danbacher Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) yesterday filed his bill, S. 230, that would make it illegal to ship, transport, sell, or purchase GE salmon in interstate or foreign commerce.
geneticallyengineeredsalm…
by Dan Bacher
Senator Dianne Feinstein has just signed on to S. 230, legislation sponsored by Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) that would ban genetically engineered (GE) salmon.
“Her commitment to a full ban on this risky fish is a huge step forward,” said Marie Logan of Food & Water Watch.
Feinstein’s support of the bill is the result of Food & Watch Watch, SalmonAid and many other groups making calls and sending emails to the Senator’s office urging her to sign on to S. 230.
Senator Begich yesterday filed his bill, S. 230, that would make it illegal to ship, transport, sell, or purchase GE salmon in interstate or foreign commerce.
Meanwhile, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) offered an amendment to the 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill that would prohibit the Food and Drug Administration from using funding to approve the application—a move that builds upon the similar Young-Woolsey amendment in the House, and would essentially block the approval process.
“We applaud Alaska’s Senators for stepping up to the plate to protect our nation’s natural resources while preserving jobs for their constituents,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. “Once again the FDA is looking out for the interests of the biotech industry over consumers and the environment. We hope other members of Congress resist the biotech industry’s lobbying and tell the FDA to do its job, not approve unwanted or untested science experiments.”
Begich’s bill, the Prevention of Escapement of Genetically Altered Salmon in the United States (PEGASUS) Act, would effectively ban the interstate commerce of all future genetically engineered marine fish. It would also make it illegal to possess such fish with the intent of shipping, transporting or selling it, and violations would be enforced and subject to penalties under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
“The damaging impacts of other invasive species released into the environment are well known,” said Begich, who is also Chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and the Coast Guard, in a statement released yesterday.
“While the manufacturer maintains its fish will be raised in closed rearing facilities, opportunities for escape exist through water circulation, handling accidents or unauthorized releases,” Begich explained.
“Proponents publicly discussed opportunities for marketing GE salmon live during a Congressional staff briefing this year. While proponents maintain the fish will not be able to interbreed with wild stocks, it is reported a small fraction will not be sterile. Unintended genetic contamination from GE crops is well documented; it’s not reasonable to think it can’t happen here,” he emphasized.
Senator Murkowski, who also co-sponsored PEGASUS, is Chair of the Oceans Caucus and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“The Frankenfish issue still has far more questions than answers, starting with the FDA’s process for approving an animal product intended for human consumption is considered by some to be insufficient,” she said in a statement yesterday. “The tests have come under attack from scientific groups, including the FDA’s own Veterinary Medical Advisory Committee.”
“There is just too much at risk here,” continued Begich. “The public has expressed serious concerns about the introduction of Frankenfish into the nation’s food supply including potential threats to the environment and public health, and economic impacts on producers of sustainable wild salmon. There are concerns about the transparency of the FDA’s review process and whether the consumer’s ‘right to know’ is being ignored. Some, frankly, just aren’t comfortable with the idea the government thinks it can improve on nature by genetically altering Alaska wild salmon.”
At this point, California’s other Senator, Barbara Boxer, is not supporting either the “ban” or the “labeling” legislation.
We need to ramp up the pressure and make sure she knows that she’s the “odd one out” in California. Make a quick call to her offices by dialing 202-609-9041.
Or you can go here to make a call to Senator Boxer: http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8412
The Obama administration fast-tracking of the approval of GE salmon, “Frankenfish,” takes place as California salmon fisheries are just recovering from the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley chinook salmon populations in 2008 and 2009. Salmon advocates point to a combination of record water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, declining water quality and poor ocean conditions as the factors behind the collapse.
Meawhile, the Brown and Obama administrations are pushing forward with the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal to export more Delta water to agribusiness and southern California. If constructed, the controversial peripheral canal would likely lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other species.
For more information about genetically engineered salmon, go to: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org
danbacher A California Superior Court in San Diego on October 17 ruled in favor of the California Fish and Game Commission’s decision to implement marine protected areas on the North Central Coast under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative – and against Coastside Fishing Club’s petition challenging the controversial marine reserves.
This decision was preceded by three court victories for the club, United Anglers of Southern California and Bob Fletcher. “This decision was disappointing, but not unexpected, since this decision supported the judge’s tentative ruling,” said Bob Fletcher, a plaintiff in the multi-tiered litigation.
Lawyers for the fishing groups argued that the state required a development permit from the Coastal Commission to create the reserves, but the judge in his tentative ruling said the permit wasn’t required, since it fell within an exemption under the Coastal Act.
Judge Ronald Prager wrote in the tentative ruling, “The designation of MPAs falls within an exemption in the Coastal Act for ‘establishment and control of wildlife and fishery programs.’ (Pub. Resources Code §30411(a).) Under this statute, the Coastal Commission is statutorily obligated to defer to Respondent where the MPA is concerned. Living marine resources fall within the definition of wildlife. Thus, no permit was required by statute.”
Fletcher said fishing groups are considering an appeal of Prager’s decision and are focusing on the final stages of the South Coast MLPA process.
The lawsuit regarding the South Coast regulations is still proceeding forward. In the case of the South Coast regulations, the lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that there have been numerous violations of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in the Commission’s environmental review of the regulations.
On October 3, the Fish and Game Commission opened a 15-day public comment period for revised proposed regulations for the South Coast “marine protected areas” (MPAs) developed under the MLPA Initiative.
Revisions were made because the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) rejected the regulatory package previously provided by the commission.
In a 9 page ruling on September 2, the OAL disapproved the regulatory package for “the failure to comply with notice requirements for modification of the regulatory text; failure to comply with the ‘Necessity’ standard of Government Code section 11349; failure to include all relied upon documents in the rulemaking file; failure to provide the reasons for rejecting alternatives that were considered; and failure to adequately respond to all of the public comments made regarding the proposed action.”
The regulations were developed in a process privately funded by the Resources Legacy Foundation and overseen by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast. The task force included an oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and others with numerous conflicts of interest. In fact, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and an advocate of new oil drilling off the California coast, chaired the task force.
Written comments regarding the revised marine protected area regulations must be received in the Fish and Game Commission office by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, October 18, 2011.
People may also attend the October 19, 2011 hearing in Monterey and offer testimony. The continuation notice, including an updated informative digest, and the modified proposed regulatory language are posted at: http://www.fgc.ca.gov/regulations/2010/#632sc.
During its September meeting, the commission outlined a proposed timeline to re-notice and finalize the South Coast MLPA regulations, resubmit them to OAL, and seek an anticipated effective date of January 1, 2012.
I will post more information on this ruling and its implications as I receive it.
danbacher Chinook salmon counts on the Mokelumne River are way up, with some daily counts at or near all-time records. This is largely due to a ten-day closure of the Delta Cross Channel Gates from October 4th to the 14th. When open, the gates have historically interfered with salmon migration.
Photo of the Delta Cross Channel Gates courtesy of the Golden Gate Salmon Association.
For Immediate Release: October 17, 2011
Contact:
Victor Gonella, Golden Gate Salmon Association, 707-762-2300
Dick Pool, Golden Gate Salmon Association, 925-963-6350
Zeke Grader, Golden Gate Salmon Association, 415-606-5140
GGSA Welcomes Early Indicators of Salmon Recovery
More Delta flows paying off, salmon-industry jobs revived
Petaluma, CA – The Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) is welcoming strong early indicators that federal salmon rebuilding plans are starting to succeed.
This year has seen better salmon runs and the revival of thousands of jobs that depend on an abundant salmon fishery. Federal Delta protections are helping not only salmon, but also other fish dependent on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Salmon industry representatives stressed that salmon runs still have a long way to go before the industry can maintain the thousands of family-wage jobs, millions of pounds of seafood production, and world-class recreational opportunities it traditionally provided until a few years ago.
Thanks to rebounding fall chinook salmon numbers, this year has seen a modest salmon season in California, and a poor salmon season in Oregon. Fishing communities in both states are dependent on Central Valley salmon runs.
Fishing businesses and families have suffered through three previous years of devastating fishing closures due to a
salmon population crash driven largely by over diversion of Delta water to agribusiness in the San Joaquin Valley and other water users.
Positive signs this year include:
• Good salmon returns to the Mokelumne River. Chinook salmon counts on the Mokelumne River are way up, with some daily counts at or near all-time records. This is largely due to a ten-day closure of Delta diversion gates from October 4th to the 14th. When open, the gates have historically interfered with salmon migration.
• Salmon counts in the Feather River, the Sacramento River’s largest tributary, have already surpassed last year.
• The state’s Delta smelt fall trawl survey showed a welcome uptick in the highly endangered Delta smelt population, indicating that better water management may have slowed or halted the Delta-estuary ecosystem’s rapid decline.
“In the middle of the economic recession facing the whole nation, we’ve got many of our salmon industry jobs back this year, and for that we’re thankful this year,” said Golden Gate Salmon Association President Victor Gonella.
The improvements seen this year are largely the result of several factors including key court rulings in 2008 and 2009 won by Earthjustice and Natural Resources Defense Council attorneys representing GGSA member group Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), as well as other salmon advocates.
After driving the Delta and fish species to collapse by taking too much water, water managers were forced under court order to reduce their diversions. In 2009 and 2010, new and improved federal rules limiting diversions took the place of the court orders and will hopefully prevent the wholesale massacre of salmon and Delta fish that took place during the last decade. Water users in the San Joaquin Valley and elsewhere who covet the water needed by salmon to thrive have attacked these improved federal protections.
“These science-based, common-sense Delta protections are starting to work,” said GGSA director and Pro Troll tackle owner Dick Pool. “It’s absolutely vital that we keep these protections in place to allow the rebuilding of our salmon runs and the return of the tens of thousands of jobs our industry supports.”
In the Mokelumne River, managers have counted more than 3,300 chinook at the Woodbridge Dam, up from 946 in 2010. The ten-day closing of the diversionary Cross Channel Gates is a main reason these salmon can successfully find their way home this year. The closure comes after three years of tireless lobbying by GGSA director Dick Pool.
Since counting began in the Feather River on September 1, salmon numbers already outpace the 45,000 counted for all of 2010. By comparison, in 2008 and 2009 the count came in at about 6,000 and 5,000 respectively.
Returning 2008 and 2009 year class fish faced hostile freshwater diversion rates in the Delta in 2006 and 2007 when
they tried to navigate to sea. Many died in the Delta as a result.
“These Delta protections are partly about the timing of pumping and partly about the volume of water going south,” said GGSA director and PCFFA executive director Zeke Grader. “One critical issue for salmon fishermen is, if the pumps run too high during the outmigration of young salmon in the late winter and spring, the little fish just get hammered. At other times of the year when salmon are not present, pumping restrictions are not as critical for salmon survival.”
Trucking of fish from Central Valley hatcheries to release sites safely west of the deadly influence of the Delta pumps also helped restore the salmon numbers seen this year.
Even with protections in place, millions of native fish have been killed in the deadly Delta pumps in 2011.
“Even with the current federal protections in place, attempts to seize Delta water by water users south of the Delta continue to threaten the salmon we need to make a living,” said GGSA director and charter boat captain Roger Thomas. “We’ve only reduced, not eliminated, the damage caused by the Delta pumps. As long as the pumps interfere with the natural flows of the bay and Delta we’ll need to continue physically transporting hatchery juvenile salmon in tanker trucks.”
danbacher “Again, it was an overwhelmingly display of City Police might – at least 65 officers and 40 police vehicles were used to overwhelm 19 nonviolent and peaceful demonstrators, which included one person in a wheelchair and another who had to be transported to a local hospital because he was on a hunger strike,” according to Arya Rashid of Occupy Sacramento.
Photo of Kevin Carter (with megaphone) by Dan Bacher. “We want to stop the wars abroad,” said Carter of Occupy Sacramento. “But if we want to stop the wars overseas, we have to stop the warfare against us here in Sacramento.”
by Dan Bacher
In a continuing wave of police repression against peaceful protesters, Sacramento police officers arrested and jailed nineteen people, including anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan, early Sunday morning at Cesar Chavez Park, located across from City Hall.
Sheehan and the rest of the protesters were not released until about 1:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Occupy Sacramento has occupied the park since October 6 and Saturday was the 10th day of the occupation. There have 58 arrests at the park since October 6.
“Again, it was an overwhelmingly display of City Police might – at least 65 officers and 40 police vehicles were used to overwhelm 19 nonviolent and peaceful demonstrators, which included one person in a wheelchair and another who had to be transported to a local hospital because he was on a hunger strike,” according to Arya Rashid of Occupy Sacramento.
All were charged with “unlawful assembly,” penal code section 409, a misdemeanor. The violation of the First Amendment and the U.S. Constitution by the City of Sacramento’s unprecedented wave of arrests has outraged people from throughout the city, state and nation.
On Saturday afternoon, a diverse group of more than 600 people marched through the Sacramento financial district and held a 2 hour rally at the Capitol in concert with more than 1,000 Occupy protests all across the country.
Speakers at the rally at the Capitol spoke passionately about the direct connection between the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the war at home by Wall Street and the politicians they control against the 99 percent.
Kevin Carter: stop the war overseas and here at home
“We want to stop the wars abroad,” said Kevin Carter of Occupy Sacramento. “But if we want to stop the wars overseas, we have to stop the warfare against us here in Sacramento. We are talking about the lobbyists, special interests and politicians who are working against the interests of the people. When it comes to the people, every year we have to fight for the state budget.”
He emphasized, “We are not a Republican, Democrat, or Tea Party movement, but are a genuine people’s movement. We need not to just occupy the park, but must occupy a lot of state offices, including the offices of the Secretary of State, Transportation and Dpeartment of Education.”
He noted how the gains of the civil rights movement are being attacked by the 1 percent that control the country. “In 1965, the Civil Rights Bill that Medgar Evans died for was passed. Those civil rights are for everybody. We cannnot allow those rights to be taken away as the 1 percent try to keep us in economic slavery.”
In a similar note, Cindy Sheehan said in a speech before the march, “The economic and social justice we seek cannot be achieved without complete and unconditional peace.”
Cindy Sheehan decries ‘partisan political hackery’
She blasted both Democratic and Republican Party political leaders for their subservience to Wall Street and the corporations.
“This movement should not allow itself to be co-opted by partisan political hackery,” she emphasized. “If Obama or Democrats were the answer, then, guess what? We wouldn’t be here today. The wars would be over; the 99% would have single-payer health care, housing, education, a sustainable energy policy, and meaningful jobs with a livable wage as RIGHTS not PRIVILEGES for the 1%.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Republicans in power either—I want US in power,” she continued. “Just like we are today, but I want we the people calling the shots in a meaningful way that changes corrupt and harmful policies, and that will take not only going out of the parks and into the streets like we are today, but staying there and taking breaks to strategize about the society we want to build: One where the resources of our country are used to guarantee basic human rights to EVERYONE, not just the one-percenters.”
Sheehan concluded, “We care about ourselves and we care about each other, the Robber Class doesn’t. Take care of yourselves and take care of each other and the way to make true change that works for everyone is by keeping power in our hands; whether it’s in our schools, workplaces, or communities.”
For the transcript of Sheehan’s remarks, go to: http://www.eurasiareview.com/16102011-cindy-sheehan-remarks-at-occupy-sacramento-oped.
Karen Bernal blasts conditions in jail
After her arrest, Karen Bernal commented on the poor conditions in the City Jail. “While generally the police at the jail weren’t abusive to us, we definitely witnessed mistreatment of another arrestee that wasn’t warranted,” she stated.
She also believes that the police were trying to make a point by releasing all of the women later than of any of the other protesters arrested early Sunday morning – in keeping with a recent tendency to release the protesters later in the day.
“Conditions were terrible in the jail,” she emphasized. “The holding cell was tolerable, but the releasing cell, which we spent more time in, was filthy on a level that I’m sure was not up to code. In addition, they put 15 women in a space that was perhaps designed for only 8 people.”
“There needs to be a serious investigation of the conditions in the jail by an independent citizens body,” Bernal urged.
“Despite the conditions, the arrestees remain undeterred from continuing their protest against corporate power and control over peoples’ lives,” Bernal said. “We need to fund human needs, not corporate greed!”
Native American groups, Occupy Sacramento proclaim Indigenous Day of Resistance
On Friday, activists from Native American, student, labor and civil rights groups and Occupy Sacramento joined together in a march from Cesar Chavez Park to the Capitol for an Indigenous Day of Resistance protest to denounce the United States’ “glorification of the atrocities committed against native ancestors of the Americas during the Indigenous Holocaust let by Christopher Columbus.”
Like Carter and Sheehan, they emphasized the connections between the wars abroad and the war at home.
“With many severe cuts to education and social services nationwide, we call to question, why we continue to increase our $14.6 billion US National Debt to fund wars over seas,” according to a statement from the groups. “Instead we have a war at home, were millions are losing their homes and jobs while the banks are plundering our wealth. CA is #1 in Prison Spending and #43 in Education Nationwide. Why is that?”
“As for our Native Community surrounding the US/Mexican border, we are now being labeled as ‘Immigrants’ that was once home. We are tired of seeing migrants scapegoated for the failures of capitalism. It angers us to be called “illegal aliens” when it was our ancestors who inhabited this lands before Columbus came to conquer and plunder this land. Now in contrast our people are forced to risk their lives crossing a further militarized border. Over the last decade, it is estimated 10,000 died crossing the border.”
“We are calling to action here at the State Capitol for all communities to join the movement to defend families and education, because this is a people’s movement for human rights and to stand up against injustice. We will no longer be victimized by these racist laws or corporate greed restricting us of an education and split up the millions of families from one another.”
The event was endorsed by Occupy Sacramento, MEChAs from throughout northern California, United Indigenous Nations, United Native Americans Inc., the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement AFL-CIO Sacramento and numerous other organizations. The rally began and ended with Aztec dancing.
On the national level, a statement from Occupy Wallstreet proclaimed:
“From America to Asia, from Africa to Europe, people are rising up to claim their rights and demand a true democracy. Now it is time for all of us to join in a global non violent protest. The ruling powers work for the benefit of just a few, ignoring the will of the vast majority and the human and environmental price we all have to pay. This intolerable situation must end.
“United in one voice, we will let politicians, and the financial elites they serve, know it is up to us, the people, to decide our future. We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers who do not represent us. On October 15th, we will meet on the streets to initiate the global change we want. We will peacefully demonstrate, talk and organize until we make it happen.”
For more information, contact: Arya Rashid or Chris MacDonald, 916-996-9170, or go to: http://www.facebook.com/OccupySacramento , http://www.occupysac.com and Twitter @OccupySacto
See OccupySacramento LIVE now at: http://www.livestream.com/occupysacto or http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dummey
danbacher “Again, it was an overwhelmingly display of City Police might – at least 65 officers and 40 police vehicles were used to overwhelm 19 nonviolent and peaceful demonstrators, which included one person in a wheelchair and another who had to be transported to a local hospital because he was on a hunger strike,” according to Arya Rashid of Occupy Sacramento.
unknown.jpegSacramento Police arrest Cindy Sheehan, 18 others at Occupy Sacramento!by Dan Bacher
In a continuing wave of police repression against peaceful protesters, Sacramento police officers arrested and jailed nineteen people, including anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan, early Sunday morning at Cesar Chavez Park.
Occupy Sacramento has occupied the park since October 6 and Saturday was the 10th day of the occupation. There have 58 arrests at the park since Oct. 6.
“Again, it was an overwhelmingly display of City Police might – at least 65 officers and 40 police vehicles were used to overwhelm 19 nonviolent and peaceful demonstrators, which included one person in a wheelchair and another who had to be transported to a local hospital because he was on a hunger strike,” according to Arya Rashid of Occupy Sacramento.
All were charged with “unlawful assembly,” penal code section 409, a misdemeanor.
On Saturday afternoon, a diverse group of more than 600 people marched through the Sacramento financial district and held a 2 hour rally at the Capitol in concert with more than 1,000 Occupy protests all across the country.
Speakers at the rally at the Capitol spoke passionately about the direct connection between the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the war at home by Wall Street and the politicians they control against the 99 percent.
“We want to stop the wars abroad,” said Kevin Carter of Occupy Sacramento. “But if we want to stop the wars overseas, we have to stop the warfare against us here in Sacramento. We are talking about the lobbyists, special interests and politicians who are working against the interests of the people. When it comes to the people, every year we have to fight for the state budget.”
He emphasized, “We are not a Republican, Democrat, or Tea Party movement, but are a genuine people’s movement. We need not to just occupy the park, but must occupy a lot of state offices, including the offices of the Secretary of State, Transportation and Dpeartment of Education.”
He noted how the gains of the civil rights movement are being attacked by the 1 percent that control the country. “In 1965, the Civil Rights Bill that Medgar Evans died for was passed. Those civil rights are for everybody. We cannnot allow those rights to be taken away as the 1 percent try to keep us in economic slavery.”
In a similar note, Cindy Sheehan said in a speech before the march, “The economic and social justice we seek cannot be achieved without complete and unconditional peace.”
She also said, “This movement should not allow itself to be co-opted by partisan political hackery. If Obama or Democrats were the answer, then, guess what? We wouldn’t be here today. The wars would be over; the 99% would have single-payer health care, housing, education, a sustainable energy policy, and meaningful jobs with a livable wage as RIGHTS not PRIVILEGES for the 1%. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Republicans in power either—I want US in power.”
On Friday, activists from Native American, student, labor and civil rights groups and Occupy Sacramento joined together in a march from Cesar Chavez Park to the Capitol for an Indigenous Day of Resistance Protest to denounce the United States’ “glorification of the atrocities committed against native ancestors of the Americas during the Indigenous Holocaust let by Christopher Columbus.” Like Carter and Sheehan, they emphasized the connections between the wars abroad and the war at home.
“With many severe cuts to education and social services nationwide, we call to question, why we continue to increase our $14.6 billion US National Debt to fund wars over seas,” according to a statement from the groups. “Instead we have a war at home, were millions are losing their homes and jobs while the banks are plundering our wealth. CA is #1 in Prison Spending and #43 in Education Nationwide. Why is that?”
“As for our Native Community surrounding the US/Mexican border, we are now being labeled as ‘Immigrants’ that was once home. We are tired of seeing migrants scapegoated for the failures of capitalism. It angers us to be called “illegal aliens” when it was our ancestors who inhabited this lands before Columbus came to conquer and plunder this land. Now in contrast our people are forced to risk their lives crossing a further militarized border. Over the last decade, it is estimated 10,000 died crossing the border.”
“We are calling to action here at the State Capitol for all communities to join the movement to defend families and education, because this is a people’s movement for human rights and to stand up against injustice. We will no longer be victimized by these racist laws or corporate greed restricting us of an education and split up the millions of families from one another.”
The event was endorsed by Occupy Sacramento, MEChAs from throughout northern California, United Indigenous Nations, United Native Americans Inc., the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement AFL-CIO Sacramento and numerous other organizations.
On the national level, a statement from Occupy Wallstreet proclaimed:
“From America to Asia, from Africa to Europe, people are rising up to claim their rights and demand a true democracy.
Now it is time for all of us to join in a global non violent protest. The ruling powers work for the benefit of just a few, ignoring the will of the vast majority and the human and environmental price we all have to pay. This intolerable situation must end.“United in one voice, we will let politicians, and the financial elites they serve, know it is up to us, the people, to decide our future. We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers who do not represent us. On October 15th, we will meet on the streets to initiate the global change we want. We will peacefully demonstrate, talk and organize until we make it happen.”
For more information, contact: Arya Rashid or Chris MacDonald, 916-996-9170, or go to: http://www.facebook.com/OccupySacramento , http://www.occupysac.com and Twitter @OccupySacto
See OccupySacramento LIVE now at: http://www.livestream.com/occupysacto or http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dummey
Below is the transcript of Cindy Sheehan’s remarks at Occupy Sacramento on Saturday:
Hello, it’s great to finally be able to be here with you today—I have been out of the state, but I have been watching you on the local news and you have been doing a great job!
The other day, on my Facebook wall, one of my “friends” asked me when I was going to, “Join the 99%.”
“Join the 99%?” I didn’t know that was an option! I “joined” the 99% 54 years ago when I was born down in L.A. I am just excited the other 99.9999% is beginning to wake up to the fact the plutocracy here in the U.S,. and globally, declared class war against us generations ago and WE are starting to fight back—finally!
Well, I live not too far down the road in that liberal mecca of free thinking, communists: Vacaville. I am just, unfortunately kidding, of course, because just being a Democrat is considered subversive there and I am telling you this to tell you about something that happened to me this morning.
I went to exercise class at my gym and one of my fellow exercisers came up to me and whispered: “Have you been to that ‘nonsense’ in Sacramento.”
I told her, “As a matter of fact I am going there to speak and march today—and it’s not ‘nonsense,’ people have legitimate gripes with the government.”
So she said, “Oh, I was just kidding because I think it’s great because it’s the only thing that will put Obama back in the White House.”
So, that comment started an entire new conversation.
This movement should not allow itself to be co-opted by partisan political hackery. If Obama or Democrats were the answer, then, guess what? We wouldn’t be here today. The wars would be over; the 99% would have single-payer health care, housing, education, a sustainable energy policy, and meaningful jobs with a livable wage as RIGHTS not PRIVILEGES for the 1%. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Republicans in power either—I want US in power. Just like we are today, but I want we the people calling the shots in a meaningful way that changes corrupt and harmful policies, and that will take not only going out of the parks and into the streets like we are today, but staying there and taking breaks to strategize about the society we want to build: One where the resources of our country are used to guarantee basic human rights to EVERYONE, not just the one-percenters.
Speaking of the wars, the Obama (president to the one-percent) regime has continued the Bush crime cabals’ wars and has added at least five more military miss-excursions on top of those: in Libya, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and now Uganda—make no mistake about it, the US is waging World War Three in its global war OF terror around the world and the economic and social justice we seek cannot be achieved without complete and unconditional peace.
Just here in our state of California, our “wonderful” Democrat Governor, Jerry Brown, has forced cuts in essential services and exorbitant and unfair increases to university fees, while California has sent 148 billion dollars to the US government for its war OF terror—that’s almost 15 billion a year for the past insane 10 years.
According to the Cost of War website, here in Sacramento County, you all have contributed over five billion to the illegal and immoral wars. Can any of you think what Sacramento could have done with five billion dollars, or the state with 148 billion?
And young people—I am so glad to see you all here—like I said, I have been watching you on the local news and I have been impressed—for every dollar your college fees get raised, the state is able to give it to the federal government for its war OF terror against the world and its economic terrorism here at home. Even though this nation has always been by and for the so-called elite; since we’ve embarked on these wars, it has become far worse and things are getting dire here in our class.
After the bi-partisan bailout of the banks and Wall Street in 2008, I wrote a book called Myth America: 20 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution where I outlined the problem and called for a grassroots revolution to fix it.
We not only need a movement in the streets, but we need to realize that our local problems are magnified globally and the only answer to this greedy globalism is localism. We need to work to take very doable and effective local actions to create a healthy economy and sustainable ecology for us, our children and our grandchildren, if we have them.
One of the myths I dispel in my book, is the one that everyone here in the USA has an equal opportunity for wealth and to be in the one-percent. Not only is that bullshit, but it’s criminal. Our parents and grandparents had money, their labor and their lands stolen from them as our ancesters farther back stole the land from our indigenous peoples. The one-percent are wealthy because of murder and exploitation and if that’s the price we have to pay to be in the one-percent, I, for one, don’t want to pay it.
John Steinbeck (another Californian), famously said: ““Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” I don’t want to be like the one-percent, I want them to be like us. Justice demands income equality and the Robber Class has been getting away with this unearned privilege for far too long.
I am happy that this movement is “leaderless,” but I think it’s dangerous for it to be directionless, because I know that there will be forces swooping in to claim it as a movement for Democrats—Democrats are not friends of peace, or the working class, and they are just one-half of the political problem in a Capitalist paradigm that doesn’t care about you—it only cares about power and profit.
We care about ourselves and we care about each other, the Robber Class doesn’t. Take care of yourselves and take care of each other and the way to make true change that works for everyone is by keeping power in our hands; whether it’s in our schools, workplaces, or communities.
danbacher The call to report fish sightings comes at a time when the campaign by Indian Tribes, environmentalists and fishermen to restore salmon and steelhead populations on the Eel River is building momentum.
Photo of Wiyot dancers during a ceremony to restore the Eel River on September 10 by Nadananda.
by Dan Bacher
Friends of the Eel River (FOER) on October 14 issued a call for local residents to watch for and report sightings of Chinook salmon migrating up the Eel River and its tributaries in northern California. The non-profit advocacy organization will use “fish-watcher” reports to build a more detailed picture of salmon spawning and migration patterns on the river, according to a statement from the group.
The call to report fish sightings comes at a time when the campaign by Indian Tribes, environmentalists and fishermen to restore salmon and steelhead populations on the river is building momentum. On September 10, the Wiyot Tribe and Friends of the Eel River were joined by Native American Indian tribes from throughout Northern California in a prayer ceremony focused on returning the Eel River and the fisheries it supports to a healthy, sustainable state.
“The fall salmon run up the Eel has begun, but low water levels upstream have led to concern about potential fish kills if this threatened species are left stranded by insufficient flows,” according to Scott Greacen, Friends of the Eel River. “This information could also help federal and state fisheries agencies decide whether to release additional water from the Potter Valley Project to augment flows in the mainstem Eel in the next few weeks, if the area doesn’t get more rain soon.”
The group is asking the public to call or e-mail their main office to report sightings. Reports should note the date and time, specific location, and the number and condition of the fish sighted when calling in reports. If possible, observers should take note of whether salmon were bright silver or dark, strong or struggling, and whether there is any evidence of or potential for stranding. Friends of the Eel River can be reached at (415) 332-9810 or by e-mail at foer [at] eelriver.org.
The Eel River is California’s third largest watershed, third largest salmon producing river, and second largest steelhead producing river. The vast majority of Eel River water is diverted into the Russian River through the dams and diversion tunnel that comprise PG&E’s Potter Valley Project.
This highly controlled river system is vulnerable to insufficient flows unless the river system either experiences high levels of rainfall or water is released into the river under the direction of California’s Department of Fish and Game (DFG).
“Salmon runs on the Eel River are an important part of our local heritage and our economy,” said Nadananda, Executive Director of Friends of the Eel River. “Local residents helping to track and count these fish will assist greatly in our work to preserve these fish and improve river conditions on the Eel.”
The Eel River is proving to be a rare bright spot in efforts to recover endangered Coho and Chinook salmon, in part because the migratory fish returning to this watershed are wild and not of hatchery origin. The fall run of salmon in 2010 was the largest seen in 77 years due to increased flows to the Eel River mandated by FERC and advocated for by Friends of the Eel River. Friends of the Eel is greatly concerned that this recovery will lose ground if DFG does not release sufficient water to support consistent water flows on the river during these important weeks.
For more information, contact: Scott Greacen, Friends of the Eel River (707) 502-4555, foer@eelriver.org.
Tribes join together to restore Eel River
Native American Indian tribes from throughout Northern California joined the Wiyot Tribe and Friends of the Eel River in a historic prayer ceremony focused on returning the Eel River and the fisheries it supports to a healthy, sustainable state on September 10. This event follows several similar ceremonies held since 2009 that have taken place in different parts of the nearly 3,600-square mile Eel River watershed.
“Rivers need water to survive,” said Nadananda, Executive Director of the Friends of the Eel River. “The cost of diverting so much water out of the Eel River is simply too high. Salmon and steelhead are on the brink of extinction here. While increases in water flows over the past five years have made it possible for Chinook salmon populations to begin to make a comeback, significantly more water will need to be returned to the river if we are going to save these fish.”
In 2004, dam owner PG&E increased flows on the Eel River from 5 cubic feet/second to 20-25 cubic feet/second under the orders of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The 2010 fall run of Chinook Salmon on the Eel River was the largest recorded in 77 years, with more than 2,300 adult fish migrating upriver to spawn. Last year’s salmon run also benefitted from an unusually heavy rain season.
This event marks the first time that so many different tribes came together in call for healing on the river. Salmon are a sacred fish and traditional source of food for the Round Valley Tribes and other Native American Indians who were once the only human inhabitants of this remote watershed.
The prayer ceremony was attended by members of the Bear River, Cahto, Grindstone, Sherwood Rancheria, Round Valley, Pomo, Hoopa, Yurok, and Karuk Tribes, several of which performed tribal prayer dances at the mouth of the river on the Wiyot’s Table Bluff Reservation.
”This day, Wiyot Day, is a way to show respect for our elders and for where we come from — for many of us, the Eel River is a big part of that,” Wiyot Tribal Chairman Ted Hernandez told the Eureka Times-Standard. (http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_18872049)
“The tribes native to this area once thrived on the abundant salmon runs on the Eel River,” said Ernie Merrifield, former Round Valley Tribal Council Member and current Friends of the Eel River board member. “We must rely on all of our resources – spiritual, scientific, and legal – to restore this river and these fisheries to health. If we work together, we may have a chance to reverse the damage caused by a century of water deprivation.”
Last year’s record salmon run, the largest number of fish counted at the Van Arsdale Fisheries Station on the Eel River below Cape Horn Dam since the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) began keeping records, arrived just a few months after members of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Covelo conducted dances and ceremonies to bring back the salmon.
In July of 2010, the Feather Dancers of the Tribes joined Friends of the Eel River at a swimming hole in the Hearst area, a few miles downstream of the PG&E Potter Valley diversion (PVP) to the Russian River. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2010/12/21/largest-salmon-run-on-eel-river-in-77-years-arrives-after-tribal-ceremonies).
“Water and salmon hold sacred value among the Tribes of the Round Valley, and both have been bankrupted,” said Merrifield. “Like a person, if you block the free flow of blood in your veins you will die, just as PG&E’s dams are killing the Eel River.”
FOER will continue its efforts to improve river conditions in the coming year. The group will present information to the State Water Resources Board next year as Sonoma County renegotiates flows between the Russian and Eel Rivers. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, the current flow regimes on both rivers are damaging endangered salmon and steelhead habitat due to insufficient water in the Eel and too much water in the Russian.
FOER is also a party to an ongoing lawsuit aimed at preventing an environmentally damaging quarry and freight railroad from reopening within the sensitive Eel River watershed.
About Friends of the Eel River (http://www.eelriver.org)
Friends of the Eel River (FOER) is an environmental advocacy organization with more than 2,200 members. The organization strives to restore the Eel River and its tributaries to a wild and natural state of abundance. FOER works with scientists, fisheries experts, sport fishing alliances, river recreationalists, and concerned citizens to advocate for an increase in flows to the river that would enable native salmon and steelhead to once again thrive in the watershed.
danbacher “Clean water is vital to California’s pubic health, economy, recreation and wildlife,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “California has done an excellent job of increasing the amount of water monitored. Unfortunately, much of the new data points in the wrong direction. This list of impaired waters is a wake-up call to continue the critical local and statewide work needed to heal California’s damaged waters.“
Photo: Farmworkers, fishermen, environmentalists and residents of rural San Joaquin Valley communities rallied at noon in support of the “Clean Farms – Clean Water” campaign in Rancho Cordova on April 7. Photo by Dan Bacher.
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by Dan Bacher
California has a “green” reputation throughout the country, but this reputation is largely undeserved when one considers the fact that the number of California rivers, lakes and coastal waters showing toxicity has increased dramatically since 2006, as exposed in a list of polluted waterways released today.
The alarming list, submitted by the state of California to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and finalized by the agency today, reveals that more of California’s waterways are impaired than previously known. Increased water monitoring data shows the number of rivers, streams and lakes in California exhibiting overall toxicity have increased 170 percent from 2006 to 2010, according to Nahal Mogharabi, spokesman for the California EPA, in a news release.
“California has some of the most magnificent rivers, lakes and coastal waters in the country,” according to Mogharabi. “However, of its 3.0 million acres of lakes, bays, wetlands and estuaries, 1.6 million acres are not meeting water quality goals, and 1.4 million acres still need a pollution clean-up plan, known as a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL).”
Of the 215,000 miles of shoreline, streams and rivers, 30,000 miles are not meeting water quality goals, and 20,000 miles still need a TMDL. The most common contaminants in these waterways are pesticides and bacteria, followed by metals and nutrients.
The report was released at a time when the state proceeds forward with the controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative to create so-called “marine protected areas” off the California coast. These “marine protected areas,” in a clear example of corporate greenwashing, fail to protect coastal waters from pollution, oil spills and drilling, corporate aquaculture, military testing, wave and wind energy projects and all other human impacts upon the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The report also follows on the heels of a June decision by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board to continue granting agribusiness “permits to pollute” Sacramento and San Joaquin Valley waterways in a controversial agricultural waiver program.
“Clean water is vital to California’s public health, economy, recreation and wildlife,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “California has done an excellent job of increasing the amount of water monitored. Unfortunately, much of the new data points in the wrong direction. This list of impaired waters is a wake-up call to continue the critical local and statewide work needed to heal California’s damaged waters.“
The Clean Water Act requires states to monitor and assess their waterways and submit a list of impaired waters to EPA for review, according to Mogharabi. The 2010 list is based on more comprehensive monitoring as well as new assessment tools that allow the state to evaluate larger quantities of data.
The data showed several important trends including:
• Many more beaches, both inland and coastal, are on the 2010 list because bacteria reached unsafe levels for swimming. This increase is largely driven by a more extensive review of data collected by counties.
• Better reporting of trash in waters has led to an increase in trash impairments by 76% from 2006 to 2010. California’s statewide Trash Policy is under development and will address trash impacts to both local wildlife and reduce California’s contribution to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
• The numbers of listings showing pollutants in fish are at levels too high for safe human consumption has increased 24% from 2006 to 2010, with the greatest increases seen in mercury. Rather than signaling an increase in fish contamination, this trend is due to California’s recent statewide sport fish monitoring effort. Additionally, some pollutants such as DDT are no longer manufactured and are slowly decreasing in concentration over time.
• Waters identified as impaired by pesticides showed a 36% increase from the prior list, likely a result of the more thorough monitoring required under the State’s Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program. “Under this program, close collaboration between the Water Boards and the Department of Pesticide Regulation has resulted in reduced pesticide discharges to surface and groundwater,” said Mogharabi.
In 2010, California submitted to EPA for approval its list of polluted rivers, lakes and coastal waters. The federal EPA added several waterways to the list, including portions of the San Joaquin River, where increasing temperatures and salinity imperil salmon and trout populations. Following public comment, EPA today finalized the additions.
“Today’s action will lead to the development and adoption of hundreds of pollution clean-up plans by California to restore waters to swimmable, fishable and drinkable conditions,” the press release stated. “Work is already underway in California to address hundreds of waters previously listed as impaired. EPA will continue to work with the state to develop and implement additional TMDLs to address the remaining waters.”
However, the actions to date by the state regarding the MLPA Initiative, the Central Valley “permits to pollute” program and the campaign to build the peripheral canal appear to moving in the opposition direction of restoring waters “to swimmable, fishable and drinkable condition.” I hope that the release of today’s list is a wake up call to the public and the state and federal governments that California must aggressively enforce the federal and state Clean Water Acts and other laws combatting water pollution!
The Brown and Obama administrations are both pushing for the construction of a peripheral canal (”conveyance”) through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to increase water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water agencies. A coalition of Delta residents, family farmers, Indian Tribes, grassroots conservationists and environmental justice advocates opposes the canal because it is expected to lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other species.
The release of the list also follows the setting of two disturbing records on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta when the water year ended on September 30.
First, 9 million Sacramento splittail were “salvaged” at the state and federal Delta pumps near Tracy in 2011. 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 (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/09/09/over-11-million-fish-salvaged-in-delta-death-pumps-since-january-1).
Second, the water projects pumped a record 6.5 million acre-feet of water from the Delta in 2011, according to government data compiled by Spreck Rosecrans at Environmental Defense. The previous record was 6.3 million acre-feet in 2005.
It is clear that California has to get more serious about cleaning up its waterways by including pollution and other impacts other than just fishing and gathering in its strange concept of “marine protection” under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
At the same time, state officials have to abandon plans to divert more water from the Delta by constructing the peripheral canal to benefit agribusiness and southern California water agencies.
Finally, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board must aggressively enforce agricultural water pollution in the Central Valley rather than continuing to grant waivers under a voluntary program.
Governor Jerry Brown’s signing of four bills in the Human Right to Water package – Assembly Bill 983 by Henry T. Perea (D-Fresno), AB 938 by Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella), AB 1221 by Assemblymember Luis Alejo (D-Salinas) and SB 244 by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) – is commendable. However, the administration has much more work to do if it really wants to clean up California’s waterways and groundwater supplies.
“Water is sacred, water is Life for all,” said Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “Just as all need to breathe Air, so should be the waters be for all, not just those who market water and ruin the rest in poor planning.”
The supporting documents for EPA’s listing decision and a link to the list submitted by California are available at EPA’s web site:http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/tmdl/california.html
For information on Total Maximum Daily Loads, please visit EPA’s web site: http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/lawsguidance/cwa/tmdl/index.cfm
For the full list of EPA’s added waters, maps, and more information, please visit EPA’s media center at: http://www.epa.gov/region9/mediacenter/impaired-waters/
danbacher 
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Photo: David Packard (1912–1996) and his wife Lucile founded the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in 1964.
by Dan Bacher
Grassroots environmental organizations including the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Friends of the River, American River Conservancy and California Native Plant Society have reported dwindling income in recent years, the result of declining government and foundation funds available due to the current Wall Street-engineered economic disaster.
Many organizations are having to lay off key staff, close offices and curtail their programs (http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/10/3971670/conservation-nonprofits-squeezed.html) . Environmental justice, river advocacy and grassroots groups working to restore salmon and other fish populations have been particularly hard hit.
While local and state groups are facing cuts in their programs, the CEOs and top staff of large foundations and environmental NGOs – referred to by some as “Gang Green” or “Big Green” – are raking in huge salaries, up to $1,196,037.00 per year.
While big bucks continue to flow to these CEOs, thousands and thousands of people throughout the US, Mexico and Europe, inspired by the ongoing “Occupy Wall Street” protests in New York City, are protesting the disparity of wealth between the 1 percent on Wall Street and the 99 percent of people that are struggling to get by. They are also challenging the increasing influence that Wall Street corporations, who contribute heavily to the campaigns of the Democratic and Republican parties, exert over foreign and domestic policies, including promoting the stripping of environmental protections.
Nils Stolpe of http://www.FishNet-USA.com has uncovered some great financial information in his ongoing exposure of the big money behind corporate environmental NGOs and foundations that fund them. In this time of severe economic crisis, the “compensation” for CEOs and selected staff of the large ENGOs and foundations is very alarming.
Please note that the compensation listed is only from the organization – not necessarily the total compensation that person received from all sources – in the most recent year for which a Form 990 was available.
At the top of the compensation list is the Chief Investment Officer of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, who received $1,196,037.00 from the organization.
David Packard (1912–1996), the co-founder of Hewlitt-Packard, and his wife Lucile founded the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in 1964. While styling himself as an “environmentalist” in his later years, it is noteworthy that he served as Deputy Secretary of Defense under President Richard Nixon. “Packard served in this high-echelon position during Nixon’s secretive carpet bombing campaign against Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War,” noted independent journalist David Gurney. (http://noyonews.net/?p=219)
Not far behind, the President & CEO of The Pew Charitable Trusts received $1,071,525.00.
The Sunoco oil company, headed by J. Howard Pew and Joseph N. Pew, Jr., set up the original endowment for the Pew Foundation, now called the Pew Charitable Trusts. Sunoco currently refines bitumen in Ohio and is planning to do so soon in Philadelphia. Sunoco has, through either Pew family members or current board members and CEO’s of Sunoco, held a majority of the board of trustees of the Pew Charitable Trusts to this very day. (http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=8351822347&topic=6972)
The Packard Foundation and Pew Charitable Trusts are paying these huge compensation packages while millions are out of work or struggling to make ends with minimum wage jobs.
These foundations fund efforts to promote controversial programs such as the federal “catch shares” program, an effort to privatize public trust fisheries, and California’s privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative. The MLPA Initiative, overseen by oil industry, real estate, marina development and other corporate operatives, created “marine protected areas” that fail to protect the ocean from pollution, oil spills and drillling, corporate aquaculture, military testing and all human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The Packard Foundation is also notorious for funding studies promoting the construction of the peripheral canal (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/03/03/bechtel-and-packard-funded-report-greenwashes-the-peripheral-canal). A coalition of Delta residents, family farmers, Indian Tribes, grassroots conservationists and environmental justice advocates opposes the construction of the peripheral canal because it would likely lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other imperiled species.
The President of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) received $432,742.00, while the President of Environmental Defense received $423,359.00. The Managing Director of the Pew Environment Group received $400,487.00, while the Executive Director of Environmental Defense received $347,963.00.
The individuals holding these six positions are all considered part of the 1 percent, according to statistics recently released from the Internal Revenue Service. In 2009, it took $343,927 to join that wealthy group (http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/20/who-are-the-one-percent).
“And with salaries (and perks) ranging up into seven figures, is it any wonder that these people exhibit such a lack of empathy for people with real jobs – you know, the kind of jobs that depend on actually producing something tangible to justify a paycheck?,” said Stolpe. “And no, putting people out of work isn’t producing something tangible.”
“Anyone who has built a successful career – that is, successful as far as the size of their paycheck and their ability to climb the (ENGO) corporate ladder is concerned – by spending money earned by someone else isn’t likely to have much of an idea of what it would be like to be out of work or, it appears, to be particularly concerned when their actions have that consequence on others,” said Stolpe.
So while grassroots environmental organizations are struggling to pay for staff salaries, office expenses and campaign costs, top officials of foundations and environmental NGOs are raking in the “green,” just like the CEOs of Wall Street corporations.
Below is the list of the positions, organizations and total compensation from the organizations:
Chief Investment Officer, David and Lucille Packard Foundation: $1,196,037.00
President & CEO, The Pew Charitable Trusts: $1,071,525.00
President/CEO, David and Lucille Packard Foundation: $696,687.00
President, Natural Resources Defense Council: $432,742.00
President, Environmental Defense: $423,359.00
Managing Director, Pew Environment Group: $400,487.00
Executive Director, Environmental Defense: $347,963.00
VP West Coast, VP Land, Water and Wildlife, Environmental Defense: $304,626.00
Executive Director, Natural Resources Defense Council: $277,846.00
Development Director, Natural Resources Defense Council: $265,001.00
President and CEO, Ocean Conservancy: $261,111.00
Finance Director, Natural Resources Defense Council: $259,460.00
Chief Executive Officer, Oceana: $247,164.00
VP Marketing and Communication, Environmental Defense: $242,947.00
Executive Vice President, Oceana: $237,589.00
EVP/COO, Ocean Conservancy: $217,911.00
Communications Director, Natural Resources Defense Council: $213,737.00
Executive Director of Oceana in Europe, Oceana: $205,868.00
Senior Vice President for North America, Chief Scientist, Oceana: $203,272.00
VP Legal Affairs, Ocean Conservancy: $180,426.00
President, Ecotrust: $178,527.00
VP Resource Development, Ocean Conservancy: $172,381.00
VP Communications, Ocean Conservancy: $172,161.00
Jim Ayers Oceana Regional Director in North Pacific, Oceana: $170,114.00
Shark Conservation Program Director, Ocean Conservancy: $152,754.00
Managing Director, Ecotrust: $151,050.00
VP State Advocacy Center Director, Conservation Law Foundation: $141,141.00
danbacher
by Dan Bacher
The Governor also signed three other bills in the package: AB 938 by Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella), AB 1221 by Assemblymember Luis Alejo (D-Salinas) and SB 244 by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis).
Assemblymember Henry T. Perea (D-Fresno) introduced The Access to Safe Drinking Water Act to provide disadvantaged communities with the opportunity to apply for state grants that fund the entire cost of desperately needed water infrastructure projects they otherwise couldn’t afford.
“When we talk about the need for clean water, we are not talking about far away third-world countries, we are talking about communities not far from where we all live,” Assemblymember Perea said. “Funding for these projects shouldn’t be a hurdle that prevents families from enjoying clean, safe drinking water.”
State grants already available to disadvantaged communities cover up to 80 percent of a project’s costs but those communities often can’t afford to fund the remaining 20 percent of the project without raising water rates. AB 983 gives them the chance to apply for a grant that would fund 100 percent of a water infrastructure project.
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. noted that he signed this bill as part of a series of bills “to help ensure the availability of clean drinking water to all Californians.”
“Clean drinking water is a basic human right,” said Governor Brown. “The bills I have signed today will help ensure that every Californian has access to clean and safe sources of water. Protecting the water we drink is an absolutely crucial duty of state government.”
The bills that Brown signed include:
AB 54 by Assemblymember Jose Solorio (D-Santa Ana) – Drinking water.
AB 938 by Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella) – Public water systems.
AB 1194 by Assemblymember Marty Block (D-San Diego) – Drinking water.
AB 1221 by Assemblymember Luis Alejo (D-Salinas) – State Water Quality Control Fund: State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account.
AB 1292 by Assemblymember Roger Hernandez (D-Baldwin Park) – Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund: revenue bonds.
SB 244 by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) – Local government: land use: general plan: disadvantaged unincorporated communities.
While four bills that were part of the Human Right to Water Package were signed by the Governor, AB 685 (Eng-D Monterey Park), the Human Right to Water Measure, was held in the Senate Appropriations Commiteee and never reached Brown’s desk.
California’s failure to provide clean, safe drinking water to its residents captured the attention of the United Nations in a special report released in August as a package of “human right to water” bills proceeded through the State Capitol.
Reporting on her mission to the United States last winter, Catarina de Albuquerque, the U.N. Special Rapportuer on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, cited a host of alarming drinking water supply and sanitation conditions in California.
“Ensuring the rights to water and sanitation for all requires a paradigm shift towards new designs and approaches that promote human rights, that are affordable and that create more value in terms of public health improvements, community development, and global ecosystem protection,” de Albuquerque wrote.
Organizations supporting the Human Right to Water package include the Community Water Center, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water and Food & Water Watch.
While Brown signed the series of drinking water bills, his administration continues to push for the construction of the enormously expensive and environmentally destructive peripheral canal through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The peripheral canal is designed to increase water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to agribusiness and southern California.
If built, the peripheral canal would lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other imperiled Delta fish populations. The BDCP would also take vast tracts of Delta farmland, some of the most fertile land on the planet, out of production to irrigate drainage impaired land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
danbacher 
Representatives of the Coastside Fishing Club and United Anglers of Southern California and Bob Fletcher are awaiting the final decision of Judge Ronald Prager in San Diego Superior Court regarding their lawsuit contesting the legality of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative process on the North Central Coast.
During a hearing on the litigation on October 6, the judge issued a tentative ruling that appeared to rebuff the effort by the coalition of recreational fishing groups to overturn controversial marine protected area regulations on the region stretching from Pigeon Point in San Mateo County to Point Arena in Mendocino County.
Lawyers for the fishing groups argued that the state required a development permit from the Coastal Commission to create the reserves, but the judge said the permit wasn’t required, since it fell within an exemption under the Coastal Act.
Prager wrote, “The designation of MPAs falls within an exemption in the Coastal Act for ‘establishment and control of wildlife and fishery programs.’ (Pub. Resources Code §30411(a).) Under this statute, the Coastal Commission is statutorily obligated to defer to Respondent where the MPA is concerned. Living marine resources fall within the definition of wildlife. Thus, no permit was required by statute.”
“Finally, adoption of the MPAs did not constitute ‘development’ as reasonably interpreted to require a permit and
even if it did, it was not within the purview of the Coastal Commission’s control,” concluded Prager. (Pub. Resources Code §§30600, 30411.)
According to Mike Lee in the San Diego Union-Tribune, “Prager also appeared to side with the state in the other major question — whether wildlife officials overstepped their authority by creating the North Central Coast reserves under the process they used. He said the state’s interpretation of the law is ‘entitled to great weight.’” (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/oct/06/marine-protected-areas-withstand-court-challenge).
“But during Thursday’s hearing, he seemed compelled to rethink the question. ‘These arguments are not easily brushed aside by the court,’ he said after hearing from anglers’ attorney David Cooke,” according to Lee.
In a phone interview after the hearing, Bob Fletcher told me, “We were not pleased with his tentative ruling, but were encouraged after the hearing over the lively disccussion the judge had with our attorneys over our arguments in the case. We’re now waiting for the final ruling.”
Prager did not indicate when he would issue a final ruling on the North Coast MLPA case, nor has he set a date for the fishing groups’ legal challenge of marine reserves on the Southern California coast.
The lawsuit seeks to set aside the MLPA regulations for the North Central and South Coast study regions, citing a “lack of statutory authority” for the Fish and Game Commission to adopt the regulations, and, in the case of the South Coast regulations, numerous violations of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in the commission’s environmental review of the regulations. The fishing groups have won three court rulings to date.
Regulations for so-called “marine protected areas” are currently in effect on the Central Coast and North Central Coast, while a plan for new MPAs on the North Coast is in process. Fishermen and grassroots environmentalists argue that these marine protected areas fail to protect the ocean from oil drilling and spills, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all human impacts on the marine ecosystem other than fishing and gathering.
You can read the tentative ruling at: http://www.sandiego.courts.ca.gov/v3tr/ViewRulings.aspx?CaseNo=37-2011-00084611-CU-WM-CTL&SelDates=10/06/2011&EventId=945242.
In other MLPA Initiative news, the California Fish and Game Commission on October 3 opened a 15-day public comment period for revised proposed regulations for the South Coast marine protected areas (MPAs) developed under the controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
Revisions were made because the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL), which must first review and approve the regulations before they go into effect, rejected the regulatory package previously provided by the commission.
In a 9 page ruling on September 2, the OAL disapproved the regulatory package for the failure to comply with notice requirements for modification of the regulatory text; failure to comply with the Necessity standard of Government Code section 11349; failure to include all relied upon documents in the rulemaking file; failure to provide the reasons for rejecting alternatives that were considered; and failure to adequately respond to all of the public comments made regarding the proposed action.”
Written comments regarding the revised marine protected area regulations must be received in the Fish and Game Commission office by 5:00 pm on October 18, 2011. Interested persons may attend the October 19, 2011 hearing in Monterey and offer testimony.
“It is important that anglers respond to the revised marine protected area regulations since they may significantly affect their ability to access the ocean,” advised Fletcher.
The continuation notice, including an updated informative digest, and the modified proposed regulatory language are posted at:http://www.fgc.ca.gov/regulations/2010/#632sc.
MLPA Initiative Background:
The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) is a law, signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, designed to create a network of marine protected areas off the California Coast. However, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 created the privately-funded MLPA “Initiative” to “implement” the law, effectively eviscerating the MLPA.
The “marine protected areas” created under the MLPA Initiative fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, water pollution, military testing, wave and wind energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversaw the implementation of “marine protected areas” included a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, real estate executive and other individuals with numerous conflicts of interest. Catherine Reheis Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association who is pushing for new oil drilling off the California coast, served as the chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast.
The MLPA Initiative operated through a controversial private/public “partnership funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. The Schwarzenegger administration, under intense criticism by grassroots environmentalists, fishermen and Tribal members, authorized the implementation of marine protected areas under the initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the foundation and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).
Tribal members, fishermen, grassroots environmentalists, human rights advocates and civil liberties activists have criticized the MLPA Initiative for the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws. Critics charge that the initiative, privatized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, has violated the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, Brown Act, California Administrative Procedures Act, Coastal Act, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), American Indian Religious Freedom Act and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
MLPA and state officials refused to appoint any tribal scientists to the MLPA Science Advisory Team (SAT), in spite of the fact that the Yurok Tribe alone has a Fisheries Department with over 70 staff members during the peak fishing season, including many scientists. The MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force also didn’t include any tribal representatives until 2010 when one was finally appointed to the panel.
