Powerful California State Senators Ask Schwarzenegger to Hold Off on Canal Plans

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dan Bacher

The three State Senators who have led Democratic negotiations with Republicans over a potential new water bond sent Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, "The Fish Terminator," a strongly worded letter today asking him to hold off his plans for peripheral canal. Since the Governor proclaimed his support for a peripheral canal last June, he's been doing everything he can to push through this environmentally destructive pork barrel fiasco to benefit subsidized corporate agribusiness and developers at the expense of fish, the environment and the northern California economy.

"It was reported to us that last Friday, a resources agency official stated in a public meeting on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan that the administration is preparing an executive order directing to begin environmental and engineering documents for a canal facility despite the fact that the budget request has not been acted upon and the request contends that no staff currently are available for that purpose," said the letter, signed by Senators Don Perata, Mike Machado and Darrell Steinberg.

The administrations pursuit of the controversial project makes it difficult to negotiate seriously on a comprehensive new plan to meet California’s future water needs, according to the letter.

The letter also referred to the irony of the Schwarzenegger inviting Senator Diane Feinstein to meet with Legislators last week when the Governor was taking action on his own to build a canal. "We are vexed that only last week, you invited Senator Diane Feinstein to meet with us to help forge a comprehensive agreement on a water bond for the November 2008 ballot," the Senators said.

The Schwarzenegger administration won't confirm or deny the accusation that it is planning to issue an executive order to begin preparing the environmental and engineering documents for a canal facility. Bill Maile, the Governor's spokesman, would only say that "there is no executive order" and would not comment on whether any executive order regarding the canal is planned for the future.

Schwarzenegger, who has received accolades from the mainstream media for being a "green governor" for his grandstanding at the U.N. about global warming, is undoubtedly the worst governor for fish and the environment in California history. When is the media going to acknowledge that there is really nothing "green" about Schwarzenegger other than the color of the money behind his corporate buddies who are backing the construction of the canal and Temperance Flat and Sites Dams?