by Dan Bacher 

In a January 18 press release, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) proudly announced a new marine and coastal map viewer, called MarineBIOS. 

Located at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/gis/viewer.asp, the DFG touts the website an “in-depth source of information” about California’s MPAs (marine protected areas), “as well as some of the more common spatial planning data that was used to create those MPA regulations.” 

“This map viewer marks a significant milestone in our effort to manage and make available planning data for marine and coastal constituents,” DFG Director Chuck Bonham gushed. “It’s also cost-effective as it was done in-house, using existing department technology and expertise.” 

Of course, the release failed to mention that the majority of these so-called “marine protected areas” were created under the “visionary leadership” of a big oil lobbyist, real estate executive, marina developer and other corporate operatives under Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, a corrupt and unjust corporate greenwashing process privately funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. 

I just wonder how much this DFG staff time and dollars this “MarineBIOS” program cost. While I love the idea of new technology at the DFG, what the DFG really needs now is firm leadership to defend and restore our fish populations. 

As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” 

My opinion is that if Director Bonham really cares about California fish, water and the environment, he should show some courage and take the following crucial actions: 

1. He should call for an investigation into the record “salvage” of 11 million fish, including 9 million imperiled Sacramento splittail, during 2011, a export record pumping year, and direct staff to find a way to stop or at least reduce the carnage at the predatory state and federal export pumping facilities in the South Delta. Scientists estimate that the actual amount of fish lost in the pumps is 5 to 10 times the “salvage” numbers. 

2. Bonham should support the call by anglers, grassroots environmentalists and advocates of openness and transparency in government to suspend the corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, including the so-called “marine protected areas” created under the leadership of South Coast MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force Chair Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association. The initiative creates so-called “marine protected areas” that fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture, wind and wave energy projects and all human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering. 

The DFG wardens would be very happy to hear that they don’t have to enforce new “marine protected areas” when they don’t have enough staff or boats to patrol the existing ones. That’s why the California Fish and Game Wardens Association has repeatedly called on the Fish and Game Commission not to approve any new marine protected areas until the Department has enough staff and money to enforce the existing MPAs. 

3. He should urge the Brown and Obama administrations to halt the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal, a project that will lead to the deaths of more Central Valley chinook salmon, steelhead, striped bass, American shad, Sacramento splittail, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, largemouth bass, white and green sturgeon and other species than all of the poachers in the state combined could possibly kill. 

Not only would this canal lead to the destruction of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations, but it would cost an estimated $23 billion to $53.8 billion to build, according to economist Stephen Kasower, at a time when California is in its greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. 

As Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, said, “The peripheral canal is such a tremendous destroyer of water systems. There is no one making more water, and there is very little protection to prevent water pollution and little resources targeting cleaning up water, just more greedy building plans to get the little water that is trickling down the Sacramento Valley. It time for Gov. Brown to get rid of those little thinkers and design off the grid projects.” 

It is no surprise that the Resources Legacy Fund and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, two of the largest funders of studies by UC Davis and the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) to promote the construction of the peripheral canal, are also the biggest funders of the MLPA Initiative fiasco. Neither the MLPA Initiative nor the plan to build the canal aim to “restore” the ecosystem – their goals are to greenwash the privatization of public trust resources and conservation in order to benefit powerful corporate interests. 

I’ll conclude with another quote from Martin Luther King Jr: “The time is always right to do the right thing.”

by Dan Bacher 

Occupy Sacramento lawyers announced Friday afternoon they were “not surprised” UC Davis students arrested in the infamous “pepper spraying incident” in November were not charged by the Yolo County District Attorney – and they emphasized that it’s time the police officers at UC Davis are prosecuted. 

District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced today that there was “insufficient information” contained within the police reports submitted by the UC Davis Police Department to justify the filing of criminal charges against those individuals arrested during the November 18, 2011, confrontation with UC Davis Police during the “Occupy UC Davis” protest. 

“Based on this determination the District Attorney will not be filing charges against the protesters,” according to Reisig. “The District Attorney’s examination into the pepper spraying of the protesters is ongoing.” 

Jeff Kravitz, one of the many pro bono/volunteer lawyers working with Occupy Sacramento, said today’s announcement by the Yolo County District Attorney follows a pattern of county DAs refusing to prosecute after arrests by police at Occupy events, including those in Sacramento. 

“I am not surprised at all,” said Kravitz. “These are peaceful, nonviolent demonstrators. In Sacramento, we have veterans, workers and students defending the First Amendment and being arrested. None of them should be prosecuted.” 

“Now is the time to prosecute the real lawbreakers – the police officers at UC Davis who violated the students’ rights,” said Kravitz. 

There have been 110 arrests at Occupy Sacramento since October at Cesar Chavez Park, according to Cres Vellucci of Occupy Sacramento. The Sacramento District Attorney refused to file charges in any of them. The City of Sacramento filed some charges, but has not successfully prosecuted any of them. Twenty-two cases remain of the 110 arrests. 

A video of the police pepper spraying and arrests of the students became viral and spread throughout the world, becoming an international symbol of police abuse and brutality against the Occupy movement. The video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJmmnMkuEM&feature=player_embedded#!, has been viewed 2,451,074 times to date. 

The still photo of Lt. John Pike pepper spraying students has now become an iconic image of the Occupy Wall Street movement. During the protest at UC Davis, Pike was filmed walking in front of seated student protesters, blasting pepper spray into their faces. The students had interlocked arms to prevent officers from taking them away. 

For more information, contact Cres Vellucci, 916-996-9170, news0058 [at] comcast.net 

by Dan Bacher 

You would think that a simple bill requiring the labeling of Frankenfish would pass easily through the California Legislature. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, since Assemblymembers apparently beholden to the bioegineering and biotechnology industry on January 19 voted against a bill, AB 88, that would have required that all genetically engineered (GE) fish sold in California contain clear and prominent labeling.

The legislation, authored by Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-6), failed in the Assembly Appropriations Committee by a vote of 9-7. Assemblymembers Harkey, Calderon, Hall, Nielson, Norby, Solorio, Wagner, Campos and Donnelly voted no on the bill, while Fuentes, Bradford, Chesbro, Gatto, Hill, Ammiano and Mitchell voted yes. 

Assemblymember Blumenfield, who voted for the bill last May, was out of the room during the vote. 

“It’s shameful that nine members of the Assembly Appropriations Committee chose to keep consumers in the dark as to whether salmon sold in California is genetically engineered or not, should GE Salmon be approved by the FDA,” said Marie Logan of Food and Water Watch. “We will continue to fight for labeling of all genetically engineered foods and continue to urge the FDA to not approve GE salmon, so that this potentially risky product never reaches grocery store shelves. Food & Water Watch will continue working to support national legislation that would stop the approval of GE salmon by the FDA.” 

The legislation, AB 88, was stalled in Appropriations last year, and was held-over for reintroduction this session by Assemblymember Huffman. This bill is modeled after similar legislation passed in the state of Alaska in 2005 that requires labeling of all genetically modified seafood. 

“While we are disappointed that AB 88 failed today, we are encouraged by the level of support the bill received in a tough Committee,” according to a statement from the Center for Food Safety (CFS). “The bill’s failure in Committee came despite clear consumer demand for labeling of GE fish.” 

As Huffman told TakePart, “If we had put this bill before the people of California, it would have passed overwhelmingly.”  

“It is shocking and such a big mistake for California to allow 9 people to decide NOT to label GE Fish!” said Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “Assemblyman Huffman is right that if the people had a vote, those Frankenfish would not exist at all! This vote was important to what is happening in the U.S. Senate on the other bills about the FRANKENFISH, the Salmon Killer.”

She emphasized that “ALL GM foods are having negative hormonal growth effects on humans, especially babies, toddlers, children, teens and young adults.”

Consumer, environmental and fishing groups and Indian Tribes oppose the approval of genetically engineered salmon and other fish by the federal Food and Drug Administration because of its potential human health impacts and the danger presented to struggling West Coast salmon populations if the GE fish escape from aquaculture facilities. They supported the legislation as a way of safeguarding human health in California if efforts to stop the approval of Frankenfish at the federal level fail.

BIOCOM, an organization representing the biotechnology and life sciences industry, opposed the Legislation by claiming that the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “closely regulates” the use of bioengineering and biotechnology in foods and is currently reviewing the approval of consumption of genetically engineered salmon. BIOCOM argued that it should be left to the FDA to determine whether or not labeling should be required on these products. 

The Frankenfish issue is not going to go away as long as AquaBounty’s salmon is on the table for FDA consideration and while other biotech corporations push for the approval of GE animals. The Obama administration, the same administration that is pushing for the privatization of ocean public trust resources through “catch shares” program and the construction of a peripheral canal that will destroy Central Valley salmon and California Delta fish populations, has also put the GE salmon approval process on the fast-track. 

On December 19, a coalition of 11 food safety, environmental, consumer and fisheries organizations sent a letter to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) calling for a halt to its approval of a genetically engineered (GE) salmon after learning that the company’s – AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. – research site was contaminated with a new strain of Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA), the deadly fish flu that is devastating fish stocks around the world. 

“This new information calls into question the reliability of AquaBounty’s data and the validity of its claims that their fish are safe for the environment” said Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety. “The FDA must respond appropriately and conduct their own environmental impact statement that looks at a broad range of environmental risks from these genetically engineered salmon, including the risk of spreading diseases such as ISA and antibiotic use for other diseases.” 

The coalition included the Center for Food Safety, Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch, Center for Environmental Health, Alliance for Natural Health USA, Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, PCC Natural Markets, Organic Consumers Association, Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance and Mangrove Action Project. 

Legislation advocating a ban on GE salmon, S. 230, and mandatory labeling, S. 229, is making its through the U.S. Senate. 

Legislation advocating a ban on GE salmon, H.R. 521, and mandatory labeling, H.R. 520, is also proceeding through the U.S. House of Representatives. 

For more information on GE fish, visit CFS’s campaign website, http://www.ge-fish.org, or Food and Water Watch’s website,http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/genetically-engineered-foods/stop-frankenfish.

by Dan Bacher 

A broad coalition of commercial and recreational salmon fishing groups, conservation organizations and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe today filed an appeal with the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to fully reinstate a federal water management plan intended to protect threatened Chinook salmon and steelhead throughout the Central Valley. 

The “biological opinion,” issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service, functions as a water management plan governing huge water diversions in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary as well as dams on most major Central Valley rivers, according to a news release from the groups and Tribe. 

“Although a district court upheld most of the biological opinion as scientifically justified, it found that parts of the plan contained some technical problems and sent it back for further review and analysis. The court left the biological opinion in force while federal water managers and wildlife agencies make the necessary fixes,” the groups stated. 

Large San Joaquin Valley agricultural interests and southern California water users, who compete for water flowing through the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers that is needed by endangered salmon, steelhead and other species, filed lawsuits challenging the opinion’s call for reductions in water exports from the Delta during critical times for young migrating salmon, primarily January through June. The fishing groups, conservationists and Tribe joined together to help defend the biological opinion from these legal challenges. 

The biological opinion protects not only highly imperiled and federally protected winter and spring run Chinook salmon, but also commercially valuable fall run salmon that are the backbone of California’s commercial and recreational fisheries. All salmon runs went into a tailspin over the past decade due to record exports of water from the Delta, primarily for use by corporate growers irrigating drainage-impaired land laced with selenium and other toxic minerals and salts on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. 

The groups said management rules were strengthened in 2009 and the fisheries have been slowly rebuilding. However, this progress will likely be lost if water users once again weaken water withdrawal rules to their advantage. 

“The protective measures under attack by San Joaquin Valley and southern California water interests are the bare minimum we need to keep our salmon fisheries alive,” said Earthjustice attorney Erin Tobin. “This appeal is intended to restore science-based, rational protections needed for California’s native salmon to survive and hopefully one day recover to healthy populations, while at the same time balancing other needs for Delta water.” 

The public interest law firm Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed today’s appeal on behalf of NRDC, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers, Sacramento River Preservation Trust, Friends of the River, California Trout, San Francisco Baykeeper, The Bay Institute and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. 

Representatives of the Tribe and conservation groups spoke about the urgent need to protect salmon, steelhead and other fish populations from massive water exports. 

“Ask yourself which is worth fighting for—live teeming waterways with healthy fish populations, or dead and dying waterways ruined for profit?” said Gary Mulcahy of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “Our rivers belong to all of us and we won’t allow anyone to destroy them just to make a buck.”

“Salmon are the life line, the magic in the waters, the measure of how healthy the waters are,” stated Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “When they can no longer swim in the rivers, streams, and Oceans, there will be no drinkable water for humans either. The Winnemem Wintu will continue to do all that we can to speak up for salmon as they follow the stars home.”  

The Tribe is currently engaged in an ambitious effort to reintroduce winter run chinook salmon now thriving on the Rakaira River in New Zealand to the their native waters on the McCloud River above Shasta Lake. 

“If we expect to save the salmon and the thousands of salmon industry jobs that depend on them, we need a fair balance of water, which is what we’re asking the appeals court to support,” said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. 

“Certain vested agribusiness interests in the San Joaquin Valley are attacking biological science with political science,” said John Merz, president, Sacramento River Preservation Trust. “The federal resource agency responsible for protecting salmon and other at-risk species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has done its job. We look forward to a better day in the Delta soon.” 

Curtis Knight, conservation director ofCalTrout said, “The bold and progressive actions of NMFS calling for fish passage and adequate flows under attack now in the appeals court are precisely what is needed to stave off the extinction path of salmon in Central Valley.” 

“Experts agree that without the minimal protections from excessive water diversions afforded by the ESA biological opinion, California’s treasured Central Valley Chinook salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon are at grave risk of extinction,” concluded Dr. Jon Rosenfield of The Bay Institute. 

2009 biological opinion aims to protect salmon and orcas 

On June 4, 2009, the National Marine Fisheries Service released a biological opinion including protective measures for Sacramento and San Joaquin River Chinook salmon and steelhead runs. This opinion replaced one issued in 2004 by the Bush administration over the objections of federal fisheries scientists that sent salmon runs into steep decline. 

Fishermen, environmentalists, and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, represented by Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council, successfully challenged the Bush era plan in court. 

Salmon declines that occurred under the all-time high water diversions allowed by the earlier plan forced fishery managers to close North Coast salmon fishing for the first time in the history of the state in 2008 and 2009, an extremely limited season was permitted in 2010. The economic and social impacts of these unprecedented closures to coastal fishing communities have been devastating. 

The 2009 biological opinion clearly shows that excessive water diversions in the Delta jeopardize endangered salmon, steelhead, green sturgeon, and even southern resident killer whales (orcas), which feed on salmon at sea. 

The biological opinion set detailed prescriptions for operating the projects for the next 20 years in a manner that will avoid pushing the fish to extinction or further destroying their habitat, while still providing for other uses of Delta water. Within days after it was released, industrial agriculture and commercial water users filed lawsuits to overturn the plan. 

For more information, contact: 
Erin Tobin, Earthjustice (415) 217-2000 
Kate Poole, NRDC (415) 875-6100 
Zeke Grader, PCFFA (415) 561-5080 x224 
Gary Bobker, The Bay Institute, (415) 272-6616 
Gary Mulcahy, Winnemem Wintu Tribe, (916) 991-8493 
John Merz, Sacramento River Preservation Trust, (530) 345-1865 
Curtis Knight, California Trout, (530) 859-1872 

A critical time for West Coast fisheries 

The filing of the lawsuit comes at a critical time for West Coast and California fisheries. The Brown and Obama administrations authorized the export of a record amount of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in the 2011 water year. The water export total, including water diverted by the Contra Costa Canal and North Bay Aqueduct, was 6,633,000 acre-feet in 2011 – 163,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,470,000 acre-feet set in 2005, according to DWR data. 

The record pumping from the Delta in 2011 – used to fill billionaire Stewart Resnick’s Kern Water Bank and southern California reservoirs – resulted in a huge, unprecedented fish kill at the Delta pumps. Agency staff “salvaged” a total of 11,158,025 fish in the Delta water pumping facilities between January 1 and September 7, 2011 alone. Scientists estimate that the actual amount of fish lost in the pumps is 5 to 10 times the “salvage” numbers. 

A horrific 8,985,009 Sacramento splittail, the largest number ever recorded, were salvaged during this period, according to DFG data. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006. 

The fish “salvaged” at the “death pumps” of the state and federal water projects also include hundreds of thousands of threadfin shad, striped bass, American shad, white catfish and other species. DFG data reveals that 742,850 threadfin shad, 514,921 American shad, 496,601 striped bass and 100,373 white catfish were “salvaged” between January 1 and September 7 of 2011. 

Agency staff also “salvaged” 35,560 Sacramento River spring run and fall run chinooks, 1,642 Central Valley steelhead and 14 green sturgeon in the project facilities during the same period. 

Meanwhile, the Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking the construction of the peripheral canal to deliver increased water exports to corporate agribusiness and southern California. Delta advocates oppose the peripheral canal because it will likely result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other imperiled species. 

by Dan Bacher 

In his State of the State Address on January 18, Governor Jerry Brown emphasized his commitment to fast-tracking the construction of the peripheral canal under the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), a Nineteenth Century “solution” to Twenty-First Century problems. 

Brown said that water is a “huge issue we must tackle” – and then greenwashed the BDCP process by claiming it will somehow “restore” the Delta ecosystem and create “new habitat for spawning fish and other wildlife.” 

Brown proclaimed, “Last week, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar – met here in Sacramento with those in my administration who are working to complete the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. 

Together we agreed that by this summer we should have the basic elements of the project we need to build. This is something my father worked on and then I worked on—decades ago. We know more now and are committed to the dual goals of restoring the Delta ecosystem and ensuring a reliable water supply. 

This is an enormous project. It will ensure water for 25 million Californians and for millions of acres of farmland as well a hundred thousand acres of new habitat for spawning fish and other wildlife. To get it done will require time, political will and countless permits from state and federal agencies. I invite your collaboration and constructive engagement.” 

Ironically, the theme of his speech was “California on the Mend.” Delta advocates oppose the construction of the peripheral canal because it will lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other fish species. 

This canal won’t “mend” imperiled Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations; it will only exacerbate the ecosystem collapse caused by record water exports from the Delta in recent years! 

The plan will not only greenwash the destruction of Delta fish, but will remove vast tracts of Delta farmland, some of the most fertile on the planet, from production in order to increase water exports to corporate agribusiness interests farming drainage-impaired land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. 

Again, removing good land from production in order to irrigate bad land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, land that should have never been irrigated, is hardly “mending” California! 

Not only would the canal be environmentally destructive, but it would be enormously expensive. A draft economic report by Steven Kasower of the Strategic Economic Applications Company, released to the California Legislature in 2009, revealed that the costs for the construction of a peripheral canal around the California Delta or a tunnel under the estuary would be much higher than previously estimated, ranging from $23 billion to $53.8 billion depending upon the type of conveyance facility. (http://yubanet.com/california/Op-Ed-Dan-Bacher-Peripheral-Canal-Would-Cost-23-to-53-8-Billion.php) 

In his address, Brown claimed, “California is on the mend,” touting his “accomplishments” in 2011. 

“Last year, we were looking at a structural deficit of over $20 billion,” Brown stated. “It was a real mess. But you rose to the occasion and together we shrunk state government, reduced our borrowing costs and transferred key functions to local government, closer to the people. The result is a problem one fourth as large as the one we confronted last year.” 

However, the “mending” Brown spoke of doesn’t appear to apply to the Brown administration’s management of Delta fisheries and California water. 

The Brown and Obama administrations authorized the export of a record amount of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in the 2011 water year. The water export total, including water diverted by the Contra Costa Canal and North Bay Aqueduct, was 6,633,000 acre-feet in 2011 – 163,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,470,000 acre-feet set in 2005, according to DWR data. 

The record pumping from the Delta in 2011 – used to fill billionaire Stewart Resnick’s Kern Water Bank and southern California reservoirs – resulted in a huge, unprecedented fish kill at the Delta pumps. Agency staff “salvaged” a total of 11,158,025 fish in the Delta water pumping facilities between January 1 and September 7, 2011 alone. Scientists estimate that the actual amount of fish lost in the pumps is 5 to 10 times the “salvage” numbers. 

Approximately 9 million Sacramento splittail, the largest number ever recorded, were “salvaged” during this period. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006. 

These unprecedented water exports and fish killed in the Delta pumps hardly can be described as “mending” the Delta. By exporting a record amount of water and killing a record number of fish, the Brown and Obama administrations surpassed even the Schwarzenegger and Bush administrations in their total disregard for the Delta ecosystem and the public trust. 

With a record like this, how are we to possibly believe that the Bay Delta Conservation Plan will “restore” the Delta ecosystem and create “new habitat for spawning fish and other wildlife?” 

The BDCP Management Committee that oversees the plan has completely excluded Delta residents, family farmers, Indian Tribes, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, conservationists, environmental justice advocates, elected officials and business owners. 

At the same time, the Department of Water Resources has hired two employers of powerful water contractors, Laura King Moon of the State Water Contractors Association and Susan Ramos of the Westlands Water District, to help develop the plan to build the peripheral canal (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/12/14/westlands-official-working-for-dwr-on-delta-plan). If this isn’t an overt conflict of interest, I don’t know what is. 

While presiding over record water exports and pushing for the construction of the peripheral canal, Governor Jerry Brown has also continued the abysmal environmental legacy of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger by forging ahead with the corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative process. The MLPA Initiative is a parody of “protection,” since it creates “marine protected areas” that fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, pollution, military testing, wind and wave energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other human impacts other than fishing and gathering. 

The illegitimacy of the privately funded process is demonstrated by the alarming fact that Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force to create “marine protected areas” on the South Coast. Reheis-Boyd, a strong supporter of new oil drilling off the West Coast, the Keystone XL Pipeline and the gutting of environmental laws, also served on the North Coast and North Central Coast MLPA panels. What is a big oil lobbyist doing overseeing the creation of “marine protected areas” in California? (http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/02/the-oil-industrys-marine-reserves) 

Brown’s claim that “California is on the mend” is false when you review his 2011 environmental record, including his administration’s forging ahead with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s BDCP and MLPA Initiative fiascos, record Delta water exports and record fish kills in the Delta pumps. 

For the full text of Brown’s address, go to: http://gov.ca.gov/home.php 

For more information about the campaign to stop the canal, go to: http://restorethedelta.org.