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More NewsState Water Board to hold hearing on Suspension of Delta Protections Feb. 17CSPA vehemently opposes this attempt at an end run around the Environmental Species Act and will strongly object to the implementation of this ill thought planby Dan Bacher, editor of the FishSniffer
Representatives of fishing and environmental groups are urging the
public to attend a public hearing in Sacramento on February 17
regarding a proposal by the California Department of Water
Resources (DWR) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to relax
freshwater flow standards on the California Delta to allow
increased water exports to corporate agribusiness out of the
estuary in February.
The Department of Fish and Game's fall 2008 midwater trawl survey
on the California Delta documented the lowest ever recorded
abundance of Delta smelt, Sacramento splittail, threadfin shad and
American shad and an alarmingly low abundance of longfin smelt and
juvenile striped bass. Salmon fishing was closed in 2008 off the
California and Oregon coast and in Central Valley rivers, with the
exception of a two month season on a short stretch of the
Sacramento River, due to the collapse of the Central Valley fall
chinook salmon population spurred by record water exports and
declining water quality.
"Over the last several years, CSPA has repeatedly cautioned the
State Water Board that DWR and the Bureau were cannibalizing
storage from Northern California Reservoirs without regard for the
likelihood of successive dry years," said Bill Jennings, chairman
of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance in a letter to
the Board. "We urged the State Water Board to proactively pursue
actions that would ensure that threatened and endangered species
would not bear the consequences of gross mismanagement by DWR and
the Bureau. The state and federal projects are required to operate
on a multi-year timeline regarding temporary relaxation of the
February Delta Outflow and the San Joaquin River Flow Objectives
in response to current dry conditions."
"DWR and Bureau contracts anticipate that water deliveries may be
reduced or even unavailable under certain circumstances," Jennings
continued. "While D-1641 provides for some relaxation of standards
during drought conditions, DWR and the Bureau's mismanagement
should not be rewarded by further relaxation, especially
considering that several species are hovering on the brink of
extinction. CSPA believes there is still storage in San Luis
Reservoir that is available to meet X2, San Joaquin flow
requirements and southern Delta salinity standards. Finally, any
unilateral decision suspending X2 and river flow requirements
would contravene fundamental provisions in federal endangered
species biological opinions."
The State Water Resources Control Board has issued notice of a
public hearing "to consider taking an emergency drought-related
water rights action on a Petition for Temporary Urgency Change
filed by the Department of Water Resources and the United States
Bureau of Reclamation regarding temporary relaxation of the
February Delta Outflow and the San Joaquin River Flow Objectives
in response to current dry conditions."
We can't allow the state and federal governments to pit salmon
against smelt - both need a healthy estuary to thrive! The
Department of Water Resources and Bureau of Reclamation's release
of their cynical proposal to sacrifice smelt to "help" salmon
occurred at the same that Congressman George Radanovich
(R-Mariposa) introduced legislation, H.R. 856, to temporarily
suspend the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as it applies to the
California Delta pumping facilities during times of drought. We
must stop both attempts to undermine environmental laws in order
to deliver subsidized water to drainage-impaired land on the west
side of the San Joaquin Valley, land that should have never been
irrigated and must be taken out of agricultural production!
The Public Hearing will commence on Tuesday, February 17, 2009,
following the State Water Resources Control Board Meeting, but no
earlier than 1 p.m. in the Byron Sher Auditorium at the Joe Serna, Jr./Cal-EPA Building located
on 1001 I Street, Sacramento, CA.
For more information on this issue, go to
http://www.calsport.org.�
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