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The Story Behind the Ads
To see the newspaper ads featured in the Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Chronicle click here (pdf).
1) Why Restore the Delta asserts that some political leaders and water bureaucrats are helping to perpetuate a Delta water grab.
A. California Resources Secretary says that the peripheral canal can be built without voter or legislative approval. Click here for sourcing.
B. Governor Schwarzenegger has asked President-elect Obama to suspend or otherwise eliminate National Environmental Impact Review (NEPA) for the economic stimulus package projects for California, including some $8 billion in unnamed water and sewer projects. (The letter can be viewed at the Governor's website.) Click here for more details.
C. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan Steering Committee was formed without one in-Delta environmental representative or Delta agricultural representative from an area that would be impacted by construction of the peripheral canal. To see the BDCP Steering Committee Roster and to learn about the BDCP click here.
D. The Delta Vision Task Force, led by Secretary Chrisman, decided to ignore the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force's report calling for new Delta governance. Instead, the Delta Vision Task Force maintains that the peripheral canal should be set in motion, and governance should be dealt with at a later date. While the Blue Ribbon Task Force's final report also called for new Delta conveyance (aka peripheral canal), their recommendations for fixing Delta governance, while not fully endorsed by Restore the Delta, were at least worthy of collaboration/negoatiation by in-Delta interests. Ignoring Delta governance will not fix it. Click here to learn about the Delta Vision Task Force.
E. Congressman George Radanovich has introduced a bill to bypass the endangered species law so exports of Delta water to corporate agri-business in the Central Valley can be increased during this period of drought. Click here to learn more about HR 856.
F. What are the real numbers regarding the California drought and the promises of paper water in California? As cited in a recent column by Mike Fitzgerald of The Stockton Record, "The 80-year average for Delta water is 29-million acre feet annually." Like the managers of a Ponzi scheme, the Department of Water Resources and the Bureau of Reclamation "have written contracts promising delivery of a 130-million acre feet annually." While the last three years are below average in terms of precipitation, the real cause behind the California drought is a crisis of water management based on the delivery of water 4 1/2 times beyond reality. To learn more the drought and water storage capacity click here.
2) The periperhal canal cost of $15 to $24 billion dollars comes from sources and presentations made to the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan Steering Committee, and estimates in reports by the Public Policy Institute. It is our understanding that the Department of Water Resources and water exporters working with that agency have made comments that the peripheral canal can be built for as low as $9 billion. However, that estimate is simply for the concrete and mortar of the canal itself. This low cost does not include environmental assessments, engineering, easements, and costs of other pieces of infrastructure that would require relocation.
Restore the Delta staff has also heard from colleagues at other environmental NGO's that water exporters are willing to pay for the cost of the canal, leaving all these ancillary costs to be funded by taxpayers. We do not know what is more disturbing, the cost of the peripheral canal that could be taken on by taxpayers, especially when we realize that it won't make more water for Californians, or that corporate agribusiness in the south Central Valley is diligently pushing the Department of Water Resources to help them facilitate building a private water conveyance system that will primarily serve their water needs. It should be noted that 80% of the water diverted from the Delta is used by southern Central Valley agri-business.
3) The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of both North and South America. It historically was a fresh water estuary, a place of transport for fish, making their way to Suisun Marsh. Delta smelt are listed as endangered species. Chinook salmon runs will be closed for the second year in a row, and numerous other species including Longfin smelt, sturgeon, American Chad, are either in peril or declining in numbers. Delta farmers are some of California's oldest farming families and hold senior water rights over Central Valley agribusiness farms.
4) The Delta economy: Restore the Delta is working with several sources to develop a full economic analysis for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But, here is what we know in the present. Around 1995, the Delta Protection Commission estimated that over 6,000 jobs were tied to recreational fishing within the Delta. We know that somewhere between 12,000 and 23,000 jobs in California are tied to commercial fishing, which has been beaten down over the last two years by the closing of the Chinook salmon fishery that passes through the Delta. These two economies are estimated by sources in the fishing industry to be at an estimated value of $ 1.5 billion annually.
The above estimated job numbers do not include the number of workers who make up the marina industry or related recreational services (restaurants, store, bars, water recreation equipment etc) tied to the Delta. We do not have annual revenue numbers for this sector of the Delta economy presently.
The 500,000 acres of farmland in the Delta is divided between the five Delta counties (San Joaquin, Solano, Contra Costa, Sacramento, and Yolo). A rough estimate from one of the Delta County Agricultural Extension Offices three years ago (before the rise in crop prices) put direct Delta agriculture revenues at $500,000 per year. A modest multiplier six (which accounts for money made in subsequent related agricultural industries) would put related Delta agricultural revenues at $ 3 billion annually.
In the summer of 2008, the Public Policy Institute released its report Comparing Future for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In their economic analysis, the claim was made that only a few thousand jobs were tied to agriculture in the portions of the Delta that would be affected by the construction of the peripheral canal. We believe their assessment is inaccurate. First, seasonal farm workers are brought in to work on various farms throughout year and would not show as permanent employees. Second, the PPIC job assessment does not count the related workers in canneries and food processing plants in the counties surrounding the Delta whose jobs are directly tied to crop production within the Delta. Third, when comparing the value of agricultural jobs of Delta workers against those held by farmer workers in the southern part of the Central Valley, we believe that the values of the crops should be taken into account. What benefits California's economy and cultural values more? Fresh food grown for and consumed by Californians, or subsidized cotton and almonds grown for export on drainage impaired lands that create groundwater pollution for Central Valley communities and wildlife?
Last, in terms of environmental justice, pitting the needs of one farm worker community against another is wrong. Environmental justice advocates, who address environmental impacts on the poor and people of color, do not advocate for the benefit of one environmental justice community against the needs of other environmental justice communities. Solving the economic challenges of farm worker communities in the Central Valley and the Delta must be done in a compassionate and moral way so as to recognize the dignity of the work that farm workers perform in the present, while providing them with new opportunities to become productive members of a diverse middle class California economy. In addition, numerous workers in the fishing and recreation industries are workers of color who must also be protected by environmental justice advocacy.
In summary, the Delta economy has been grossly underestimated in recent media accounts and by biased public policy think tanks. Taking fresh water away from Delta communities would result in the Delta being driven into a depressive economy; thus, simply moving economic hardship from one part of the state to another.
Restore the Delta maintains that the answer to California's water needs can be found in a concept called regional water self-sufficiency. Click here to learn more. We advocate solutions that break Delta dependence for meeting state water needs while providing real benefits for all communities throughout California.
To learn more about how to protect Delta species and Delta water quality click here.
