[env-trinity] Water contractors lobby for salmon-killing drought legislation in Congress

[Dan Bacher]

  http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/10/14/1582594/-Water-contractors-lobby-for-salmon-killing-drought-legislation-in-Congress



Tim Quinn, Executive Director of the Association of California Water  
Agencies (ACWA). Photo courtesy of ACWA.

Water contractors lobby for salmon-killing drought legislation in  
Congress

by Dan Bacher

Just days after Governor Jerry Brown’s administration applied for a  
“take” permit to kill Delta smelt, winter-run Chinook salmon and other  
endangered species in order to build and operate the Delta Tunnels,  
agribusiness interests accelerated their lobbying campaign to pass  
drought legislation in Congress that will further endanger San  
Francisco Bay-Delta fisheries.


Tim Quinn and the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) have  
stepped up their lobbying in advance of the lame duck Congressional  
session urging Congress to pass controversial drought legislation,  
according to Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore  
the Delta (RTD), in an action alert.

Quinn, the Executive Director of ACWA, sent a new letter on October 12  
to  the entire California Congressional delegation blaming the state’s  
water supply predicament almost entirely on protections for Bay-Delta  
fisheries and wildlife, and actions by federal officials to avoid  
species extinction. (www.restorethedelta.org/...)

“We would expect that federal policies should provide assistance in  
meeting water supply needs during drought conditions, but instead at  
almost every turn federal decisions restricted project operations,  
preventing water during storm events from being put into storage south  
of the Delta for later delivery to our farms and cities,” Quinn  
claimed in his letter. “During 2016, these restrictive federal  
policies had a far greater negative impact on water supply than did  
the drought.”

“California needs a partnership with the federal government in  
accomplishing this policy objective. Instead, all too often we  
experience unbalanced federal decisions that unreasonably favor  
species protection over water supply, with little scientific  
justification and little prospect of any actual environmental benefit,  
but with very large and real negative impacts on water supply,” he said.

Quinn urged Congress to pass “meaningful drought legislation,”  
apparently meaning legislation that would fail to observe even the  
very minimal protections provided now under the Endangered Species Act  
to protect Delta and longfin smelt, Central Valley steelhead, winter- 
run Chinook salmon, spring-run Chinook salmon and green sturgeon.

In response, Barrigan-Parrilla urged people to call their  
Congressional Representatives and tell them to protect Delta fisheries  
by “standing strong” against the increased Delta pumping bills by  
Senator Feinstein and Congressman Valadao.

“Tell them that you are aware of ACWA (pronounced Aqua) attempting to  
push through Federal legislation designed to take more water from the  
SF Bay-Delta estuary,” she said. “Tell them how ACWA’s members just  
told the State Water Resources Control Board that mandatory  
conservation rules are no longer necessary, even though we are  
entering our sixth year of drought.”

“ACWA wants it both ways, no restrictions on taking water, and no  
restrictions on much water people use — all at the expense of the  
people and fisheries of the Bay-Delta estuary,” she concluded. “Thank  
you. And let us know how it goes when you make the call.”

To find your Congressional Rep’s number, check this list of all  
California Congressional Representatives here, or go to this website  
to type in your zipcode.

The same water agencies calling for salmon-killing drought legislation  
are the ones behind Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to build two giant  
tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Brown and other  
state officials have constantly claimed the Delta Tunnels/California  
WaterFix project will “restore” the Delta ecosystem, but they revealed  
their real plans on October 7 when the administration applied for a  
permit to kill winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead,  
Delta and longfin smelt and other endangered species with the project.

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR)  submitted an  
“incidental intake” application for the California Department of Fish  
and Wildlife (CDFW) in alleged “compliance” with the California  
Endangered Species Act (CESA) in order to build the Delta Tunnels,  
also known as the California WaterFix. In other words, they are  
applying for a permit to kill endangered species in the construction  
and operation of the three new water intakes on the Sacramento River  
and other facilities planned as part of the multi-billion dollar  
project.

For more information, go to: www.dailykos.com/…

The latest attacks on the Bay-Delta Ecosystem come shortly after the  
Winnemem Wintu Tribe's 300-mile prayer journey from Sogorea Te (Glen  
Cove, Vallejo) to the historical spawning grounds of the winter-run  
Chinook salmon on the McCloud River from September 17 through October  
1. (www.dailykos.com/...)

“This journey is a walk/run/boat/bike and horseback ride to bring  
attention to the plight of all the runs of salmon in California, and  
the water management practices that have brought some of those runs to  
the edge of extinction,” according to the Tribe. “It is a prayer to  
let Californians know that the water they enjoy has come to them at  
the cost of others and the threat of death and extinction to species  
necessary for a healthy California.”

“We consider Shasta Dam a weapon of mass destruction,” said Caleen  
Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “It has  
already taken our homes, sacred sites, burial sites, and stopped the  
salmon from returning to their historical spawning grounds.  If these  
tunnels are built, Governor Brown’s so called ‘California WaterFix’,  
they will not only cause more death and destruction to the already  
endangered salmon, but they will encourage and motivate plans to  
enlarge Shasta Dam. An enlarged Shasta Dam will flood what remaining  
sacred sites, and cultural sites that we still use today.”

“The Shasta Dam raise, Sites Reservoir and the Delta Tunnels need to  
be considered as one project,” emphasized Chief Sisk. “Without one,  
you can’t have the two others. If the tunnels are built, there will be  
no water to put in them.  You need Sites Reservoir to provide the  
water for the tunnels and the Shasta Dam raise to provide water for  
Sites.”

“Although the state and federal governments are saying they are  
separate projects, they are all really one project. Why do you think  
Westlands Water District, the Resnicks, Metropolitan Water District  
and other water districts are all pushing for the Shasta Dam Raise,  
Sites Dam and the Delta Tunnels?” she concluded.
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