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CSPA and C-WIN Oppose Latest Scheme to Increase Export Pumping
by Bill Jennings, CSPA Executive Director
August 29, 2009 -- California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) have submitted comments on U.S Bureau of Reclamation's (USBR) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Delta-Mendota Canal/California Aqueduct connection Intertie (Intertie). The Intertie project would increase Central Valley Project (CVP) pumping from the Delta at the Jones Pumping Plant through construction a physical pipeline between the two canals which would allow pumping of up to 457 cfs from the Delta-Mendota Canal (DMC) to the California Aqueduct, or 900 cfs gravity flow from the California Aqueduct to the DMC. The proposed project could result in up to an additional 250,000 AF of water being pumped from the Delta annually, primarily to serve Westlands Water District and other western San Joaquin Valley CVP agricultural customers.
CSPA/C-WIN comments enumerate numerous glaring deficiencies in the DEIS and assail the conclusion that there are no significant environmental impacts and no need for mitigation. The letter also points out that the 2005 Mitigated Negative Declaration by the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority fails to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because of the continuing collapse of the Bay-Delta estuary and because the Department of Water Resources (DWR) should be the lead state agency.
The Intertie was originally proposed almost two decades ago and was included in the CalFed Record of Decision. In 2005, USBR began construction based upon a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). A lawsuit resulted in a federal court issuing a temporary restraining order that halted construction in August 2005. USBR withdrew the FONSI and proceeded to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. Unfortunately, the resulting DEIS is seriously deficient and glosses over the myriad problems that additional export pumping will cause.
The USBR and DWR are still going about their business as if the collapse of salmonid and pelagic fisheries in the estuary has not occurred and they're not accountable to the full environmental disclosure requirements applicable to everyone else. Perhaps, one day they'll learn how to comply with the law. In the meantime, CSPA and C-WIN are preparing for the possibility that we'll have to litigate.