nesting area for Greater Sandhill Cranes. However, in the process, the new tunnel alignment is scheduled to be constructed through Staten Island, a preserve for cranes run by the Nature Conservancy.
The Nature Conservancy has pulled support for BDCP since finding out the news and countless opposition has come out against the tunnels being realigned in this particular space. Yet, BDCP and DWR officials maintain that it will actually enhance crane habitat, not destroy it.
California Natural Resources Agency Deputy Secretary Dr. Jerry Meral received the most criticism of all this year, after his comments, “The Delta cannot be saved.” While state officials claim that this was taken out of context, it drew more attention to the project through media than ever before.
Now, with the release of the EIR/EIS, Meral retired from the Natural Resources Agency. Only Meral himself can let the public know what really happened, but since that fateful quote – he has been nestled amongst sharks in blood-filled water.
“I am not surprised by Dr. Meral’s retirement announcement,” said North Delta Water Agency Manager Melinda Terry. “The heavy lifting required to get the BDCP EIR/EIS to this point appears to be taxing him physically of late, so I’m sure he considered the release of the Public Draft a fulfillment of a major milestone for his commitment to the Brown Administration.” 
Prior to Dr. Meral’s appointment, the CA Natural Resources Undersecretary, Karen Scarborough was the lead BDCP person for the Schwarzenegger Administration. When Gov. Brown came into office for the second time, he created Dr. Meral’s Deputy Secretary position to oversee and manage the BDCP development. Since his position is not a permanent Deputy Secretary title at the Natural Resources Agency, the Governor could choose to not replace him and instead let DWR Director Cowin continue on as the project leader, but it remains to be seen what the pleasure of the Gov. Brown is.
2014 will prove to yet again be one of the most historic and important years in water politics history. Stay tuned to the RNH for full coverage.  
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