Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Chris Acree, Fresno Bee
At the Aug. 3 Delta Water Summit
held at Fresno State, I was disappointed to see little attention paid to the
basic science and economics of the $48 billion twin-tunnels proposal. The
tunnels will not add one drop of new water to the state's water supply. So who
will benefit from the project and who has to pay for it?
Coalition response...This letter-writer may want to update his information before writing
again about the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and its proposed tunnels. A full
economic impacts study has been conducted by The Brattle Group, coordinated by
Dr. David Sunding, Thomas J. Graff Chair in Natural Resource Economics at U.C.
Berkeley. Sunding is also the founder of Berkeley Water Center and his clients
include the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and U.S. Department of
Justice. He is currently providing expert testimony in two interstate water
disputes before the U.S. Supreme Court. His credentials are impeccable.
According to Dr. Sunding, the
statewide benefit to California from implementing the BDCP is an $84 billion
increase in business activity, $11 billion in wages for California workers and
1.1 million jobs over the 50-year BDCP lifespan. These economic benefits should
be embraced by everyone struggling in this current economy. Read the study
at: http://baydeltaconservationplan.com/Libraries/Dynamic_Document_Library/Draft_BDCP_Statewide_Economic_Impact_Report_8-5-13.sflb.ashx.
Trinity River
From: Farmwater
United States District Judge
Lawrence J. O'Neill issued a temporary restraining order halting water releases
from Trinity Reservoir by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation through Friday, August
16. According to the Order, the stated purpose of the planned releases is to
"reduce the likelihood, and potentially reduce the severity, of any Ich
epizootic event that could lead to associated fish die off in 2013" in the
lower Klamath River.
The full order by Judge O'Neill
is available here.
From: Damon Arthur, Redding
Record Searchlight
At the request of San Joaquin
Valley farmers, a federal judge in Fresno today ordered a halt to higher water
releases in the Trinity River designed to keep Chinook salmon from becoming
diseased and dying.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
already had started ramping up releases from Lewiston Dam today from 450
cubic-feet per second to 750 CFS before the judge called a halt to the project,
forcing the bureau to begin dialing back flows.
From: Mark Grossi, Fresno Bee
From: Mark Grossi, Modesto Bee
From: Mark Grossi, Merced Sun-Star
A U.S. District Court in Fresno
has stopped the release of Trinity River water to protect salmon in Northern
California until Friday.
From: Kimberly Wear, Eureka
Times-Standard
A U.S. District Court judge in
Fresno halted water releases meant to prevent a fish kill on the lower Klamath
River on Tuesday, granting a temporary restraining order sought by farmers in
the San Joaquin Valley who filed a lawsuit against the federal government last
week.
From: Bob Egelko, SF Chronicle
Central Valley farmers protesting
the federal government's release of water into the Klamath River to protect
spawning salmon won a delay of at least three days Tuesday from a federal
judge.
From: Associated Press, San
Jose Mercury News
A federal judge has temporarily
halted plans to release water from the Trinity River to protect Northern
California salmon.
From: Staff, Kronick Moskovitz
Tiedemann & Girard
On August 13, 2013, the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of California issued a temporary
restraining order ("TRO") prohibiting the Bureau of Reclamation
("Reclamation") from releasing into the Trinity River up to 109,000
acre-feet of water from storage in the federal Central Valley Project's
("CVP") Trinity and Lewiston reservoirs between August 13 and
September 30, 2013.
From: Elizabeth Warmerdam,
Courthouse News Service
A federal judge Tuesday blocked
the planned release of hundreds of millions of gallons of water from the
Trinity Reservoir, after water districts sued Uncle Sam, claiming it was
putting fish before people.
Water Supply
From: Staff, Porterville
Recorder
In Porterville, the past winter
season was the driest ever. In other parts of the Valley, it was the
sixth-driest since records began to be kept more than 100 years ago.
From: Phil Larson, Public CEO
(This article was previously
printed in the Fresno Bee.)
This year Fresno County was able
to balance its budget while restoring programs and positions. After years of
tough budgets and painful decisions, I wish I could say it was a relief, but
instead I am fearful of what could happen next year.
Water Bond
From: Barry Eberling,
Fairfield Daily Republic
State Sen. Lois Wolk has proposed
a $5.6 billion state water bond, one that includes no money for the
controversial proposal to build twin tunnels to take water exports under the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
From: Staff, Woodland Daily
Democrat
Senator Lois Wolk Tuesday
introduced a $5.6 billion water bond to provide funding for broadly supported
projects to address the state's urgent water needs.
From: Staff, Davis Enterprise
State Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis,
introduced a $5.6 billion water bond Tuesday to provide funding for projects to
address the state's water needs.
Levees
From: Press Release, State
Water Contractors
The State Water Contractors is
continuing its series of fact sheets analyzing proposed alternatives to the Bay
Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) with the release of a fact sheet that reviews
the "Fattening" Delta Levees proposal that is suggested by some BDCP
opponents. This new analysis explains that while strategic levee improvements
are necessary to better protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta),
widespread "fattening" of levees alone is not a complete solution for
the myriad of problems facing this important estuary.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Richard Stapler,
BDCP
This summer the Bay Delta
Conservation Plan (BDCP) is becoming better known and better understood. Thanks
to the release of the Administrative Draft of the plan, Californians can view
for themselves the scope and purpose.
By the time the Public Draft Plan
is released this October and the formal period for gathering public comments
begins, the BDCP will be even better. A work in progress, the plan is sure to
undergo further modification and strengthening as we respond to people living
in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and state and federal regulatory experts
who are providing ongoing environmental reviews.
From: Bryan M. Gold, Elk Grove
Citizen
Sacramento County Supervisor Don
Nottoli, whose district includes Elk Grove and the Delta, wrote in a magazine
article that proceeding with the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) will change
the Delta forever.
From: Pamela Martineau, ACWA
The governance structure and
funding sources for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) were examined Aug.
13 during a joint informational hearing at the state Capitol of the Senate
Governance and Finance Committee and Senate Natural Resources and Water
Committee.
From: Maven, Maven's
Notebook
On August 5, the Brown
Administration released a draft Statewide Economic Impact Study that estimated
that implementation of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) would result in
positive economic benefits to residents statewide of $4.8 to $5.4
billion. Some of those benefits include the creation of 177,000
construction and habitat restoration jobs, the avoidance of shortages that
could cost 1 million jobs and an increased in statewide economic activity of
$84 billion over 50 years, as well as increased recreation opportunities and
reduced greenhouse gas emissions, the report says.
Transfers
From: Press Release,
USBR
The Bureau of Reclamation has
released for public review draft environmental documents for a Warren Act
contract for transfer of up to 15,000 acre-feet of water from Merced Irrigation
District to Westlands Water District and/or San Luis Water District.
People
From: Alex Breitler, Stockton
Record
A state agency charged with
preserving and protecting the Delta has a new leader.
Erik Vink, a 49-year-old land
manager from Yolo County, will replace former state Sen. Michael Machado as the
director of the 15-member Delta Protection Commission, according to an
announcement Tuesday.
