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PRESS
RELEASE Congressman Jerry McNerney
California’s 11th District
For
Immediate Release
October 23, 2009
Contact:
Sarah Hersh, 202-225-1947
sarah.hersh@mail.house.gov
ADVANCING FIGHT FOR SAN JOAQUIN DELTA
COMMUNITIES,
MCNERNEY PRESSES GOVERNOR FOR LOCAL VOICE
ON WATER DECISIONS
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Jerry McNerney
(CA-11) sent a letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
today regarding potential changes to the state’s
water policy that may be considered by the California
legislature.
The letter urges the Governor to take into account
input from the families, farmers and businesses that
live in the communities surrounding the San Joaquin
Delta as these changes as considered. It
also reiterates the Congressman’s plan to closely
monitor initiatives that require federal participation
and his concern about any proposals that lay groundwork
for a peripheral canal.
This letter to the Governor also comes on the heels
of Congressman McNerney calling on Secretary of the
Interior Ken Salazar to actively solicit input from
the residents who live in the San Joaquin Delta area
and ensure their seat at the table as any federal
proposals on the Delta are considered.
The text of the letter to Governor Schwarzenegger
is below:
The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
As California legislators and agencies evaluate
significant changes to water policy in our state,
I am writing to bring your attention to matters of
federal concern. Initiatives to improve water
quality and availability in California are dependent
upon coordination by federal, state, and local agencies. I
will closely monitor any actions, particularly those
that require federal participation, and will continue
to insist that water proposals provide benefit to
families, farmers, and businesses in the counties
encompassing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Drought conditions are a serious concern in California,
and federal, state, and local partners should work
together to provide relief. Efforts to improve
water supplies in drought-affected areas, however,
must also protect clean water availability for the
four million people living in the counties that are
most directly dependent on the San Joaquin Delta. I
am honored to represent hardworking families in Contra
Costa County and San Joaquin County – two of
the five “Delta Counties” – and
we are committed to working with you to advance effective
water solutions. However, the voices of families,
farmers, and businesses in San Joaquin Delta communities
must be heard as federal and state collaborative
processes advance.
I am deeply concerned by initiatives that may be
intended to lay the groundwork for a canal that diverts
additional fresh water from the San Joaquin Delta. Such
a canal would further erode water quality for several
million people. A canal and related proposals
are expected to threaten jobs by turning family farms
into uninhabitable salty marshlands and could raise
water rates by decreasing the supply of clean water
for families and businesses in the San Joaquin Delta
area. Public health and economic opportunity
in Contra Costa County, San Joaquin County, and other
San Joaquin Delta communities should not be sacrificed
in pursuit of expensive and counterproductive water
projects. I will oppose federal support for
water proposals that threaten the millions of people
that call the San Joaquin Delta home.
As you know, a Memorandum of Understanding for San
Joaquin Delta projects was recently signed by the
Department of the Interior and several other federal
agencies. The memorandum pledges to develop
a coordinated work plan for the San Joaquin Delta
in consultation with state and local partners. I
have requested that the Department of the Interior
take into account feedback from residents of the
San Joaquin Delta Counties, and I urge you to do
the same. Together, I believe we can advance
helpful solutions that benefit every region of California.
Thank you for your attention to this letter, and
I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Jerry
McNerney
Member
of Congress
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An important Bay Delta Conservation Plan workshop will be held at the Ryde Hotel on September 29th from 4:30 - 9:30 pm. The workshop topic is the BDCP's "Conservation Strategy" -- which is its draft plan to modify Delta land and waterways to restore the ecosystem and provide water supply reliability.
The Working Draft of the BDCP's Conservation Strategy can be found online at: http://baydeltaconservationplan.com (go to Draft Chapter 3 Conservation Strategy Released.) The draft of Chapter 3 Conservation Strategy is 200 pages long; however, the following excerpt characterizes the BDCP's Conservation Strategy quite well:
[A] Cornerstone of the BDCP strategy is the widely shared conclusion that the existing water conveyance system is fundamentally flawed and that continued reliance on that system as it currently exists is incompatible with the long-term restoration needs of the Delta. Given the incapacity of the existing conveyance system to meet ecological and water supply goals, and in light of the ongoing and anticipated changing conditions of the Delta brought about by climate change, anticipated seismic events, invasive species and other stressors, the BDCP contemplates wholesale, systemic modifications to the Delta. Modifying the water conveyance infrastructure to convey water around the Delta is essential to creating new opportunities to restore the ecological health of the Delta and to achieve improvements in water supply reliability. (page 3-7 of Working Draft)
The BDCP's proposed Conservation Strategy poses a serious threat to the chosen way of life of everyone who resides, does business, or recreates in the Delta. This workshop will provide an opportunity to learn more about it, as well as provide response and input to the planned strategy. Anyone wishing to speak at the workshop, however, should review the Conservation Plan at the website above, as well as the format for the workshop.
Even if you do not plan to speak, please attend the workshop -- even for only a portion of the time -- to show your concern with what's being planned for the Delta. We who live here may not be large in number compared with other parts of the state, but we are at Ground Zero of the "wholesale, systemic modifications" being planned for the Delta.
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Delta project could cost $50B
$23 billion low estimate for water transfer around estuary

By Kevin Parrish
Record Staff Writer
September 03, 2009 12:01 AM
SACRAMENTO - The high-end cost of trying to ship Northern California's water around the Delta could be a staggering $53.8 billion, according a consultant's report delivered last week to state lawmakers. At minimum, the report estimates, the price tag would be $23 billion.
And San Joaquin County's voice on Delta issues was further diminished this week when state Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, was left off a key legislative conference committee reviewing an ambitious package of five water bills that could shape California policy for years to come.
The draft Delta finance report was released by Sacramento's Steve Kasower of Strategic Economic Applications Co. His estimates for constructing a conveyance system - including associated mitigation and habitat restoration costs - are two to three times higher than amounts previously reported.
"This is the only cost estimate we have," said Wolk, whose district includes much of Manteca, Stockton and Tracy; much of the eastern end of the Delta; and Yolo County. "This is the only report that tries to make sense of the overall costs. And this is significant in the next nine days as we try to figure out the funding mechanism for this legislation."
Wolk said she was disappointed and more than a little frustrated that she had been left off the panel that will work out the legislative details on the complex package of bills.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, named seven members of the California Senate to the 14-member conference committee on water. Wolk, chairwoman until last year of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, was not among them. Of the seven appointees from the state Senate, three are from the Los Angeles area and two others are also from districts beyond the Delta.
Wolk said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger "is pushing hard" to get what he wants: agreement on conveyance around the Delta and additional water-storage facilities. "But there is no money, no clarity," said Wolk, who is worried about the rush to complete the water-reform package by Sept. 14, when the Legislature goes into recess.
Steinberg, speaking at a Sacramento news conference Tuesday, called the opportunity historic for dramatic changes in the Delta. "We'll be working 24/7 to achieve something that's absolutely essential to California," he said.
The conference committee is expected to meet today and Friday and bring a final recommendation to the floor of both houses Tuesday.
Kasower's 11-page report breaks down the costs associated with two basic conveyance proposals: an above-ground peripheral canal or some variation on it, and a tunnel that would go under the estuary. The wide variance in overall costs is based on methodology.
Both plans include costs associated with off-stream storage, restoration, mitigation and conveyance.
A canal has been described as a "monumental project approximating the Panama Canal." It would be 500 to 700 feet wide and up to 49 miles long, according to an August 2006 engineering report from Washington Group International.
A tunnel, according to Kasower, would be "reasonably equivalent to the London-Paris Channel Tunnel, or Chunnel." The 31-mile Chunnel was built in 1994 at a cost of $21 billion.
Wolk believes there is a third proposal that should be considered. The Contra Costa Water District has proposed a smaller tunnel that would be less expensive ($9 billion), quicker to construct (10 years) and less invasive to Delta farmland (100 acres vs. 5,000).
But she won't be in the room as lawmakers consider the legislative package that will go to the governor.
"Things are in play," Wolk said. "It is inconceivable that such an ambitious group of bills would satisfy the various interests involved." She said normally such endeavors "would take years" to complete.
San Joaquin County and the other four other counties adjacent to the Delta have let Steinberg and California Secretary of Natural Resources Mike Chrisman know they are not pleased with the committee's makeup, said San Joaquin County Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller, the board's point man on water issues.
He said the five counties have worked together to advocate for Delta interests. Wolk's 5th Senate District encompasses portions of three of those counties - San Joaquin, Sacramento and Solano.
"What we're trying to say is: The people who live in and around the Delta have got to be represented," Ruhstaller said.
Record staff writer Zachary K. Johnson and Record wire services contributed to this report.
Contact Assistant Managing Editor Kevin Parrish at (209) 546-8264 or kparrish@recordnet.com |
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Stop
the Canal Friends,
In case you missed it, Saturday, December 8th's front
page article in the Contra Costa Times entitled "Secret
Study Shows Canal Back in Play" disclosed
an ongoing plan by Southern California water interests
and the Department of Water Resources to begin the
planning process for a new canal.
In short, these outside water interests are in the
process now of calculating the dollar costs for building
a new canal or Delta bypass for inclusion in a Sacramento
water bond that will go to the voters sometime in 2008.
This strategy is moving fast and continues behind the
scenes between special interests that want to
see more of our quality water moving south faster and
more efficiently.
I am writing for your help. We need our local city
leaders to take a formal position IN
OPPOSITION TO THE BUILDING OF A NEW CANAL.
Please contact your Mayor and City
Co uncilmembers as soon as possible to ask them to
support a resolution in opposition to ANY MOVEMENT
to build a new canal which will send our good water
South and have a devastating effect on our Delta ecosystem.
Thank you, again, for your continued commitment to
Stop the Canal!
Regards, Joe Canciamilla
www.StoptheCanal.org
Joe@StoptheCanal.org |
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- November
4,
2009
- October
28, 2009
- October
14, 2009
- October
7, 2009
- September
30, 2009
- September
16, 2009
- September
2, 2009
- August
26, 2009
-
August
19, 2009
- August 12, 2009
- July
15, 2009
- July 1, 2009
- June
24, 2009
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Delta
E-News (11/5/09)
- DWR
releases draft guidelines for
Delta levee projects
- US
Fish and Wildlife opens Sacramento
office to serve Delta
- BDCP
releases summary of workshop
comments
- Nov.
17 is deadline for comments
on 2-Gates environmental draft
- Delta
Protection Commission to meet
a week from today
- USBR
to close Delta Cross Channel
Gates at times through spring
- Water
Information Management Symposium
set for Nov. 17-19
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Purchase the
NEW California Delta Map to exploring
the fabulous California Delta.

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