Published online on Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009
SACRAMENTO — In a counter-punch to recent Valley water rallies, environmentalists and fishermen gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday to protest a proposed canal to divert water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The “peripheral canal” is an old idea that’s enjoyed new life as state water planners search for ways to stabilize supplies for San Joaquin Valley farmers and Southern California cities. The plan got a boost last year with an endorsement by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Delta Vision Task Force.
At Tuesday’s event, delta advocates charged that legislators were ignoring their input as they consider the canal and other water proposals behind closed doors.
“In a time where the budget is spiraling out of control ... it makes no sense to move forward with a multibillion boondoggle idea like a peripheral canal and new dams,” said Steve Evans, conservation director of Friends of the River, an environmental group.
Residents near the estuary — including farmers who rely on its freshwater supply — fear the canal is a water grab by the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. Canal supporters say the project could protect fish endangered by delta pumping, while keeping water flowing to south-state users. The canal would siphon Sacramento River water upstream of the delta and send it to the pumps near Tracy.
So-called “working groups” of lawmakers have examined multiple water proposals in private meetings. Multiple bills have been authored calling for water bonds in the range of $9.8 billion to $15 billion. Proposals also include new government agencies to promote the “coequal goals of restoring the delta” and “creating a more reliable water supply.”
But so far no consensus has emerged on any of the proposals as most of the attention in Sacramento is on the state’s budget woes.
In the Valley, water events have focused on court-enforced environmental rules that farmers blame for dwindling supplies from the delta. In marches and rallies, residents often frame the debate as “people vs. fish” as they call on the government to increase pumping from the delta.
The dozens of delta supporters at Tuesday’s event pushed an alternate message: that “fish is food” and the fisherman who rely on the delta are hurting too. One sign called for “Fewer water exports, not fewer delta fish.”
Robert Johnson, a fly fisherman from Contra Costa County, took a shot at the Valley rallies, calling them part of a “highly effective \[public relations\] campaign that seeks to make Californians believe that radical environmentalists and fisherman would put a three-inch fish before California jobs, farms and people.”
“We are farmers, we are fishermen ... and we are fighting to save our communities,” he said to loud cheers.
None of the plans circulating in the Capitol specifically authorize a peripheral canal, but delta advocates fear such a provision could be added at the last minute. The administration of Gov. Schwarzenegger believes the canal could be authorized without legislative approval and officials have taken initial planning steps.