[env-trinity] Cold, Dead Fish Awards for 2015: Jerry Brown wins Cold, Dead Fish Award for fourth year in a row!

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/4/1480082/-Cold-Dead-Fish-Awards-For-2015



Cold, Dead Fish Awards for 2015

by Dan Bacher

The year 2015 will become infamous as the one when many California  
fish populations reached record low levels, largely due to poor water  
management by the state and federal governments.


The Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources continued  
to drain Trinity, Shasta, Oroville and Folsom reservoirs to record low  
levels during a record drought to supply subsidized water to corporate  
agribusiness interests, Southern California water agencies and oil  
companies conducting fracking operations.

The good news in an otherwise disturbing outlook is the first El Niño  
storms that arrived at the end of the year to start recharging  
reservoirs depleted due to mismanagement by the agencies.

Folsom Lake dropped to a record low level of 14 percent by the end of  
November and early December – and other reservoirs around the state  
were plagued by record low water conditions.

Winter run Chinook salmon, a federal and state endangered species,  
suffered from the second disastrous year in a row in the low, lethally  
warm conditions on the upper Sacramento River as almond growers  
continued to expand their water-intensive almond tree acreage on the  
west side of the San Joaquin..

Only 318,000 juvenile winter-run salmon survived in 2015, or just 3  
percent of nearly 10 million eggs, according to a dramatic graph  
released by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service on February 1. In  
comparison, just 5 percent of the salmon survived the previous year  
and 41 percent in 2011.

"I think everyone tried to make it work and despite everybody's best  
efforts it still was too warm," claimed Maria Rea, a deputy regional  
administrator with the service.

For their failed plans to supposedly “save” the winter run, Rea and  
David Murillo, the MidPacific Director of the Bureau of Reclamation,  
each receive an “Extinct Winter Run Chinook” award.

As the water agencies continued to drain Central Valley reservoirs,  
they also continued to export water through the Delta pumps during the  
drought, driving Delta fish species closer and closer to extinction. (https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/01/05/18781526 
)

Fish species ranging from endangered Delta smelt to striped bass  
plunged to record low population levels in 2015 in the Sacramento-San  
Joaquin River Delta, as revealed in the annual fall survey report  
released on December 18 by the California Department of Fish and  
Wildlife (CDFW).

Only 6 Delta smelt, an endangered species that once numbered in the  
millions and was the most abundant fish in the Delta, were collected  
at the index stations in the estuary this fall. The 2015 index (7), a  
relative number of abundance, “is the lowest in history,” said Sara  
Finstad, an environmental scientist for the CDFW’s Bay Delta Region.

Longfin smelt, a cousin of the Delta smelt, also declined to the  
lowest abundance index (4) in the history of the survey. Only 3  
longfin were collected at the index stations throughout the three- 
month period.

The population of striped bass, a popular gamefish, declined to the  
second lowest level in history (52) Only 42 age 0 stripers were  
conducted at the survey stations.

The 2015 abundance index (79) for American shad is also the lowest in  
history. Only 59 American shad were collected at the index stations.

Finally, the abundance index (806) for threadfin shad, an introduced  
forage species. reached its eighth lowest level. The biologists  
collected 634 threadfin shad at the index stations.

For their continuing service to the water contractors at catastrophic  
expense to our fish populations, Natural Resources Secretary John  
Laird, DWR Director Mark Cowin, CDFW Director Chuck Bonham and State  
Water Resources Control Board Chair Felicia Marcus each receive the  
“Delta Destruction Derby” award.

While those folks did “yeoman’s work” in their campaign to exterminate  
California fish populations, one individual, Ren Lohoefener, US Fish &  
Wildlife Service Regional Director, did more than anybody to sacrifice  
Delta smelt at the altar of corporate greed.  Lohoefener allowed  
increased take of the smelt at the pumps in January 2015, due to a  
secret directive in December 2014. (http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/rewild/fish/feds-quietly-double-allowable-take-of-delta-smelt.html 
)

Just days after the CDFW reported the Delta smelt population plummeted  
to a record low level in the fall 2014 survey, Roeenfener granted  
permission for the Central Valley Project and State Water Projects to  
double their killing of the smelt at the pumps. For this unforgivable  
act, Ren Lohoefener is granted the “Delta Smelt Killer” award.

On May 19, a 9 mile long oil spill began off the Santa Barbara Coast  
after a badly corroded pipeline, carrying crude oil from offshore  
platforms deposited over 142,800 gallons (3,400 carrels) of crude onto  
one of the most biological diverse coastlines on the West Coast. The  
oil slick fouled four alleged “marine protected areas” - Naples,  
Kashtayit, Campus Point and Goleta Slough – created under the  
controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.

The oil damaged the coats, skin, beaks, and appendages of hundreds of  
animals – and workers eventually collected 202 dead birds and 99 dead  
mammals including at least 46 sea lions and 12 dolphins. However, the  
full impact on fish and smaller shellfish, barnacles and other small  
creatures in the food chain may not be known for decades.

For their negligence in maintaining the grossly corroded pipeline,  
Plains American Pipeline CEO Greg. L Armstrong receives a “Big Oil  
Destroyer” award. He is proudly bestowed this award along with  
Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the President of the Western States Petroleum  
Association, who provided oil industry PR response to the spill, since  
the pipeline company is a member of her association. To make matters  
even worse, the very same oil lobbyist CHAIRED the MLPA Blue Ribbon  
Task Force to create the marine protected areas that were fouled by  
the spill!

Reheis-Boyd also gets another “prestigious” award for last year’s  
record oil industry “gusher” of lobbying expenses that ensured that no  
environmental bill opposed by Big Oil was able to make out of the  
Legislature unless it was amended, as in the case of SB 350, the green  
energy bill. The oil lobby broke its prior spending record, spending  
$22 million over the past year.

WSPA spent a record $11 million on lobbying, making it the number one  
corporate lobbying spender in California for the fourth year in a row.  
Reheis-Boyd receives the“Captured California” award for her successful  
capture of the regulatory apparatus in the state. (http://www.cadelivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Oil-Industry-Lobbying-2015-update-4_2.1.16._FINAL.pdf 
)

Speaking of the MLPA Initiative, Ron LeValley, the former co-chair of  
the MLPA Initiative “Science Advisory Team,” briefly hit the media  
spotlight when he got out of federal prison in the spring after  
serving 9-1/2 months for embezzling over $830,000 from the Yurok Tribe.

“The legal experience did cost me quite a bit and I would like to pay  
off my bills,” said LeValley in a   email to supporters. “So if you  
have a favorite photo, please order one from me! Many thanks to you  
all for the support I received while I was on ‘sabbatical.'" (http://www.northcoastjournal.com/NewsBlog/archives/2016/01/01/2015-quotables 
)

For casually dismissing his prison sentence as a “sabbatical,”  
LeValley is granted the“No Shame at All” award.

A rotten drainage deal signed by the Westlands Water District,  
considered the “Darth Vader” of California water politics, and the  
Obama administration in September can be likened to the bank bailout  
of 2008: “The wealthy and powerful corporate interests that caused the  
crisis are allowed to exit the burning aircraft with golden  
parachutes,” quipped Tom Stokely of the California Water Impact  
Network (C-WIN).

In the deal that requires congressional approval, the administration  
will forgive the district’s $375 million interest-free repayment  
obligation to taxpayers for construction of the federal Central Valley  
Project, the massive apparatus that delivers water from the Delta to  
corporate agribusiness interests on the western San Joaquin Valley.  
The agreement also converts the district’s current two-year water  
contracts to a permanent contract for up to 890,000 acre-feet of water  
annually, subject to the availability of water, according to Stokely.

For their successful effort to bail Westlands out, Tom Birminghman,  
the Westlands general manager, Secretary of Interior Sally Jewel,  
President Barack Obama and other administration officials are granted  
the “Dirty Deal” award of 2015.

Finally, there comes the most prestigious award, the “Cold, Dead  
Fish.” For the fourth year in a row, I must give the award to Governor  
Jerry Brown, since no individual has done more in his power to destroy  
the fish, water and environment of California.

As I mentioned already, 2015 California fish populations ranging from  
Delta smelt to striped bass dropped to record low levels under his  
watch. As Brown’s allies in the Obama administration continued to send  
winter run Chinook salmon, as well as the fall, late fall and spring  
runs, to the scaffold, Brown continued to promote anti-environmental  
policies that have surpassed those of any previous California  
administration.

While Brown gushed about his "green energy" and carbon trading  
policies at the Paris Climate Conference in December and other photo  
opportunities throughout the year, he continued to enthusiastically  
support the expansion of fracking in California, rejecting calls to  
ban fracking from a coalition of over 200 environmental and public  
interests groups.

He and his federal partners, after federal EPA scientists trashed the  
“science” of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), instead divided  
the project into two components, the California Water Fix, the tunnels  
component, and the California Eco Restore, the “habitat” conservation  
component, in July. And this new fast-tracked project allowed for no  
public meetings; the “Fix was in” as many folks quipped.

At this point, there are no environmental groups (with the exception  
of Jerry Meral’s Natural Heritage Institute), fishing groups or tribes  
that the support the project, but Brown continues to push this  
boondoggle forward, in spite of the fact that there is no example in  
U.S. or world history where a project that took more water out of a  
river resulted in ecosystem restoration.

The project would hasten the extinction of Central Valley steelhead,  
Sacramento River winter and spring run Chinook salmon, Delta and  
longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish speciesm as well as  
imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and  
Klamath rivers.

Proper accounting for Brown’s other abysmal environmental policies  
would fill a very large book. Here are just a few:

•  Brown supports carbon trading and REDD. REDD is the acronym for  
“Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation,” but  
indigenous leaders throughout the world say REDD really means "Reaping  
profits from Evictions, land grabs, Deforestation and Destruction of  
biodiversity."

• His administration was beset with numerous environmental scandals,  
ranging from the resignation of his top oil regulator to the  
resignation of two Fish and Game Commissioners, Jim Kellogg and Jack  
Bayliss and the Commission’s Executive Director, Sonke Mastrup.

• Brown “completed” the faux “marine protected areas” developed under  
the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.  
These “marine protected areas, based on terminally flawed “science”  
and the violation of the gathering rights of the Yurok Tribe and other  
Tribes, fail to protect the ocean from fracking, offshore oil  
drilling, pollution, oil spills, military testing, corporate  
aquaculture and all human impacts on the ocean other than sustainable  
fishing and gathering.

• And it was only after months of intense pressure from  
environmentalists, public health advocates and Porter Ranch residents  
that Governor Brown declared a state of emergency in the Aliso Canyon  
Gas Leak disaster that began on October 23.

In an apparent familial conflict of interest, Brown’s sister,  
Kathleen, plays a significant role at Sempra Energy, the corporation  
that owns SoCalGas, the company responsible for the gas blowout. She  
earned $188,380 in her position as a board member in 2014 and $267,865  
in 2013. (http://redgreenandblue.org/2015/12/19/jerry-browns-big-bad-ties-to-oil-and-gas-industry/ 
)

For his unprecedented war on fish, water and the environment as he  
poses as a “Green Governor” promoting “green energy” and addressing  
“climate change,” Brown recevies the “Cold, Dead Fish Award” for the  
fourth year in a row.


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