Friday, September 28, 2012

News articles and links from September 28, 2012


Delta

Letter
By Mark Borba
From Stockton Record - Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012

(The following letter was written in response to Mark Borba's letter, above.)
Letter
By Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla
From Stockton Record - Friday, Sept. 28, 2012

Coalition response...What is so wrong with growing crops for exports? This practice provides a food supply that is distributed to American consumers as well as to international markets. The export trade of California farm products plays a valuable role in the balance of trade for our State. It also provides jobs on and off the farm, including truck drivers, dock workers and more. Most ag producing areas of our State, including the Delta, send a portion of their products to overseas markets. The "poor soils" the writer refers to produce some of the most abundant crops in California. Farmers manage their water supply with some of the most efficient irrigation practices to produce affordable and healthy food for consumers. These practices result in a regional specialization that is not only economically efficient but environmentally efficient. They also allow farmers to invest in improved growing technologies and techniques that minimize environmental impacts while maximizing human benefits.

Opinion
By Victor Gonella
From Eureka Times-Standard - Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012

Coalition response...This opinion article is written opposite of the facts. The Trinity River ROD (Record of Decision) was adopted in December 2000 and requires an annual release of water between 369,000 acre-feet and 815,000 acre-feet for fish in the river. Water is sent to the Sacramento River watershed each year only after Interior ensures there will be enough water to make the fishery releases to the Trinity River required by the ROD.

Far from reducing the salmon flows required by the Trinity ROD, Interior is going in the opposite direction by releasing even more flows to the Trinity River for salmon than it is supposed to under the ROD.  This August and September, Reclamation released more water than is provided for under the ROD in an effort to improve conditions in the Lower Klamath.  The Siskiyou Board of Supervisors, among others, objected to those increased releases based on concerns about the unexamined environmental consequences of unnaturally high flows this time of year, including concerns that the releases could trigger premature upstream migration before upstream water temperatures have sufficiently cooled.

Claiming that water users "have their eye on the Trinity River" to increase their deliveries is far from the truth. It ignores the regulations that govern these deliveries and the reality of how much water is being dedicated for fish purposes. Such claims only serve to heighten the rhetoric aimed at the Bay Delta Conservation Plan that is directed to restore the ecosystem of the Delta and establish a reliable water supply. 

DELTA

Story
From Lodi News-Sentinel - Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012

FISHERIES

Press release
From DWR - Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012

No comments:

Post a Comment