danbacher “Establishing additional MPAs without sufficient enforcement will invite poaching and other lawless behavior and endanger the safety of game wardens and will, eventually, lead to the onduty injury or death of a warden,” stated Jerry Karnow, the president of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association.
The marine “protected” areas adopted along the South Coast under Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative do nothing to protect the marine ecosystem from water pollution, oil drilling and spills, military testing, corporate aquaculture, wave energy projects, coastal development, habitat destruction and other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
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By Dan Bacher
Proponents of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative constantly proclaim that the controversial process to create a network of “marine protected areas” (MPAs) in California marine waters is “open, transparent and inclusive” and based on “science.”
Unfortunately, MLPA advocates fail to ask California’s game wardens, the ones who actually have to enforce the Fish and Game laws, what they think about these glorious new “ocean parks.”
Jerry Karnow, the president of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association, has repeatedly criticized the Fish and Game Commission for approving the creation of new marine protected areas to be enforced by a Department that already has lowest ratio of wardens to residents of any state in the nation. He has frequently noted how many wardens consider the new MPAs to be “marine poaching areas” because of the lack of personnel for enforcement.
In a letter to Mr. Tom Napoli, MLPA South Coast CEQA, Department of Fish and Game, on October 18, 2010, Karnow was blunt about the impact the creation of new MPAs would have on the wardens.
“Establishing additional MPAs without sufficient enforcement will invite poaching and other lawless behavior and endanger the safety of game wardens and will, eventually, lead to the onduty injury or death of a warden,” stated Karnow.
“The California Fish and Game Wardens’ Association represents the interests and concerns of fish and game wardens throughout California who are charged with enforcing California’s laws and regulations regarding hunting and fishing,” Karnow explained. “As the public servants who serve at the front lines of enforcement, our members understand what is required to enforce the fish and game laws effectively, and in particular what it takes to enforce restrictions that are imposed when the Fish & Game Commission designates a segment of the waters of the Pacific Ocean as a Marine Protected Area (MPA).”
“Regardless of how these MPAs are designed, there is no substitute for rigorous on-site enforcement by Department of Fish and Game (Department) staff if the MPAs are to have their intended effect on species and habitat restoration or preservation,” he emphasized. “Regarding the adoption of additional MPAs under the Marine Life Protection Act, please note that the Department cannot police the restrictions that already exist. Addition of new restrictions in the South Coast (or elsewhere), without a significant increase in the enforcement budget, will make effective enforcement impossible.”
He noted that sufficient funding for enforcement of these new reserves has not been identified in the state budget – nor elsewhere.
“The source of funding for necessary additional enforcement resources is not identified in the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the South Coast Marine Protected Areas Project. We believe the DEIR is silent about this issue because there is no such source of funding,” Karnow stated.
The failure of the MLPA Initiative to find funding for enforcement is just one of a multitude of flaws in the process, funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation through a MOU with the Department of Fish and Game.
Critics of the initiative point out that the MLPA Initiative actually eviscerates the original law, the Marine Life Protection Act of 1999, that aimed to create a network of “marine protected areas” in California marine waters. They charge that the marine reserves created fail to protect the ocean from oil drilling and spills, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, habitat destruction and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
Initiative critics, including grassroots environmentalists, fishermen, Indian tribal members and seaweed harvesters, also point to the numerous conflicts of interests in the implementation of the initiative by oil industry, agribusiness, real estate, marina development and other operatives. They have also documented the initiative’s violation of numerous state, federal and international laws including the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, California Administrative Procedures Act, American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
There is considerable controversy about when the new “marine protected areas” on the Southern California Coast will go into effect, if ever. (http://redgreenandblue.org/2011/05/16/has-southern-california-restricted-fishing-it-depends-on-who-you-ask)
For more information about MLPA Initiative conflicts of interest, go to David Gurney’s superb blog, http://noyonews.net.
danbacher Below are the two latest posts on http://noyonews.net from David Gurney, independent journalist and grassroots environmental activist, slamming conflicts of interest under the corrupt, corporate Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) “Initiative” of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the worst Governor in California history.
These excellent posts are about two bizarre marine “protectors” – oil industry lobbyist Catherine Reheis-Boyd and long-time agribusiness operative Ken Wiseman. These officials care nothing about marine protection, only furthering the interests of corporations and the privatization of public trust resources.
That’s why the fake “marine protected areas” they created do nothing to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, habitat destruction, water pollution, water diversions and all other human impacts on the ocean other than sustainable fishing and gathering.
Dan
MLPAI Conflicts of Interest, Part 1: Ken Wiseman
Posted on May 27, 2011 by David Gurney
“A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other.”
“The presence of a conflict of interest is independent from the execution of impropriety. Someone accused of a conflict of interest may deny that a conflict exists because he/she did not act improperly. In fact, a conflict of interest can exist even if there are no improper acts as a result of it.” – Wikipedia definition ****************
California has long been a battleground between the interests of salmon in the North, and the competing agriculture and development interests in the South. Both need, and are fighting over water. Without water, the salmon will die in the north, and without water, huge agribusiness will dry up in the south. With the pressures of human populations, there simply isn’t enough water to go around.
In the administrations of both President Bush and Governor Schwarzenegger, big water users took precedence over Native American Tribes, fishers, salmon restoration workers, and the salmon themselves. In just the past two weeks, tens of thousands of Chinook salmon have been killed at the huge pumping stations of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
Million of gallons of water are being pumped south, with electricity generated at reservoir dams for Central Valley agribusiness and south state users. At a time when salmon populations are in collapse, one might think that an official with a long history of representing big agriculture interests in the Central Valley would be disqualified from heading an organization seeking to close off huge areas of ocean to North Coast fishermen and residents.
With the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) “Initiative,” that was not the case. Ken Wiseman, the Executive Director of the MLPA “Initiative,” has some stark conflicts of interest in this battle for water, and the survival of species and cultures. For much of his life he has represented the interests of giant farms that grow huge quatities of food with irrigation water from Northern California rivers. Mr. Wiseman managed Central Valley agribusiness farming early in his career.
From 1997 to 2000 he was a board member and Vice President of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). His role at CAISO is decribed as “a consumer representative for agriculture and water electricity end-users.” CAISO oversees the management of California’s power grid. Much of the electricity comes from natural gas, and some from hydroelectric dams.
By 2004, Mr. Wiseman was Chaiman of the Board at CAISO. He was also a long-time executive for the agriculture and food processing industries in Kern County. Up until recently he has been an “environmental mediator” for RMC Engineering, “a California-based environmental engineering company focused exclusively on water.”
Northern California rivers for decades supported some of the last healthy populations of Coho and Chinook salmon in the West. Now some are saying California agribusiness would just as soon see the salmon disappear altogether, so that there are no further impediments to the export of water south.
There are also significant natural gas deposits in North Coast ocean waters adjacent to areas recently slated for closure to fishing and food gathering. CAISO gets large percentages of their generating capacity from natural gas.
For a conflict of interest to be plain, no “conspiracy theory” is needed. The simple existence of a conflict is proof enough to disqualify an individual or organization from ethically taking part in public policy work for which they have competing interests.
With the MLPAI, its Executive Director is only one of several who can be said to have interests severely conflicted by the Marine Life Protection Act “Initiative.” With the lines drawn and the ocean about to be parceled out, there are some waiting in the wings to reap the benefits.
This privately funded partnership has created public policy with absolutely no governmental oversight. Conflicts of interest are apparent, and the possibilities for corruption are undeniable.
More on COI’s and the MLPAI “Initiative” in upcoming posts.
Conflicts of Interest, Part 2: Catherine Reheis-Boyd
Posted on May 28, 2011 by David Gurney
Perhaps even more disturbing than the apparent conflicts of the Executive Director of the MLPA “Initiative”, is the outrageous conflict of interest of the President of the Western States Petroleum Association sitting on the final arbitrtion board of the so-called MLPA “Initiative.”
Catherine Reheis-Boyd sits on this commitee – the so-called “Blue Ribbon Task Force” (BRTF) of the self-invented Marine Life Protection Act “Initiative” program. With it’s military sounding moniker, the powerful privately funded “Blue Ribbon Task Force” yields nearly legislative muscle.
Their recommendations are submitted for final approval by the Fish and Game Commission. This hand picked panel was chosen by then Secretary of Natural Resources Mike Chrisman, in close collaboration with former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
BRTF board members claim to be unpaid volunteers, working for free on behalf of the ocean and people of California. And apparently, they don’t need the money.
Catherine Reheis-Boyd’s employer, the WSPA, is similar to its national counterpart the American Petroleum Institute (API). The Western States Petroleum Association is a public relations, lobbying and advocacy organization for oil and natural gas. It represents the oil industry in six western states: California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.
The WSPA’s recommendations for offshore oil include the following:
“The Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico has resulted in questions about the safety of oil development off the Coast of California.
We continue to believe California businessed and consumers would benefit from development of the huge reserves of petroleum off the California Coast, in both state and federal waters.”
**********************
Although Ms. Reheis-Boyd has adamately insisted that her interest in the MLPAI campaign comes from a benevolent concern for the ocean, the stated aims of her organization are far from it. The WSPA has come out strongly in favor of offshore oil and natural gas drilling on the entire West Coast, and particularly California.
The North Coast has fought off several onslaughts by the oil industry in recent decades. It was only after the concerted effort of thousands of citizens in massive demonstrations in 1988 that oil prospectors were turned away. Similar public outcry discouraged oil interests in the 1970′s. At the same time, an active commercial fishing industry was one of many strong opponents of federal government and corporate designs to drill for oil off our coast.
Some observent North Coast residents have noticed the the final arrays proposed by “stakeholders” in the MLPAI program mirror the offshore federal lease sales 53 and 91 from the 1970′s and 80′s. Natural gas and oil reserves are known to exist under the waters off Petrolia in Humboldt County, and Point Arena in Mendocino County, in the exact regions where the massive new closures are proposed to take effect.
It is not so much what Ms. Catherine Reheis-Boyd may have been for in her position with the Marine Life Protection Act “Initiative”- as what she stands against. Namely, the staunch protection of the North Coast from any kind of offshore oil development, now and forever.
Her sitting on the powerful “Blue Ribbon Task Force” was a sure-fire way guarantee these protections would not be included in the MLPAI. As mentioned in the previous post – a charge of conflict of interest (COI) does not require proof of any wrong-doing. Simply showing that competing interests exist is enough.
In the case of Ms. Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the conflict of interest between marine life protection and offshore oil drilling could not possibly be any more bald, barefaced, and unabashedly brazen. ***
danbacher “The spiritual encampment at Glen Cove is holding firmly – the sacred fire has now been burning continuously for 45 days and nights, carrying the power of all the prayer offerings that have been placed upon it,” according to http://protectglencove.org/. “We would like to state again that all who will stand with us in prayer to honor the ancestors are welcome at Sogorea Te.”
Photo courtesy of http://protectglencove.org
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by Dan Bacher
The 45-day spiritual encampment of Native Americans and their allies to stop the bulldozers of the Greater Vallejo Recreation District (GVRD) from desecrating a sacred burial ground continues at Glen Cove (Sogorea Te) in Carquinez Strait in Vallejo.
I have been to the encampment several times and have been inspired by the dedication of Morning Star Gali, Wounded Knee, Corrina Gould, Mark Anquoe, Fred Short and the hundreds of Native Americans and their supporters who are standing up to the city of Vallejo and recreation district officials. I urge people who haven’t been there or those have been there already have been there to support them in their battle for justice!
As the occupation continues, the state and federal water project export pumps upriver in the same Bay-Delta estuary are killing millions of native Sacramento splittail and thousands of threatened Central Valley chinook salmon in order to divert water to corporate agribusiness and southern California.
The latest update from the Glen Cove defenders details a number of ways that you can support the ongoing spiritual encampment.
“The spiritual encampment at Glen Cove is holding firmly – the sacred fire has now been burning continuously for 45 days and nights, carrying the power of all the prayer offerings that have been placed upon it,” according to http://protectglencove.org/. “We would like to state again that all who will stand with us in prayer to honor the ancestors are welcome at Sogorea Te. If you live near the Bay Area, please consider stopping by for a few hours, or a few days. Your presence will be very appreciated.”
At this time the defenders are also putting out a request for donations to cover their ongoing expenses for food, supplies, portable toilet rental, etc, as our funds and supplies are starting to run low. Donations can be made online, or checks can be sent in the mail, with an option of being tax-deductible. Food donations can also be brought to Sogorea Te at any time.
“GVRD is continuing to threaten possible legal/police action against the ongoing prayer vigil at Sogorea Te,” according to the update. “We are asking all our supporters to please be on heightened alert over the next two weeks and prepared to respond to a call for emergency on-land support.”
Support continues to pour in from native and non-native communities throughout California and beyond. On May 24, another official tribal resolution was passed by the Pit River Tribe, in support of protecting Glen Cove from GVRD’s proposed development.
On Thursday, volunteers from the spiritual encampment handed out flyers at the Vallejo Farmers Market. Over the past week, thousands of “Stop the Desecration of Glen Cove” flyers have been distributed throughout Vallejo and the greater Bay Area.
Today, Saturday the 28th, a workshop on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be held at Sogorea Te between 2-4pm. Morning Star (Pit River) and Mark Anquoe (Kiowa) of the International Indian Treaty Council will be hosting the workshop, and Mark Anquoe will be giving a report-back from the 10th session of the the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues that he participated in earlier this month.
A know-your-rights and legal observation training will also be held at Sogorea Te on Saturday from 12-1:30pm, hosted by volunteers from the National Lawyers Guild. Those supporters who plan on standing with us in the event of an emergency are encouraged to attend this training.
Also this Saturday the 28th, Morning Star Gali (Pit River) will speak in support of Glen Cove at the annual African Liberation Day event in Oakland: 12 pm at the Per Ankh Praise House – 959 33rd Street (at San Pablo).
Then on Sunday, June 5, I urge you to support the Winnemem Wintu Tribe’s dance for the salmon at Sogorea Te. The Tribe has launched a campaign to restore endangered winter run Chinook Salmon to the McCloud River above Shasta.
“Salmon need the splittail to survive in the Estuary,” said Caleen Sisk-Franco, chief and spiritual leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, who just returned from the 10th session of the the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues with her husband, Mark Franco, the Tribe’s headman. “The Estuary is necessary for the survival of Chinook. The Chinook are necessary for the water to be drinkable, and for the People. Climate change will come in to balance once we follow the salmon runs. This is why the Winnemem will dance for the salmon and the Estuary on June 5th at Glen Clove in Vallejo!”
During the 8-day period from May 16 though May 23, the federal pumps killed 4,241,089 Sacramento splittail and the state facilities took 157,349 fish. That’s a total of 4,400,073 splittail.
During the same 8-day period, the federal pumps killed 1935 threatened spring run Chinooks and the state facilities took 1,660 salmon. That’s a total of 3,595 spring Chinooks prevented from ever getting to the ocean.
The pumps killed over 13,500 chinooks from January 1 to May 23, with the take of both splittail and Chinooks accelerating over the past two weeks.
The massive slaughter of salmon and splittail has continued over the past few days, with the federal pumps killing 242,348 Sacramento splittail and the state pumps killing 18,272 splittail on May 26. On the same day, the federal pumps killed 96 salmon and the state facilities took 164 salmon.
“What good does it do for the government to sponsor programs, funded with millions of dollars, to restore endangered species when the simplest of acts, shutting down the pumps, would do so much for the preservation of endangered species and those other fish that rely on the endangered species for their survival,” said Mark Franco.
We must stop Greater Vallejo Irrigation District officials from bulldozing the Glen Cove burial site!
We must stop the Obama and Brown and administrations from killing millions of Sacramento splittail and thousands of Sacramento River Chinook salmon in the pumps of death!
For more information, photos, and previous updates, visit:
http://protectglencove.org/
danbacher by Dan Bacher
The killing of millions of Sacramento splittail, a native minnow species, and thousands of threatened Central Valley spring-run chinook salmon at the state and federal water project pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta over the past week highlights the folly of H.R. 1837, the resolution by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) to guarantee water supplies to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
The San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act “would undo years of efforts to balance Delta restoration with water supply reliability and to restore the San Joaquin River,” according to a news release from Restore the Delta.
“H.R. 1837 is an end run around California’s water rights laws,” said Delta pear farmer Brett Baker. “It puts junior rights holders ahead of Delta agriculture, Indian tribes, and fish. Forget public trust protections.”
Recovery of the West Coast’s recreational and commercial fishing industries is threatened by operation of federal and state water projects, which create conditions hostile to Central Valley Chinook salmon and other species.
During the 8-day period from May 16 though May 23, the federal pumps killed 4,241,089 Sacramento splittail and the state facilities took 157,349 fish. That’s a total of 4,400,073 splittail.
During the same 8-day period, the federal pumps killed 1935 threatened spring run Chinooks and the state facilities took 1,660 salmon. That’s a total of 3,595 spring Chinooks prevented from ever getting to the ocean.
The bill, backed by subsidized corporate agribusiness interests on the San Joaquin Valley’s west side, threatens to drive already imperiled fish species over the abyss of extinction.
This pumping continues despite the fact that reservoirs throughout the state are full, according to Baker. At the same time, export contractors have refused to pay for state-of-the-art fish screens at the pumps that were mandated under the CalFed Record of Decision.
“Nunes argues that federal endangered species protections have cost tens of thousands of jobs in impoverished San Joaquin Valley communities,” said Baker. “But research by Dr. Jeffrey Michael of the University of the Pacific’s Business Forecasting Center has shown conclusively that San Joaquin Valley job losses are lower than claimed and have been driven by the housing construction collapse.”
Unemployment in San Joaquin Valley communities like Mendota and Firebaugh has risen dramatically since water project deliveries for desert agriculture on drainage-impaired land began in the 1960s.
“These communities have been impoverished for decades regardless of how much water has been available,” said Restore the Delta’s Jane Wagner-Tyack. “Now their suffering is being used to justify actions that will destroy jobs in other parts of the state.”
Wagner-Tyack said that even with pumping restrictions to protect salmon and other species, average exports from the Delta are now similar to what they were in the 1980s and 1990s. Several years of dramatic increases in pumping during the past decade – from 2003 through 2006 – have driven some species of fish, including Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and Sacramento River spring-run and winter-run Chinook salmon, to the brink of extinction.
Millions of tax dollars have been spent on scientific reviews confirming the adverse effects of project over-pumping, she added.
The irony is that the Obama and Brown administrations, although they claim they will be more “inclusive and transparent” in continuing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), are still advocating Delta “conveyance” alternatives including a peripheral canal/tunnel, a Nineteenth Century approach to dealing with Twenty-First Century water and environmental issues.
Can we expect the state and federal governments to mitigate for future impacts to imperiled fish populations by the canal when they have not held the water contractors accountable for mitigation for the millions and millions of fish the pumps have killed over the years – and while they have failed to compel the contractors to pay for modern fish screens to protect fish?
“The contractors didn’t want to pay for the fish screens, so why would they pay to mitigate the canal?” asked Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta’s executive director.
Restore the Delta is a broad-based coalition including Delta farmers, environmentalists, fishermen, business leaders, and concerned citizens. Restore the Delta advocates for a more comprehensive and thoughtful approach to address the state’s water needs, including projects that safeguard the Bay, the Delta, the environment, and the people of California.
For more information, go to: http://www.restorethedelta.org. Take action to stop H.R. 1837 and save California salmon by going to the Center for Biological Diversity website, http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/action/alerts/
danbacher During the 8-day period from May 16 though May 23, the federal pumps killed 4,241,089 Sacramento splittail and the state facilities took 157,349 fish. That’s a total of 4,400,073 splittail.
Photo of adult Sacramento splittail courtesy of the California Department of Water Resources.
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By Dan Bacher
In spite of outrage by fishermen, Tribal members and grassroots environmentalists, state and federal officials continue to do nothing to stop the unprecedented massacre of Sacramento splittail and threatened Chinooks in the California Delta pumps.
The state and federal water project pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta continue to kill 400,000 to 600,000 imperiled Sacramento splittail and up to 700 threatened spring-run Chinook salmon each day. These fish are being destroyed to divert Delta water to subsidized corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water agencies.
During the 8-day period from May 16 though May 23, the federal pumps killed 4,241,089 Sacramento splittail and the state facilities took 157,349 fish. That’s a total of 4,400,073 splittail.
A native minnow species found only in the Delta and Central Valley, the Bush administration stripped “threatened” status from the fish under the Endangered Species Act in 2003 under pressure from a political appointee. In October 2010, the Obama administration denied a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity to again protect the fish, in spite of the species declining to barely detectable levels during the Department of Fish and Game’s fall surveys in recent years.
During the same 8-day period, the federal pumps killed 1935 threatened spring run Chinooks and the state facilities took 1,660 salmon. That’s a total of 3,595 spring Chinooks prevented from ever getting to the ocean.
The pumps have killed over 13,500 chinooks since the beginning of the year, with the take of both splittail and Chinooks accelerating over the past week.
The Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon population, after years of rising abundance due to the removal of dams and other habitat improvements on Butte Creek and other Sacramento River tributaries, has declined over the past few years also, due to the operation of the Delta export pumps and declining water quality. A total of 4,612 adult fish, including 1,661 hatchery fish and 2,951 natural spawners, returned to the system in 2010. In contrast, an estimated 21,319 natural spawners and 4,052 adult hatchery fish came back in 2005.
A friend of mine was recently cited by a game warden for the “offense” of allegedly throwing a cigarette butt into the water – a butt that he never tossed into the water. At the same time, DFG personnel, Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, DFG Director John McCamman and the Obama administration are presiding over the slaughter of millions of imperiled splittail and tens of thousands of spring run Chinook salmon with impunity!
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representatives claim that the killing of the big numbers of splittail in the pumps demonstrates that there were good spawning conditions for the species this year, due to high water conditions in the Sacramento River and Yolo Bypass.
However, Bill Jennings, executive director/chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, responded by saying, “The butchery continues – this is a massacre and they will take creme of the crop of this year’s spawn.”
“The DFG reported zero splittail in its fall 2010 midwater trawl survey. The state and federal governments are now sabotaging the rebound of the species this year,” Jennings stated.
At the same time, the state and federal contractors that are demanding ever-more water have refused to install state-of-the art fish screens in the state and federal pumps, as mandated under the CalFed Record of Decision to protect fish, Jennings emphasized.
The Brown and Obama administrations are engaging in the wholesale slaughter of millions of Sacramento splittail and tens of thousands of Sacramento River spring-run chinook salmon. Are they trying to exterminate these species so the path will be cleared to divert all of the water south to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies?
Urgent Action Alert!
What can you do to stop the massive fish kill in the state and federal pumps?
First, please contact John Laird, California Natural Resources Secretary, and demand that he take immediate action to stop the killing of millions of Sacramento splittail and thousands of threatened spring run Chinook salmon by the Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources!
His contact information is:
California Natural Resources Agency
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 653-5656
(916) 653-8102 fax
Email: secretary [at] resources.ca.gov
Second, mark Sunday, June 5 on your calendar to support the Winnemem Wintu Tribe’s dance for the salmon at Sogorea Te, Glen Cove, in Vallejo, where Native Americans are holding a spiritual encampment to stop the desecration of a native burial site by the Greater Valley Recreation District (GVRD). The Tribe has launched a campaign to restore endangered winter run Chinook Salmon to the McCloud River above Shasta.
“Salmon need the splittail to survive in the Estuary,” said Caleen Sisk-Franco, chief and spiritual leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “The Estuary is necessary for the survival of Chinook. The Chinook are necessary for the water to be drinkable, and for the People. Climate change will come in to balance once we follow the salmon runs. This is why the Winnemem will dance for the salmon and the Estuary on June 5th at Glen Clove in Vallejo!”
For more information and directions to Glen Cove, go to: http://protectglencove.org.
Third, please write a letter to stop Legislation by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) aimed at gutting protections in the Bay-Delta Estuary and blocking the restoration of the San Joaquin River. Send your letter by going to the Center for Biological Diversity website, http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/action/alerts/.
danbacher The Delta pumps killed over 1.9 million native Sacramento splittail in just the three-day period from May 16 through 18. Over the five-day period including May 19 and 20, a horrifying 2,882,046 splittail were killed!
Photo of adult splittail courtesy of University of California, Davis.
640_sacramento_splittail_…
By Dan Bacher
The state and federal water project pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River continue to kill hundreds of thousands of imperiled Sacramento splittail and hundreds of threatened spring run chinook salmon every day.
Natural Resources Secretary John Laird and the Department of Fish and Game have failed to take action to stop the unprecedented carnage caused by the export of Delta water to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water agencies. Meanwhile, state and federal governments continue to go forward with the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal/tunnel.
The federal Central Valley Project pumps killed 470,532 Sacramento splittail, a native minnow species found only in the Delta and Central Valley. The State Water Project facilities killed 34,456 splittail on Thursday, May 19, according to data available from the DFG website. (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/delta/data/salvage/)
On May 20, the federal pumps entrained 475,532 splittail and the state pumps killed 11,708 splittail.
Both the state and federal facilities continue to massacre Central Valley spring-run chinook salmon, a species listed as “threatened” under the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.
The federal facilities killed 96 spring salmon and the state pumps destroyed 60 salmon on May 19. The federal facilities slaughtered 172 Chinooks and the state pumps killed 4 Chinooks on May 20.
The Delta pumps killed over 1.9 million splittail in just the three-day period from May 16 through 18. Over the five-day period including May 19 and 20, a horrifying 2,882,046 splittail were killed!
The pumps have killed over 11,000 Chinooks since the beginning of the year.
When are federal and state officials going to take action to stop this unprecedented carnage on the Delta?
There are three things that you can do to take action to stop the massacre:
First, please contact John Laird, California Natural Resources Secretary, and demand that he take immediate action to stop the killing of millions of Sacramento splittail and thousands of threatened spring run Chinook salmon by the Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources!
Contact him at:
California Natural Resources Agency
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 653-5656
(916) 653-8102 fax
Email: secretary [at] resources.ca.gov
Second, mark Sunday, June 5 on your calendar to support the Winnemem Wintu Tribe’s dance for the salmon at Sogorea Te, Glen Cove, in Vallejo, where Native Americans are holding a spiritual encampment to stop the desecration of a native burial site by the Greater Vallejo Recreation District (GVRD). TheTribe has launched a campaign to restore endangered winter run Chinook Salmon to the McCloud River above Shasta.
“Salmon need the splittail to survive in the Estuary,” said Caleen Sisk-Franco, chief and spiritual leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “The Estuary is necessary for the survival of Chinook. The Chinook are necessary for the water to be drinkable, and for the People. Climate change will come in to balance once we follow the salmon runs. This is why the Winnemem will dance for the salmon and the Estuary on June 5th at Glen Clove in Vallejo!”
For more information and directions to Glen Cove, go to: http://protectglencove.org.
Third, please write a letter to stop legislation by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) aimed at gutting protections in the Bay-Delta Estuary and blocking the restoration of the San Joaquin River. Send your letter by going to the Center for Biological Diversity website, http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/action/alerts/.
For more information, go to: http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/05/20
danbacher Please contact John Laird, California Natural Resources Secretary, and demand that he take immediate action to stop the killing of millions of Sacramento splittail and thousands of threatened spring run Chinook salmon by the Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources!
Photo of adult splittail courtesy of the California Department of Water Resources.
640_800px-splittail.jpg
by Dan Bacher
The carnage of imperiled native fish continues to accelerate in the state and federal water project pumps on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
These massive pumps deliver subsidized water to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water agencies.
On May 18, the federal Central Valley project pumps took 792,730 Sacramento splittail, an imperiled native minnow found only in the Central Valley and Delta. The State Water Project took 20,268 splittail the same day. (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/delta/data/salvage/)
In just three days – from May 16 through May 18 – the federal pumping facilities killed 1,864,659 fish. The federal pumps took 546,668 splittail on May 16 and 525,261 splittail on May 17.
During the same three-day period, the State Water Project pumps took 36,011 splittail, with 10,028 entrained on May 16 and 5,355 on May 17.
The combined total for the federal and state pumps for the three day period is 1,900,670 splittail!
The federal and state pumps also continue to kill hundreds of threatened spring run Chinook salmon every day. The total carnage adds up to over 11,000 Chinook since the beginning of the year.
The federal pumps killed 256 Chinooks and the state facilities took 546 salmon on May 16. The federal pumps entrained 424 spring Chinooks and the state pumps took 140 Chinooks on May 17. Finally, the federal pumps entrained 199 salmon and the state facilities took 178 fish on May 18.
Representatives of fishing and environmental groups and California Indian Tribes reacted with outrage to the news of the increased take of Sacramento splittail and continued killing of threatened spring run Chinook salmon in the Delta pumps.
“Obviously, the juvenile splittail are near the pumps now and are getting massacred,” said Jeff Miller, Conservation Advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity. “Splittail respond well to wet water years, so we got a lot of reproduction this year. The question is whether the fish will survive to breeding age.”
Miller said it was unacceptable for the pumps to kill so many fish. “It is presumed that all of these fish will die, although they call their removal of the fish from the pumping facilities ’salvage.’ These are fish are either dead already or at the point where they’re not going to make it.”
“What good does it do for the government to sponsor programs, funded with millions of dollars, to restore endangered species when the simplest of acts, shutting down the pumps, would do so much for the preservation of endangered species and those other fish that rely on the endangered species for their survival,” said Mark Franco, Headman of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.
John Beuttler, Conservation Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) noted that the state and federal governments don’t mitigate for the splittail, salmon and most of the other fish they kill.
“They have done mitigation over the past several decades for the ESTIMATED losses of salmon, steelhead, and striped bass, but even those losses are just modeling estimates which are about as good as the assumptions used to design the model” said Beuttler.
“These bandits should be officially investigated and the findings presented to the public,” explained Beuttler, “given the significant losses the projects cause to anadromous and other native fish and the fact that the mitigation has not worked to kept these populations from crashing. The entrainment models they used need to be scientifically checked against what is really killed. Instead, the water projects ride roughshod over the ‘facts.’”
To top it off, the State Water Project has failed to properly honor and implement their mitigation agreement with the DFG, according to Beuttler.
At the same time, the state and federal contractors that are demanding ever-more water have refused to install state-of-the art fish screens in the state and federal pumps, as mandated under the CalFed Record of Decision to protect fish, emphasized Bill Jennings, Executive Director/Chairman of CSPA.
What Can You Do?
Please contact John Laird, California Natural Resources Secretary, and demand that he take immediate action to stop the killing of millions of Sacramento splittail and thousands of threatened spring run Chinook salmon by the Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources!
Here is his contact information:
California Natural Resources Agency
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 653-5656
(916) 653-8102 fax
Email: secretary [at] resources.ca.gov
Also, please help Central Valley Chinook salmon and Sacramento splittail by writing a letter to stop Legislation by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) aimed at gutting protections in the Bay-Delta Estuary and blocking the restoration of the San Joaquin River. Send your letter by going to the Center for Biological Diversity website, http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/action/alerts/.
Background:
Central Valley spring-run Chinook were listed as threatened under both the state and federal Endangered Species Acts in 1999. Only three of 17 original wild spring-run Chinook populations remain in the Central Valley, and numbers of spawning adult salmon are down to as low as 500 wild fish in some years.
The Sacramento splittail was listed as a threatened species, but then delisted in 2003 during a political scandal under the Bush administration.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration, forced by a Center for biological diversity lawsuit to revisit the tainted Bush era decision to strip Endangered Species Act protection for the fish, issued the inexplicable determination that listing this critically imperiled species was not warranted in October 2010.
The Department of Fish and Game fall mid-water trawl surveys have documented dramatically declining numbers of Sacramento splittail since 2002 and barely detectable numbers in the past few years.
danbacher “We’re asking everyone to join us in vocal opposition to this new effort to open leasing for offshore oil and gas drilling off the California coast next year,” said John and Barbara Stephens-Lewallen. “As edible seaweed harvesters, it is our duty to defend the rich, clean ocean waters of Northern California as a source of health-giving food for present and future generations.
by Dan Bacher
On May 12, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to open leasing for offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters off the California coast in 2012, according to John and Barbara Stephens-Lewallen, North Coast environmental leaders and sustainable seaweed harvesters.
HR 1231, which was approved by a 243-179 vote, requires the Interior Secretary to “make available for leasing any Outer Continental Shelf planning areas that: are estimated to contain more than 2,500,000,000 barrels of oil; or are estimated to contain more than 7,500,000,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas.”
This provision, if passed by the Senate and approved by the President, would require lease sales in planning areas off the California Coast, including the Point Arena Basin planning area off the Mendocino Coast in Northern California.
“We’re asking everyone to join us in vocal opposition to this new effort to open leasing for offshore oil and gas drilling off the California coast next year,” said John and Barbara Stephens-Lewallen of Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company. “As edible seaweed harvesters, it is our duty to defend the rich, clean ocean waters of Northern California as a source of health-giving food for present and future generations.
The Stephens-Lewallens are among the fiercest opponents of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative. John was the one who exposed the alarming fact that Catherine Reheis-Boyd, a member of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the North Central Coast, was a big oil lobbyist for the Western States Petroleum Association, a blatant conflict of interest, during the annual fisheries forum at the State Capitol in March 2009.
Reheis-Boyd, a strong advocate of new offshore oil drilling off the California coast, became the president of the Western States Petroleum Association in August 2009. She also became chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast, as well as “serving” on the North Coast Task Forces.
The MLPA Initiative, privatized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, eviscerated the Marine Life Protection Act, a historic law that Governor Gray Davis signed in 1999. The initiative fails to protect the ocean from oil drilling and spills, water pollution, military testing, wave energy projects, habitat destruction and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
Stephens-Lewallen, co-founder of the Ocean Protection Coalition and the grassroots Seaweed Rebellion, has been a staunch opponent of offshore oil drilling for decades. He said that the MLPA Initiative not only fails to protect the California Coast from offshore oil drilling, but “paves the way for new offshore oil rigs.”
“The MLPAI divides coastal communities so we’re fighting against each over fisheries closures whereas we should working together to phase out offshore drilling and to put in place a massive conversion to sustainable energy,” emphasized Stephens-Lewallen. “The people running the process, privately funded by the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, are interested in procuring ports and eliminating food providers so they can industrialize the ocean.”
“The corporate interests have allied with some preservationists in following a bogus theory of ecosystem management that says that people should be eliminated from the ocean ecosystem,” noted Stephens-Lewallen. “This paves the way for offshore drilling, since many of these preservationist organizations secure their funding from the ocean industrialists through the big foundations.”
Stephens-Lewallen questions whether the placement of these marine reserves has been designed to facilitate the development of offshore oil in the Point Arena Basin in Mendocino County. This is one of the areas the oil industry is most interested in exploring for oil – and is one of the greatest marine ecosystems, sustained by upwelling, on the West Coast.
“In March 2010, Reheis-Boyd assured the Fort Bragg City Council that setting up marine reserves had nothing to do with opening offshore oil drilling up,” he said. “But at same time, Reheis-Boyd and other members of the task force toured port facilities at the Albion and Noyo harbors where we suspect the oil industry could eventually install onshore facilities to be used in tandem with offshore rigs. The North Coast Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) seem designed to eliminate the fishing industry in the Point Arena area, since they bracket the harbor.”
danbacher The Bureau of Reclamation “salvage” report on May 17 recorded 525,260 splittail entrained in the federal Central Valley project pumps and 5,355 in the State Water Project pumps.
Photo of adult Sacramento splittail courtesy of California Department of Water Resources.
by Dan Bacher
For the second day in a row, the state and federal water project pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have taken over 500,000 Sacramento splittail, a native minnow species found only in the Central Valley and Delta.
The Bureau of Reclamation “salvage” report on May 17 recorded 525,260 splittail entrained in the federal Central Valley Project pumps and 5,355 in the State Water Project pumps (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/delta/data/salvage/).
On the same day, the agency counted 424 spring run chinook salmon in the federal pumps and 140 in the state facilities.
On May 16, the “salvage” report counted 546,668 Sacramento splittail taken at the CVP pumps and 10,028 splittail at the State Water Project pumps The agency reported 256 chinook salmon at the federal pumps and 546 salmon at the state pumps in the South Delta the same day.
Over 1 million imperiled Sacramento splittail have been taken over the past two days and over 11,000 threatened Sacramento River spring-run chinook have perished in the “death pumps” of the California Delta since the beginning of the year. The pumps divert water from the Delta, the largest and most significant estuary on the West Coast of the Americas, to irrigate drainage-impaired land operated by agribusiness corporations on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and to supply Southern California water agencies.
The alarming news comes amidst fierce debate over federal legislation, sponsored by Congressional supporters of subsidized agribusiness corporations in the San Joaquin Valley, that would exempt export pumping to agribusiness and southern California water agencies from Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for salmon and other fish.
“State and federal water-project pumps are pushing already-struggling salmon and native fish populations closer to extinction while Republican lawmakers are introducing legislation to eliminate environmental protections for the devastated Bay-Delta ecosystem and block restoration efforts on the San Joaquin River,” said Jeff Miller, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Excessive pumping and the highest-ever water diversions from the Delta the past decade have devastated Central Valley fish populations, including commercially valuable salmon.”
Leaders of the Winnemem Wintu, a northern California tribe that has launched a campaign to restore endangered winter run chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Shasta, were outraged by the huge numbers of salmon and splittail killed by the Delta pumps.
“Will they call this an act of nature like they do to explain man’s stupid actions?,” commented Mark Franco, headman of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “How are the salmon to survive moving through the Delta when this happens at the pumps? What a waste!”
“Salmon need the splittail to survive in the Estuary,” said Caleen Sisk-Franco, chief and spiritual leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “The Estuary is necessary for the survival of Chinook. The Chinook are necessary for the water to be drinkable and for the People. Climate change will come in to balance once we follow the salmon runs. This is why the Winnemem will dance for the salmon and Estuary on June 5th at Glen Clove in Vallejo!”
Glen Cove is a sacred gathering place and burial ground that has been utilized by numerous Native American tribes since at least 1,500 BC. A group of Native Americans and their allies is currently holding a spiritual encampment at the burial site to stop the Greater Vallejo Recreation District from desecrating the site by developing it as a park. For more information, go to: http://www.protectglencove.org.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and agribusiness representatives claim there is no cause for alarm over the huge take of splittail in the Delta pumps, since the numbers show that the population is booming in this high water year.
“Research has shown no evidence that south Delta water export operations have had a significant effect on splittail abundance, even though fish collection facilities can capture a large number of fish (up to 5.5 million) during wet years, when spawning on the San Joaquin River and other floodplains results in a spike in population numbers,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service claimed in a press release in October 2010, when the agency denied a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity to list the splittail for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). “The number of splittail captured by these facilities drops during dry years when recruitment is low (1,300 in 2007; about 5,000 in 2008) and the splittail is most vulnerable.”
However, Bill Jennings, executive director/chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, disagrees strongly with the federal government’s contention that the water export pumps don’t have a “significant effect” on the abundance of splittail and other species.
“So we have a wet year where we can hopefully rebuild the fish populations and what happens?” said Jennings. “The massacre resumes. These fish are dying because they never constructed the state of the art fish screens required by the CalFed Record of Decision. The pumps are an equal opportunity execution platform – they don’t care what they kill.”
Jennings also noted that the take of splittail, salmon and other imperiled species reported in the “salvage” operation is just a fraction of the total species slaughtered every year by the operation of the state and federal pumping projects.
For more information, go to: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/05/17/18679924.php
danbacher Arnold Schwarzenegger, the worst Governor in California history, was shamelessly praised as the “Green Governor” by corporate “environmental” NGOS and political hacks for his support of corporate greenwashing efforts.
Photo: Governor Schwarzenegger receiving the 2010 “Green Governor” of the Year Award from the “Beautiful Earth” group on December 9, 2010. From left to right: Beautiful Earth Group President and Chief Executive Officer Lex Heslin, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Opportunity Green Co-founder Karen Solomon and Americas Region of Beautiful Earth Group Director Michael Clayton. Photo by Justin Short, Office of the Governor.
governor_greenwash.jpg
by Dan Bacher
As an authentic investigative journalist, one who had the courage and integrity to expose Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s war on fish, fishermen and Tribes, I must say to the mainstream media, “I could have told you so,” in reference to the “relevation” that Schwarzenegger fathered a “love child.”
The Los Angeles Times reported on May 17 that the former California governor admitted to Maria Shriver, his wife, that he’d fathered a child with the woman, who had worked for the family for 20 years. Schwarzenegger’s admission to fathering a child with a household staff member resulted in his separation from Shriver.
“After leaving the governor’s office, I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago,” Schwarzenegger claimed in a statement. “I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry.”
I bet Schwarzenegger is really “sorry” – as “sorry” as he was for his unprecedented campaign against the state’s fish, fishermen and Indian Tribes!
Schwarzenegger, the worst Governor in California history, was shamelessly praised as the “Green Governor” by corporate “environmental” NGOS and political hacks for his support of corporate greenwashing efforts. The worst example of this pandering took place on April, 14, 2010, when Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper, honored Schwarzenegger for his “environmental advocacy” at the “Riverkeeper’s Annual Fishermen’s Ball” at Pier Sixty on the Hudson River in New York City (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/04/14/18644697.php).
Kennedy bestowed the award upon Schwarzenegger in spite of nationwide outrage by fishermen and environmentalists over honoring such an undeserving politician for his “environmental advocacy.” Three courageous environmental activists including Robert Jereski were arrested for protesting at the event.
As corporate environmentalists and the media were praising Schwarzenegger for being the “Green Governor,” the Austrian-born politician was screwing fish, fishermen, Tribes, the environment and all Californians. In reality, Schwarzenegger is a creature with no ethics or concern for other human beings or the environment.
He left a trail of destruction in his wake, ranging from his corrupt plans to build the peripheral canal and his privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative fiasco, to the destruction of the state’s economy, to his collapsed marriage. Covering up the fact that he had a child with a staffer until now is just one example of a mountain of examples of his complete and total lack of integrity and ethics.
Schwarzenegger’s real environmental legacy is much different from how Schwarzenegger and his collaborators portray it. What was his actual environmental record?
• Schwarzenegger allowed the Department of Water Resources to pump record levels of water out of the Delta from 2003 to 2007, resulting in the Central Valley salmon and California Delta pelagic species collapses.The largest annual water export levels in history occurred in 2003 (6.3 million acre feet), 2004 (6.1 MAF), 2005 (6.5 MAF) and 2006 (6.3 MAF). Exports averaged 4.6 MAF annually between 1990 and 1999 and increasing to an average of 6 MAF between 2000 and 2007, a rise of almost 30 percent, according to the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
• He constantly attacked two federal biological opinions, released in 2009, protecting Delta smelt, Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whales.
• His administration did nothing while tens of thousands of striped bass, Sacramento blackfish, Sacramento splittail and other species perished during a levee repair project at Prospect Island in the California Delta in November 2007.
• He vetoed numerous environmental bills, including vetoing a badly needed bill sponsored by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) in 2008 that would provide for emergency fish rescue plans on the Delta.
• He consistently slashed funding for game wardens in the field while California has the lowest ratio of wardens to residents of any state in the nation.
• He constantly directed the Central Valley Regional Water Control Board to continue to grant waivers to agricultural polluters, in spite of the dire condition of Delta fisheries.
• Since 2004, he fast-tracked a controversial, privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative filled with conflicts of interest, institutional racism and corruption. Rather than creating marine protected areas that truly protect the ocean, this initiative kicks sustainable fishermen and gatherers off the water while refusing to deal with pollution, coastal development, military testing, wave energy projects and other human uses of the ocean that imperil marine life and ecosystems.
• As Schwarzenegger fast-tracked the privately-funded MLPA fiasco, he twice vetoed two crab pot limit bills needed to preserve California crab fisheries.
• Schwarzenegger introduced a bill that would allow the lame-duck Governor to choose 25 development projects each year that would be exempt from the state’s strict standards under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (http://www.ecovote.org/blog/?p=1674).
• The Governor’s Office of Pesticide Regulation on December 1, 2010 inexplicably approved methyl iodide to replace the soil fumigant methyl bromide, even though methyl iodide is even more toxic to animals, fish and people than methyl bromide (http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/04/3231811/inexplicably-state-approves-new.html).
However, the “crown jewel” of Schwarzenegger’s water policies was his campaign to build a peripheral canal/canal and new dams through his Delta Vision and Bay Delta Conservation Plan processes. This construction of a canal/tunnel, estimated to cost anywhere from $23 to $53.8 billion, is likely to lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other species.
In his zeal to build the canal, Schwarzenegger attempted to sabotage the campaign by the Klamath, Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes, fishermen and environmentalists to remove four Klamath River dams by including $250 million for dam removal in an unpopular water bond that creates the infrastructure for a peripheral canal and new dams. Because it would have faced certain defeat at the polls last November, Schwarzenegger and the Legislative leadership postponed the water bond until November 2012.
In addition, the Schwarzenegger administration granted agribusiness permits to divert water from the Scott and Shasta rivers, resulting in the de-watering of these Klamath River tributaries at tremendous risk to endangered coho salmon. Schwarzenegger’s “scorched earth” policy towards the Scott and Shasta forced Earthjustice to file a lawsuit against the Department of Fish and Game on behalf of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Klamath Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club, the Quartz Valley Indian Tribe, Northcoast Environmental Center and Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC).
While his record regarding fishery and water issues is arguably the worst of any Governor in California history, Schwarzenegger’s portrayal by the corporate media and corporate environmental NGOs as a relentless advocate for “clean energy” is also very deceptive. Former Senator Sheila Kuel eloquently exposed the myth of the “Jolly Green Giant” in her article, “A Lame Duck Governor Fabricates A Hoped-For Legacy,” in the California Progress Report on July 29 (http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/8010).
Where was the corporate media that is now so eager to talk about Schwarzenegger’s “love child” scandal when Schwarzenegger’s was waging his “scorched earth campaign” against fish and the environment?
The good news is that Schwarzenegger is gone from the Governor’s office. The bad news is the terrible legacy that he left – the collapse of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River spring and winter run chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail and other fish populations, his many horrible appointments to state boards and commissions, and his consistent failure to enforce the state’s clean water, fish restoration and other environmental laws.
While some are suggesting that Schwarzenegger, the former “Governator,” has become the “Sperminator,” he will always be the “Fish Terminator” and “Governor Greenwash” to me!
