The New Pumping Plan for the Delta
The New Pumping Plan for the Delta
"The new pumping plan, unveiled by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation a year ago, could increase federal Delta exports by between 700,000 acre-feet and a million acre-feet per year. That would put Delta pumping rates back in the 6-million-acre-foot-range — the level of water exports that preceded the mid-2000s collapse of Central Valley Chinook salmon and the two-year closure of the commercial fishery."
Few if any environmentalists were surprised last year when the federal government proposed a new pumping plan that would send more Northern California water to farmers and which experts think could drive species extinct, including winter-run Chinook salmon and Delta smelt.
But in the 12 weeks since two federal agencies signed off on the proposal as environmentally sound, watershed and fishery advocates are concerned that Gov. Gavin Newsom hasn't stepped forward in defense of the state's natural resources. Far from doing so, his administration has presented a Delta pumping plan of its own that legal experts say could lead to accelerated diversions, has vetoed legislation aimed at protecting state laws from federal undoing, and has shown a political alignment with powerful farmers that environmentalists say are sucking the life out of the Delta and the rivers that feed it.
To Tom Stokely, the water and salmon policy analyst for the group Save California Salmon, Newsom's stance on the state's highly political water feuds has been a letdown.
"He's a complete disappointment on water policy, and it appears he's in the pocket of Westlands Water District and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California," Stokely said. "At the rate he's going, he's likely going to be responsible for the extinction of several species of salmon in California."
Another environmental advocate, the California program director for Defenders of Wildlife Kim Delfino, remains cautiously optimistic on Newsom.
"The jury's still out," she said. "He's made some promises on protecting California's environment, and we're waiting to see how he acts on them."
When Newsom took office last January, the former San Francisco mayor and state lieutenant governor seemed a promisingly liberal figure who would enforce state environmental laws, especially in the face of the Trump Administration, at odds now for years with California leaders, politics, and values. For instance, almost immediately after becoming governor, he silenced discussions over the controversial Delta tunnels, opposed by most environmentalists, by revoking a key state permit. The tunnels are now being reconceived as a single-tube conveyance. Newsom has also defended climate change policies initiated by his predecessor Jerry Brown.
FUll story at http://themonthly.com/environment2002.html
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Re: The New Pumping Plan for the Delta
Newsom and Trump are both enemies of the CA Delta.
Attitude plus effort equal success
CLEAN AND DRY
CLEAN AND DRY
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