[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dan Bacher

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a drought proclamation and called for "immediate action" at a press conference at the State Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday, using the event to campaign for his plan to build more dams and "improve conveyance"- a euphemism for the construction of the peripheral canal - to increase water exports from the California Delta to agribusiness and southern California.

For the areas in Northern California that supply most of our water, this March, April and May have been the driest ever in our recorded history, Governor Schwarzenegger said. As a result, some local governments are rationing water, developments can’t proceed and agricultural fields are sitting idle."

The final snow survey of 2008 in May by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) showed snowpack water content at only 67 percent of normal and the runoff forecast at only 55 percent of normal.

Before gathered members of the press and the governor's staff including DWR Director Lester Snow, and Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy, the Governor signed an Executive Order proclaiming a "statewide drought" and directing the Department of Water Resources and other entities to take "immediate action" to address the situation.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Two pieces of the solution to state's water management crisis still moving forward

By Traci Sheehan
Executive Director
Planning and Conservation League

Last week, the Legislature indicated that, despite the pressing need to address the ecosystem crash in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and declining water supply reliability statewide, one attention-grabbing Delta proposal was not ready for prime time.

On Tuesday, the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee held SB 27 (Simitian) which would have established a new management entity for the Delta with the authority to build a version of the peripheral canal.

The canal, which would export freshwater directly from the Sacramento River, bypassing the delta, to the Bay Area, Southern California, and the San Joaquin Valley, has been a source of controversy due to fears that it could devastate the ailing Delta ecosystem.

During his presentation, Senator Simitian noted that the Bay-Delta is "going to hell in a hand basket" and that California cannot wait for a perfect solution to the Delta's woes.

by wu ming [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Well, at least for another year. The Sac Bee reports that the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, chaired by Yolo County's own Lois Wolk (D- Davis), just killed SB 27 until next year. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) would have established a committee to build a peripheral canal diverting water around the Sacramento Delta for export south, although it called it a "conveyance" in a modest feat of bureaucratic obscurantism.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

A few links:

[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.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Traci Sheehan
Executive Director
Planning and Conservation League

While countless hours are being spent in the Governor's Delta Vision process and in water bond negotiations to determine how to restore the Bay-Delta Estuary, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has apparently decided to bypass the Delta altogether.

According to a recent budget change proposal submitted to the state Legislature, DWR intends to start preparing to build a new "Alternative Delta Conveyance" facility, which would divert water directly from the Sacramento River before it enters the Delta, sending it directly to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. Despite the looming budget deficit, the proposal specifically asks for authorization to hire eight new staff that would be responsible for everything from completing Environmental Impact Reports to negotiating land purchases, and constructing the new facility.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Holding off for now on Chamber of Commerce water bond with new dams and construction of a peripheral canal?

By Dan Bacher

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senator Dianne Feinstein met with legislators and "stakeholders" on Thursday in the hope of finding a legislative solution to California's water problems, according to Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta, in her "Delta Flows" e-newsletter.

The good news is that the Governor and Feinstein, at least for the time being, are apparently not going to support the Chamber of Commerce water bond that would build new dams and support the construction of a peripheral canal. The massive opposition of a broad-based coalition of fishermen, environmentalists, California Indian tribes and Delta residents to an earlier water bond supported by Schwarzenegger has undoubtedly had a big impact.

The bad news is that the meeting was held behind closed doors without public scrutiny. I have a real problem with closed door meetings like this because the people most impacted by the legislator's decision are invariably left out of the process. To me, transparency is the number one requirement of democratic process.