Monday, September 9, 2013

News articles and links from September 9, 2013


Bay Delta Conservation Plan

From: Alex Breitler, Stockton Record

The promise of thousands of temporary construction jobs does not appear to have softened skepticism about what Gov. Jerry Brown's $24.5 billion twin tunnels could mean for this region's economy.

State officials of late have repeatedly emphasized that the tunnels - whether Stockton residents think they're good for the Delta or not - will at least provide an employment opportunity for this city, still struggling to recover from the Great Recession.

Coalition response...By definition, critics are those who have already chosen their position. Regardless of how factual, extensive or valid the evidence is that is placed in front of them, if it comes from an opposing viewpoint then they will automatically reject it. Repeating their refusal to accept facts and reciting their rhetoric does little to evaluate honestly the information being discussed. Challenging the credentials of a researcher with the reputation for excellence Dr. David Sunding of Berkeley brings to the topic is ludicrous. He headed extensive study efforts to determine the cost-benefit analysis of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. Learn more for yourself about Dr. Sunding's credentials and the efforts put into his study at http://www.swc.org/images/stories/BDCP_Cost_Benefit_Studies_8.26.13_FINAL.pdf in a comparison of analyses.

The discounting of jobs that will be created by the construction of the tunnels by those who are secure in their jobs fails to consider the viewpoints of individuals who are seeking work. I'm sure if you asked them whether the potential jobs would be beneficial their answers would be different.

People continue to overlook that the Bay Delta Conservation Plan provides benefits throughout the state and those who look with a narrow viewpoint are rejecting the advantages available for all of California.

Groundwater

From: Gosia Wozniacka/AP, Fresno Bee
From: Gosia Wozniacka/AP, Marysville Appeal-Democrat
From: Gosia Wozniacka/AP, Salinas Californian
From: Gosia Wozniacka/AP, KFMB - 8 TV  
From: Gosia Wozniacka/AP, Minneapolis Star Tribune 

For decades, this city in California's agricultural heartland relied exclusively on cheap, plentiful groundwater and pumped increasingly larger amounts from an aquifer as its population grew.

Transfers

From: Ken Carlson, Modesto Bee

By next month, Stanislaus County is expected to have a long-awaited ordinance to restrict groundwater exports and prohibit the sale of groundwater outside the county.

The Board of Supervisors is expected to vote Oct. 1 on an ordinance billed as a starting point for preventing the adverse effects of groundwater overdrafting.

Water Supply

From: Maven, Maven's Notebook

California lacks a statewide sustainable groundwater management program, instead leaving groundwater under local control, and while there are a few stunning examples of successful and sustainable groundwater management programs in the state, there are also dismal examples of failure to manage some groundwater basins sustainably. So what are the impediments to better basin management and what can be done to improve the state's groundwater management? Water law expert Gwyn-Mohr Tully and groundwater specialist Tim Parker share their thoughts with the Assembly Select Committee on Regional Approaches to Addressing the State's Water Crisis at an informational hearing held earlier this year titled 'The Science of Storing Water.'

Bay Delta Conservation Plan

From: Editorial Staff, Davis Enterprise

State Sen. Lois Wolk is no maverick, but her opposition to the state's twin tunnels water conveyance plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and her competing legislation certainly put her in maverick-like territory in the Democratic stronghold of the California Legislature.

From: Graham Allen, Sacramento Bee

Re "Wait to debate water bond, and then improve it" (Editorials, Sept. 5): Placer County Water Agency is extremely concerned about the redirected impacts of the state's Bay Delta Conservation Plan on our region and so are members of Congress. On Aug. 30, seven members representing the region called on the governor to delay releasing the BDCP, calling the project "flawed." The governor needs to take this message seriously and consider the concerns of these federal leaders as well as Northern California stakeholders.

From: Carolyn Sandie, Sacramento Bee

Re "Battle set on island habitat" (Page A1, Sept. 1): Gov. Jerry Brown's water diversionplan is extremely ill advised, and chock full of problems.

Fisheries

From: Dennis Wyatt, Manteca Bulletin 

Delta sport fishing with its flashy bass tournaments and purses as high as $100,000 is threatening water supplies for South San Joaquin County farms and cities as well as elsewhere in California.

"The California Department of Fish and Game Commission goes to great lengths to protect it," South San Joaquin Irrigation District General Manager Jeff Shields said of the sport fishing industry.

From: Associated Press, Sacramento Bee

Officials believe hot weather and the lack of rain led to the death of hundreds of fish at a Central Coast lake.

From: Bob Moffitt, Capital Public Radio

Harry Morse with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife says the departments have contracts with dam operators to hold cold water for spawning season.

"We hold for a critical release period because we have salmon that are coming into the hatcheries at both Nimbus and the Mokelumne Hatchery and they are really sensitive to cooler-water pulses.  And when that happens they shoot up river."

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