Media Alert: Articles, Television, & Cartoons of Interest
Articles and TV coverage include Restore the Delta and advocates from rally during President Obama’s visit in Fresno on 2/14/2014.
River News Herald cartoon Deltastruction
More cartoons: Fresno related follow
2/14/14 Sacramento Bee Ohman: GEP1LO1Q5.3
2/16/14 Sacramento Bee Ohman: Obama 11
Calif. water politics complicate Brown’s decisions
Sacramento Bee-Feb 15, 2014
“This is not about picking between delta smelt and long fin smelt and … executive director of Restore the Delta, which is fighting the tunnel plan.
TV coverage:
President Obama Announces Plan to Drought-Stricken California President Barack Obama visited California Friday to discuss the federal response to California’s drought problem Patrick Healy NBC 4 Los Angeles
Restore the Delta, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla and advocates included
California Deals With Drought
John Brecher NBCNews.com-Feb 17, 2014
No Rain: Scenes from California’s Extreme Drought
Robert Thiel of Thiel AirCare, Inc. in Chowchilla, Calif., pilots his helicopter over brown fields in the western San Joaquin Valley on Feb. 15. – Photo essay includes Stockton Ria Morearty de Groot and Cathy Case traveled with other protesters from Stockton, Calif. to stand along the expected route of President Barack Obama’s motorcade in drought-affected farm country in the Central Valley’s west side on Feb. 14. “They’re not supporting the only freshwater estuary in the western U.S.,” said Case about California’s diversion of water from Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta to the southern parts of the state. The protesters hoped to counter the support for additional damming they expected west side farmers to convey to President Obama.
Calif. water politics complicate Brown’s decisions
By Associated Press in the Washington Post, Published: February 15
They also say it would funnel more water out of Northern California while doing nothing to increase the supply.
Central Valley farmers who would benefit from the tunnels share blame for the current water crisis by planting lucrative but water-sucking crops such as almonds, pistachios and citrus that require year-round irrigation, said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, which is fighting the tunnel plan.
“It’s mismanagement. If we can’t manage with what we have, why can we manage better with tunnels?” she said.
Voters statewide rejected a similar water conveyance plan, the so-called peripheral canal, during Brown’s first stint as governor in 1982.
Restore the Delta group voices concerns in Fresno
Published on 02/14/2014 – 1:54 pm
Written by Business Journal Staff
…“President Obama should not be misled that the peripheral tunnels are of any value in meeting California’s water challenges,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. “The president needs to know where our water is going in order to decide whether to spend billions to continue feeding water buffaloes or to change direction.”
She added that Westlands Water District is using the water scarcity to push the twin tunnels project, but that will not solve the problem. “We ask the president to meet with Delta farmers and community leaders as well,” Barrigan-Parrilla said.
Tunnel opponents urge Obama not to support water export tunnels IndyBay by Dan Bacher Saturday Feb 15th, 2014 10:55 AM
Restore the Delta (RTD) on Friday, February 14 organized a bus and several car pools of people, including Delta farmers, fishermen, Tribal members, environmentalists and Delta residents, to travel from Stockton to the Fresno area to call upon President Obama not to support the peripheral tunnels and to led federal officials do their job without interference. The group held a press conference in Fresno in the morning and then rallied at an intersection on the West side of the San Joaquin Valley near Firebaugh in anticipation of the President’s Motorcade going by.
Delta advocates deliver message, just not to Obama By Alex Breitler
Stockton Record Staff Writer
February 15, 2014 12:00 AM
FIREBAUGH – President Barack Obama’s motorcade never did pass through the intersection of Althea and Oxford roads, 12 miles west of this central San Joaquin Valley town…
…In the end, as the daylight waned on Friday, the people at the four-way stop went home and took their diverse perspectives with them.
The president heard none of their views.
But the reporters in those six satellite trucks did.
“It wasn’t for nothing,” said Roberts Island landowner and longtime Delta activist Rogene Reynolds. “This was not a waste of time.”
Delta advocates, Winnemem call on Obama to not support tunnels
by Dan Bacher Daily Kos 2/16/14
Advocates for the restoration of Central Valley salmon and the Delta rallied with colorful signs and banners at an intersection surrounded by fields on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley 12 miles west of the town of Firebaugh on Friday, February 14, urging President Obama to not support Governor Jerry Brown’s peripheral tunnel plan.
The diverse group of over 60 people, including fishermen, Delta farmers and Tribal leaders, also urged Obama to let federal science officials to their jobs regarding the protection of salmon and Delta fish populations without interference – and to support sustainable water policies that balance the needs of fish, wildlife and people. Many of the group traveled from Stockton via a chartered bus and car pools that morning that ended up at the intersection Althea and Oxford roads.
Farmers Say Pres. Obama’s Drought Relief Efforts Don’t Address Long-Term Water Issues
CBS 13 Sacramento February 14, 2014 1:17 PM
Members of least one environmental group plan to converge on Fresno to voice their positions on California’s divisive struggles over water.
Members of Restore the Delta, a grassroots environmental organization based in Stockton, hope to show Obama their opposition to Gov. Jerry Brown’s multibillion-dollar twin-tunnels proposal for diverting water around the delta for use on farms.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, the group’s executive director, said her group won’t protest, but rather try to educate the president, if they get anywhere near him.
“President Obama should not be misled,” she said. “We implore him not to support this boondoggle.”
TV Coverage:
Obama: Entire US concerned about Calif. drought President announces millions in drought aid (Restore the Delta Group in video at 4:30 mark)
Channel 3 UPDATED 7:14 PM PST Feb 14, 2014
TV Coverage:
La visita de Obama al Valle Central Univision
2/14/14 Restore the Delta included
TV Coverage:
President Obama visits the Central Valley abc local Fresno KFSN 2/14/14
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — President Barack Obama arrived at the Fresno Yosemite International Airport for his first visit to the Valley on Friday afternoon….
…On the flip side of the water issue, the “Restore the Delta” group wants the president to help stop Governor Brown’s plan to build massive tunnels to distribute more water.
Viewpoints: Fracking during the drought is destructive and irresponsible
By Adam Scow – Published: Sunday, February 16 2014 – 12:00 am
You cannot read the news anywhere in the country – let alone here in California – without being reminded that we face what’s shaping up to be the worst drought in centuries. Even with recent showers, water supplies in the northern and central parts of the state remain dangerously short.