danbacher What Mark Cowin, Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, DFG Director Chuck Bonham and other state officials fail to mention in this and other press releases is the biggest water news of 2011: the record amount of water exported from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the record high number of fish killed in the “predatory” Delta pumps.
Photo of Sacramento splittail courtesy of California Department of Water Resources.
20100126_splittail.jpg
by Dan Bacher
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced on December 28 that it will conduct the first snow survey of the winter in the Sierra Nevada on January 3, 2012.
The announcement comes after an infamous year when the Brown and Obama administrations exported record amounts of water to subsidized agribusiness and southern California water agencies, killed millions of Sacramento splittail and other fish in the Delta pumps and fast tracked a controversial plan to build an environmentally destructive peripheral canal or tunnel.
Department staff plan to conduct a manual survey at 11 a.m. off Highway 50 near Echo Summit, according to a news release from DWR. This and other manual and electronic surveys up and down the state will determine the amount of water in the early winter snowpack. (http://aquafornia.com/archives/59458#more-59458)
“Statewide electronic readings indicate that today’s snowpack water content – near the end of an unusually dry December – is only 24 percent of normal for the date. At this time last year (December 27), the statewide snowpack water content was 202 percent of average,” DWR noted.
Despite the low early readings, DWR announced the snowpack and its water content can be expected to increase through the winter months to April 1, when melting snow begins flowing into streams and reservoirs. DWR and cooperating agencies conduct manual snow surveys around the first of the month from January to May.
“Thanks to good reservoir storage left over from last winter’s storms, we anticipate an adequate water supply next summer,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin. “Our initial estimate is that we’ll be able to deliver 60 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet of water requested from the State Water Project, and we hope to increase the percentage as winter storms develop.”
An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, enough to cover one acre to a depth of one foot.
“As winter took hold, a near-record snowpack and heavy rains sweeping the state resulted in deliveries of 80 percent of requests in 2011,” DWR continued. “The final allocation was 50 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007. The last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years because of Delta pumping restrictions to protect threatened and endangered fish – was in 2006.”
Cowan, Laird and Bonham refuse to acknowledge massive fish kill
What Mark Cowin, Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, DFG Director Chuck Bonham and other state officials fail to mention in this and other press releases is the biggest water news of 2011: the record amount of water exported from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the record high number of fish killed in the “predatory” Delta pumps.
The annual export total, including water diverted by the Contra Costa Canal and North Bay Aqueduct, was 6,633,000 acre-feet in 2011 – 163,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,470,000 acre-feet set in 2005, according to DWR data. The annual export total, excluding water diverted by the Contra Costa Canal and North Bay Aqueduct, was 6,520,000 acre-feet in 2011 – 217,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,303,000 acre-feet set in 2005.
“One of the reasons for the record-setting pumping is that much of the water this year went to refill the underground Kern Water Bank, largely controlled by billionaire farmer Stewart Resnick, and to the smaller Diamond Valley reservoir, which serves Southern California,” according to Mike Taugher of the Contra Costa Times. (http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19014459)
Ironically, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California offered water at discount prices in 2011, since southern California reservoirs largely filled.
“Southern California’s water wholesaler is offering up cut-rate surplus supplies for the first time since 2007, but few local providers can buy in because they are short on storage space,” according to an article by Janet Zimmerman in the Riverside Press-Enterprise on July 10. (http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_surplus11.3abcf4c.html)
The record pumping from the Delta – used to fill the Stewart Resnick-controlled Kern Water Bank and southern California reservoirs – resulted in a huge, unprecedented fish kill at the Delta pumps in 2011. Agency staff “salvaged” a total of 11,158,025 fish in the Delta water pumping facilities between January 1 and September 7, 2011 alone.
A horrific 8,985,009 Sacramento splittail, the largest number ever recorded, were salvaged during this period, according to DFG data. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006.
The fish “salvaged” at the “death pumps” of the state and federal water projects also include hundreds of thousands of threadfin shad, striped bass, American shad, white catfish and other species. DFG data reveals that 742,850 threadfin shad, 514,921 American shad, 496,601 striped bass and 100,373 white catfish were “salvaged” between January 1 and September 7 of this year.
Agency staff also “salvaged” 35,560 Sacramento River spring run and fall run chinooks, 1,642 Central Valley steelhead and 14 green sturgeon in the project facilities during the same period.
While no comprehensive studies have been conducted on how many of the salvaged fish survive, fish advocates believe that the majority of many species perish during and after the salvage process.
Although the salvage counts are certainly alarming, the overall loss of fish in and around the State Water Project and Central Valley Project facilities is believed to be much greater than the salvage counts. The actual loss could be 5 to 10 times the salvage numbers, according to “A Review of Delta Fish Population Losses from Pumping Operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta,” prepared by Larry Walker Associates in January 2010 for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (http://www.srcsd.com/pdf/dd/fishlosses.pdf).
The reason for the massive, unprecedented fish kill in the Delta pumps was the record amount of water exported out of the Delta this year.
State and feds move forward with canal plan
Another fact that you won’t find in any state or federal agency press releases is the alarming revelation that an employee of the Westlands Water District is currently working “on loan” for the Department of Water Resources (DWR) on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), the plan initiated by state and federal water contractors to allow them to build a peripheral canal or tunnel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The Brown and Obama adminstrations are forging ahead with the peripheral canal plan to facilitate the export of more northern California water to southern California and corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Delta residents, fishermen, Indian Tribes, family farmers, conservationists and environmental justice advocates are opposing the construction of the canal because it would likely result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whales (orcas).
Documents obtained by this reporter under the California Public Records Act reveal that Susan Ramos, Deputy General Manager of the Westlands Water District, was hired in an inter-jurisdictional personal exchange agreement between the Department of Water Resources and Westlands Water District from November 15, 2009 through December 31, 2010. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/12/14/westlands-official-working-for-dwr-on-delta-plan)
The good news is that most of the state’s major reservoirs are above normal storage for the date, in spite of record water exports to corporate agribusiness and southern California.
Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s principal storage reservoir, is at 115 percent of average for the date (72 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity).
Lake Shasta north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project’s (CVP) largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is 108 percent of average for the date (68 percent of capacity).
San Luis Reservoir in Merced County, an important storage reservoir south of the Delta, is at 139 percent of average for the date (94 percent of capacity).
San Luis, with a capacity of 2,027,840 acre-feet, is a critically important source of water for both the SWP and the CVP when pumping from the Delta is restricted or interrupted.
Statewide snowpack readings are available on the Internet at:
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/DLYSWEQ
Electronic reservoir level readings may be found at:
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action
danbacher It is also no coincidence that Catherine Reheis-Boyd, who put pressure on Brown to fire the two officials for actually doing their job, chaired the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast that created the fake “marine protected areas” that will go into effect on the Southern California Coast on January 1.
Photo of Mark Nechodom by U.S. Forest Service.
nechodom.jpg
by Dan Bacher
In a move that reeks of political cronyism and nepotism and demonstrates the inordinate power of the oil industry in California, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Secretary of State Debra Bowens’s husband, Mark Nechodom, to Chair California’s Department of Conservation on December 28.
Nechodom, 56, replaces Derek Chernow, the acting director of the Department who Brown fired in a major environmental scandal last month. Brown fired Chernow and Elena Miller, who oversaw oil drilling operations in California, amidst claims by the oil industry and their political allies that the two officials weren’t granting permits quickly and easily enough.
Nechodom, of Sacramento, has served as senior advisor to the undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 2010. From 2008 to 2010, he was acting director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Environmental Markets and senior climate policy advisor for the U.S. Forest Service from 2006 to 2008. He was a senior scientist and policy advisor at the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station from 1998 to 2006.
Nechodom received his doctorate in political science from the University of California, Santa Cruz. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $136,156. Nechodom is a Democrat.
Nechodom has apparently been appointed by Brown to streamline the permitting process to the benefit of the oil and gas industry – and to the detriment of fish, wildlife, the environment and the people of California. This is yet one more example of how Brown, in the service of the Wall Street 1 percent, is a disaster for the environment and the 99 percent of Californians.
“Democratic state Sen. Michael Rubio and Republicans Rep. Kevin McCarthy, state Sen. Jean Fuller and Assemblywoman Shannon Grove engaged the governor personally over a permitting backlog they say has stalled local job growth,” according to the Bakersfield Californian (http://www.bakersfield.com/news/business/economy/x1967163512/Kern-lawmakers-industry-pressured-governor-to-oust-states-top-oil-regulators).
“That’s not something you just ignore,” Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association told the Californian.
“She and others said it was no coincidence that Elena Miller’s ouster Thursday as state oil and gas supervisor came just a week after the top executives at Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Denver’s Berry Petroleum Co. said they faced slowdowns in getting permits from California regulators — a reference to Miller’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources,” according to the Californian.
It is also no coincidence that Reheis-Boyd, who put pressure on Brown to fire the two officials for actually doing their job, chaired the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Blue Ribbon Task Force that created the fake “marine protected areas” that will go into effect on the Southern California Coast on January 1. The MLPA Initiative, in an classic case of corporate greenwashing, was funded by a private corporation, the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation.
While the corporate media and Wall Street and Walmart-funded NGOs are gushing about the alleged “marine parks” and “Yosemites of the Sea” that will go into effect on January 1, they refuse to acknowledge the key leadership role that Reheis-Boyd played in the creation of these questionable “marine protected areas” that fail to actually protect the ocean.
Reheis-Boyd and other corporate operatives on the task force made sure that the “marine protected areas” fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture, wind and wave energy projects and all other human impacts on the ocean than fishing and diving.
Reheis-Boyd, a strange “marine guardian” indeed, praised Brown’s firing of Mark Nechodom’s predecessor as Chair of California’s Conservation Department in Bloomberg News (http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-05/california-oil-producers-cheer-firing-of-top-state-regulators).
“Oil companies are ‘extremely happy’ about the governor’s decision, Catherine H. Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, a Sacramento-based trade group, said yesterday in a telephone interview,” reported Bloomberg News. “They have been extremely frustrated dealing with an agency that in the past had a wonderful working relationship with industry.”
You can bet that Reheis-Boyd and other ocean industrialists, along with their corporate “environmental” NGO allies, will be also very happy that about the questionable “marine protected areas” that will kick fishermen off the water but do nothing to provide true, comprehensive protection for Southern California marine waters starting New Year’s Day.
Jerry Brown and his Resources Secretary John Laird are not just continuing Schwarzenegger’s abysmal legacy by fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal and implementation of the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. They are in fact surpassing Schwarzenegger in some areas, including authorizing the record export of water out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta this year and presiding over the record “salvage” of over 11 million fish, including 9 million Sacramento splittail, at the Delta death pumps this year.
danbacher “Based on what we know about the effects of crude oil on early life stages in fish, we expected to find live embryos with abnormal heart function, so it was a surprise to find so many embryos in the shallow waters literally falling apart,” said Dr. John Incardona, a toxicologist with NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the study.
Pacific herring photo courtesy of NOAA Fisheries.
pacific_herring.jpg
by Dan Bacher
Pacific herring embryos in shallow waters died in unexpectedly high numbers following the Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay in November 2007, according to NOAA scientists and their collaborators in a study published in the scientific journal PNAS on December 26.
“The majority of embryos in samples from oiled sites were dead on examination in the laboratory,” the study’s authors wrote. The study suggests an interaction between sunlight and the chemicals in oil might be responsible for the unexpected deaths.
The study also potentially explains why the herring population in the bay declined to a record low in 2009, prompting the closure of the valuable commercial herring roe fishery. This was the first time a herring roe fishery closure was approved by the Commission since the fishery began in 1973-74.
The container ship Cosco Busan released 54,000 gallons of bunker fuel, a combination of diesel and residual fuel oil, into San Francisco Bay in November, 2007. The accident contaminated the shoreline near the spawning habitats of the largest population of Pacific herring on the West Coast, according to a statement from the NOAA Fisheries Service, Northwest Fisheries Science Center.
“In this study, scientists found that herring embryos placed in cages in relatively deep water at oiled sites developed subtle but important heart defects consistent with findings in previous studies,” said NOAA. “In contrast, almost all the embryos that naturally spawned in nearby shallower waters in the same time period died. When scientists sampled naturally-spawned embryos from the same sites two years later, mortality rates in both shallower and deeper waters had returned to pre-spill levels.”
San Francisco Bay has the largest herring spawning stock south of British Columbia and historically produces more than 90 percent of California’s herring catch. The bay herring population rebounded during the 2009-10 spawning season, due to a strong recruitment of the 2-year old herring (2007-08 year class) to the spawning population, as well as improved physical condition of the fish in the population, according to the California Department of Fish and Game.
“Based on what we know about the effects of crude oil on early life stages in fish, we expected to find live embryos with abnormal heart function, so it was a surprise to find so many embryos in the shallow waters literally falling apart,” said Dr. John Incardona, a toxicologist with NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and the study’s’ lead author.
“The study has given us a new perspective on oil threats in sunlit habitats, particularly for translucent animals such as herring embryos. The chemical composition of residual oils can vary widely, so the question remains whether we would see the same thing with other bunker fuels from around the world,” he said.
Two decades of toxicity research since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill has shown that fish embryos and larvae are particularly vulnerable to spilled oil, according to NOAA. Most catastrophic spills, such as the Exxon Valdez, involve large volumes of crude oil.
“However, residual oils used in bunker fuels are the leftovers of crude oil refining, and are not as well studied as crude oils. Bunker fuel is used in maritime shipping worldwide, and accidental bunker spills are more and more common and widespread than large crude oil spills,” NOAA reported.
The study demonstrates how fragile the waters of the Bay-Delta Estuary are – and how important it is to protect the estuary, the largest on the West Coast of the Americas, from not only oil and fuel spills, but from increased water exports out of the Delta to supply corporate agribusiness and southern California. Commercial and recreational fisheries up and down the California coast depend on a healthy Bay-Delta as a spawning ground, nursery, migratory corridor and feeding ground.
Besides Pacific herring, the estuary sustains populations of Dungeness crabs, Pacific anchovies, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, striped bass, California halibut, starry flounder, leopard sharks, sevengill sharks, soupfin sharks, white sturgeon, green sturgeon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, largemouth bass, white catfish, channel catfish and numerous other species.
However, the Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal, a government boondoggle that will lead to increased water exports to subsidized agribusiness and southern California. Delta residents, California Indian Tribes, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, family farmers, conservationists and environmental justice advocates strongly oppose the canal because it will lead to the destruction of many of the estuary’s fish species.
The study, “Unexpectedly high mortality in Pacific herring embryos exposed to the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay,” was jointly undertaken by scientists with NOAA, the Bodega Marine Lab (University of California at Davis) and Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife and will be available in the PNAS Early Edition at http://www.pnas.org.
MLPA Initiative won’t protect marine waters from oil spills
The study was released as Governor Jerry Brown and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, in the footsteps of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, are forging ahead not only with plans to build the peripheral canal, but with the implementation of controversial “marine protected areas” under the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
The corrupt initiative, overseen by a big oil lobbyist, marina developer and coastal real estate executive, fails to protect California marine waters from oil spills and drilling and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The questionable “marine protected areas” (MPAs) now in place on the Central Coast and North Central Coast – and the new MPAs that will go into effect from Point Conception to the Mexican border on January 1 – will do little or nothing from stopping another Cosco Busan, BP Horizon and Exxon Valdez type of disaster from taking place in California waters.
The MLPA Initiative won’t protect fish embryos and other marine life from oil spills and drilling because the corporate operatives who oversaw the initiative, funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, went out of their way to eliminate true, wholistic protection in the creation of so-called “marine protected areas.”
Missing from corporate media reports on the MLPA Initiative is the alarming fact that Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast that oversaw the creation of the so-called “marine protected areas” that will go into effect in on January 1. She also served on the North Coast and North Central Coast marine task forces.
Grassroots environmentalists and fishermen strongly opposed the egregious conflict of interest posed by allowing a big oil industry lobbyist to oversee the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs), especially when these MPAs fail to protect the ocean from oil drilling and spills, pollution, corporate aquaculture, military testing, wind and wave energy projects and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
In contrast, representatives of corporate environmental NGOs, funded by the Walton Family Foundation and other Wall Street-funded foundations, did nothing to contest Reheis-Boyd’s appointment as a “marine guardian.” Reheis-Boyd is a vocal advocate of new drilling off the California coast, Canadian tar sands drilling and the gutting of environmental laws, curious positions for a “marine guardian” to take.
SoCal oil co. wants to expand drilling into state waters
Dave Gurney, independent journalist and publisher of the Noyo News (http://noyonews.net) recently commented on a plan by a southern California oil company, Pacific Operators Offshore LLC, to drill further east onto state property off the coast of Carpinteria, California. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said the company could drill as many as 25 underwater wells from Platform Hogan (http://www.keyt.com/news/local/Proposal-to-Expand-Oil-Drilling-136015403.html. )
“We now witness the fruit born of a Marine Life Protection Act ‘Initiative’ that was hijacked by oil interests,” said Gurney. “A southern California oil company wants to expand its operations – from 3.7 miles out in federal waters, further east, to within the 3-mile limit of California state waters. They are proposing to drill up to 25 new offshore oil wells.”
“The southern California MLPAI Blue Ribbon Task Force was chaired by Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association,” said Gurney. “She was appointed to make sure these so-called ‘Marine Protected Areas’ did nothing to stop oil drilling or pollution. Public outcry over a blatant conflict of interest on the MLPAI’s ‘Blue Ribbon Task Force’ fell on deaf ears.”
Federal officials are evaluating the potential environmental impacts of the project. A meeting on the proposal is scheduled for January 19 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Carpinteria City Council Chambers.
For more information on NOAA, go to: http://www.noaa.gov, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/usnoaagov, or on Twitter at @NOAA_NWFSC.
For more information on the herring embryo study, contact: Dr. John Incardona, NOAA Fisheries Service, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, office (206) 860-3347, cell (206) 708-9723, email John.Incardona [at] noaa.gov.
danbacher It’s Christmas time in the city, all the lights are so pretty
But at this time of year, our leaders shed a tear
Our troops are fighting in another land
We bring a gift to the world, to every boy and every girl
We bring a yuletide war and sanctions for the poor
Our troops are fighting in another land
In ‘89 we toppled Noriega, we leveled El Chorillo to the ground
In ‘88 we fought with Dan Ortega, and Nicaragua finally tumbled down
We’ll invade sovereign borders, to impose the New World Order
Bush had a two front war, like Hitler did before
Our troops are fighting in another land
The generals are kind and jolly, they deck the missiles all with holly
What is this season for, but a time to start a war
Our troops are fighting in another land
In ‘91 our troops were in the Gulf War, nobody seemed to know just what for
This year we’ll send a greeting to the world’s poor, drones and big missiles by the score
Now we’re in the “war on terror,’ under Obama’s reign of error
We can only be free, if we have no liberties
Our troops are fighting in another land
It’s Christmas time in the city, all the lights are so pretty
But at this time of year, our leaders shed a tear
Our troops are fighting in another land
danbacher While the improvement in Delta smelt abundance this year is certainly a positive development, the alarming news about the record fish kill at the pumps this year and state and federal plans to fast-track the construction of an environmentally destructive peripheral canal or tunnel through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan overshadows this welcome information.
Photo of Delta smelt courtesy of the Department of Water Resources.
by Dan Bacher
The abundance of endangered Delta smelt, an indicator species that demonstrates the health of the imperiled Bay-Delta ecosystem, was greater in 2011 than it has been any year since 2001.
Yet state fishery biologists note that population remains a small fraction of historical abundance. “The improvement is likely due in large part to higher than usual Delta outflow which resulted in more and better habitat,” according to Marty Gingras, DFG fishery biologist, in a press release on December 23.
The high flows resulted in keeping the Delta smelt away from the state and federal pumping facilities in the South Delta, where millions of Sacramento splittail and other fish were killed this year. Only 51 Delta smelt were “salvaged” in the pumping facilities that export water to southern California water agencies and corporate growers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley in 2011.
It is exceptionally difficult to determine the actual number of Delta smelt, so Department of Fish and Game (DFG) biologists use survey data to develop “indices” of the species’ abundance, Gingras noted. An index is a number that is likely to vary in direct proportion to abundance.
The Fall Midwater Trawl Survey index of Delta smelt abundance was 343 this year while the index in 2010 was 29 and its record high was 1673 in 1970. “After a decade of record or near-record low annual abundance, the increased number of Delta smelt in 2011 is encouraging,” said Gingras.
Delta smelt occur only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas. The finger-sized fish was historically one of the most abundant in the Delta, but the species declined dramatically in recent years, due to massive water exports out of the Delta. It was listed as “threatened” under the California and Federal Endangered Species acts (ESA) in 1993. After a further decline due to increased water exports, the species was designated as “endangered” in 2010 under the California ESA.
Other fish numbers increase over 2010, but still low
The DFG survey also documented an improvement in striped bass, longfin smelt, threadfin shad and American shad indices in 2011, but the numbers of these species are also just a fraction of historical abundance. (http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/san-joaquin-river-delta/files/2011/12/2011_FMWT_Memo-2.pdf)
The striped bass index was 272 this year, compared to 43 last year and a record high of 19,677 in 1967. This year’s index was the highest since 2006.
The longfin smelt index was 477 this year, compared with 191 last year and a record high of 81,737 in 1967. This year’s index was the highest since 2006.
The threadfin shad index was 228 this year, compared with 120 last year and a record high 15,267 in 1997. This year’s index was the third lowest in the history of the survey.
Finally, the American shad index was 894 this year, compared with 683 last year and a record high of 9,360 in 2003. This year’s index was the thirteenth lowest in the survey’s history.
“Ongoing efforts to protect and recover the Delta smelt population include research on threats to the species, active management to minimize loss at water diversions under federal ESA biological opinions and a state ESA authorization, development of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, improved water quality, habitat restoration and conservation of genetic diversity through special hatchery-rearing techniques,” according to Gingras.
However, Delta advocates counter that the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal to export more water to corporate agribusiness and southern California will actually result in the destruction of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations, rather than “protecting and recovering” them. All scientific evidence points to the fact that taking more water out of the system, as the BDCP aims to do, will result in the extinction of Delta and longfin smelt, Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other imperiled species.
Why no mention of huge fish Delta fish kill?
Strangely missing from the DFG’s press releases is any mention of the fact of the huge, unprecedented fish kill that took place at the Delta pumps this year. That state and federal government agencies “salvaged” a total of 11,158,025 fish in the Delta water pumping facilities between January 1 and September 7, 2011 alone.
A horrific 8,985,009 Sacramento splittail, the largest number ever recorded, were salvaged during this period, according to DFG data. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006.
The fish “salvaged” at the “death pumps” of the state and federal water projects also include hundreds of thousands of threadfin shad, striped bass, American shad, white catfish and other species. DFG data reveals that 742,850 threadfin shad, 514,921 American shad, 496,601 striped bass and 100,373 white catfish were “salvaged” between January 1 and September 7 of this year.
Agency staff also “salvaged” 35,560 Sacramento River spring run and fall run chinooks, 1,642 Central Valley steelhead and 14 green sturgeon in the project facilities during the same period.
While no comprehensive studies have been conducted on how many of the salvaged fish survive, fish advocates believe that the majority of many species perish during and after the salvage process.
Although the salvage counts are certainly alarming, the overall loss of fish in and around the State Water Project and Central Valley Project facilities is believed to be much greater than the salvage counts. The actual loss could be 5 to 10 times the salvage numbers, according to “A Review of Delta Fish Population Losses from Pumping Operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta,” prepared by Larry Walker Associates in January 2010 for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (http://www.srcsd.com/pdf/dd/fishlosses.pdf).
A record year for water exports
The reason for the massive, unprecedented fish kill in the Delta pumps was the record amount of water exported out of the Delta this year by the Brown and Obama administrations. The pumps exported a record 6.5 million acre-feet of water in 2011, while the previous record was 6.3 million acre-feet in 2005.
“One of the reasons for the record-setting pumping is that much of the water this year went to refill the underground Kern Water Bank, largely controlled by billionaire farmer Stewart Resnick, and to the smaller Diamond Valley reservoir, which serves Southern California,” according to Mike Taugher of the Contra Costa Times. (http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19014459 )
Caleen Sisk-Franco, the Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, who is working on an innovative plan to restore winter run chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Lake Shasta, was appalled by the millions of fish killed in the state and federal water export facilities in 2011.
“I am just wondering why it is okay to have the largest fish kill going on in the Delta and no one notices,” said Sisk-Franco. “There are more endangered fish killed every day in the Delta pumps that are supposed to be protected. Try catching one of them to eat, and see how fast you get in trouble, but just let them swim into the Delta pumps and no one is trying to save them!”
Sisk-Franco asked, “How many dead fish is too many? Who will speak up for the fish? Everything is connected and soon we will understand what this fish kill means to the human beings.”
While the improvement in Delta smelt abundance this year is certainly a positive development, the alarming news about the record fish kill at the pumps this year and state and federal plans to fast-track the construction of an environmentally destructive peripheral canal or tunnel through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan overshadows this welcome information.
Governor Jerry Brown and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird have not only continued the absmal environmental policies of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger by advancing Schwarzenegger’s campaigns to build the peripheral canal under the BDCP and to set up controversial “marine protected areas” under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative. They have, in fact, exceeded the fish-killing policies of Schwarzenegger by authorizing record water exports and presiding over a record fish kill at the Delta pumps in 2011.
danbacher “We now witness the fruit born of a Marine Life Protection Act ‘Initiative’ that was hijacked by oil interests,” said Dave Gurney, independent journalist. “A southern California oil company wants to expand it’s operations – from 3.7 miles out in federal waters, further east, to within the 3-mile limit of California state waters. They are proposing to drill up to 25 new offshore oil wells.”
640_scmpas_1.jpg
by Dan Bacher
As officials and advocates of the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative are celebrating the Department of Fish and Game’s announcement that controversial new “marine protected areas” on the Southern California coast will become effective on January 1, an oil company drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel announced that it wants to expand its operations into state waters.
Pacific Operators Offshore LLC wants to drill further east onto state property off the coast of Carpinteria, California, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. “Federal officials say the company could drill as many as 25 underwater wells from Platform Hogan,” reported keyt.com on December 22 (http://www.keyt.com/news/local/Proposal-to-Expand-Oil-Drilling-136015403.html.
Federal officials are evaluating the potential environmental impacts of the project. A meeting on the proposal is scheduled for January 19 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Carpinteria City Council Chambers.
Comments may be submitted by mail to Carpinteria EIS Coordinator, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Pacific OCS Region, 770 Paseo Camarillo, Camarillo, CA 93010-6064. They can also be sent by email to carpinteriaredevelopment [at] mrsenv.com.
MLPA panel chaired by big oil lobbyist
Rarely mentioned in corporate media reports on the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative fiasco is the alarming fact that Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast that oversaw the creation of the so-called “marine protected areas” that will go into effect on January 1. She also served on the North Coast and North Central Coast marine task forces.
Grassroots environmentalists and fishermen strongly opposed the egregious conflict of interest posed by allowing a big oil industry lobbyist to oversee the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs), especially when these MPAs fail to protect the ocean from oil drilling and spills, pollution, corporate aquaculture, military testing, wind and wave energy projects and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
In contrast, representatives of corporate environmental NGOs, funded by the Walton Family Foundation and other Wall Street-funded foundations, did nothing to contest Reheis-Boyd’s appointment as a “marine guardian.” Reheis-Boyd is a vocal advocate of new drilling off the California coast, Canadian tar sands drilling and the gutting of environmental laws.
Dave Gurney, independent journalist and publisher of the http://noyonews.net, is not surprised that the oil company wants to expand its operations at the same time that the new “marine protected areas” will go into effect.
“We now witness the fruit born of a Marine Life Protection Act ‘Initiative’ that was hijacked by oil interests,” said Gurney. “A southern California oil company wants to expand its operations – from 3.7 miles out in federal waters, further east, to within the 3-mile limit of California state waters. They are proposing to drill up to 25 new offshore oil wells.”
“The southern California MLPAI Blue Ribbon Task Force was chaired by Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association,” said Gurney. “She was appointed to make sure these so-called ‘Marine Protected Areas’ did nothing to stop oil drilling or pollution. Public outcry over a blatant conflict of interest on the MLPAI’s ‘Blue Ribbon Task Force’ fell on deaf ears.”
Conflicts of interest abound
Unfortunately, the MLPA task forces include other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interests, including a marina operator and coastal real estate executive, serving as “marine guardians.”
William (Bill) Anderson, who served with Reheis-Boyd on the South Coast, North Central Coast and North Coast task forces, has been president and chief operating officer of Westrec Marinas since 1989. Westrec Marinas is the nation’s largest owner and operator of waterfront marinas.
Anderson’s conflict of interest arises from the fact that his business could potentially profit from where marine protected areas are or are not located.
Gregory F. Schem, who served with Reheis-Boyd on the South Coast and North Coast task forces, is president and chief executive officer of Harbor Real Estate Group, specializing in marina and waterfront real estate investments, including a marina, fuel dock, and boat yard in Marina del Rey, in addition to other California assets.
Like Anderson, Schem’s company and investments could also potentially profit from where MPAs are or are not located.
“Schem has had a successful career in the national real estate market as an investor, developer and manager, including the re-development of loft residential units and hotels in Los Angeles, marinas, office buildings, shopping centers and industrial facilities,” according to the DFG website (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/brtf_bios_sc.asp). “Schem has acquired in excess of $2.5 billion in real estate assets on behalf of private and public pension funds, banking institutions, and private investment groups.”
However, the biggest conflict of interest in the MLPA Initiative is the private funding of the process through the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. “Five non-profits, including one based in Laguna Beach, donated a total of $20 million to see the drafting process to completion since the state legislature never budgeted adequate funding for the marine-protection law, which was enacted in 1999,” according to Ted Reckas in his article, “Marine Hearings Buoyed by Nonprofits, in the Laguna Independent (http://www.lbindy.com/2011/02/11/marine-hearings-buoyed-by-nonprofits/)
A corrupt ‘public-private’ partnership
The Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, a shadowy organization that funds the MLPA Initiative through a “public-private partnership” with the DFG, received the funds from these foundations to implement the unpopular MLPA process.
The David and Lucillle Packard Foundation contributed $8.2 million to fund MLPA hearings, according to Reckas. The Packard Foundation is not only the biggest funder of the MLPA, but also funded studies to build the peripheral canal, including the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) report in July 2008 calling for the construction of a canal. The peripheral canal is opposed by a coalition of fishermen, environmentalists, Indian Tribes, family farmers and Delta residents.
Julie E. Packard, the executive director and founder of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the foundation. Carol S. Larson is the President and Chief Executive Officer, while Susan Packard Orr serves as Chairman.
The Laguna Beach-based Marisla Foundation, founded by Getty Oil heiress Anne Getty Earhart, gave another $3 million over several years, according to the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. “The most recent tax records show Marisla donated $12 million in 2008 to 50 causes, including $1.1 million towards the MLPA. A foundation spokeswoman declined comment,” noted Reckas.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation donated $7.4 million. Gordon and Betty Moore are the founders of the Foundation, and Gordon also serves as chairman of the board. Gordon Moore is co-founder of Intel Corporation and Chairman Emeritus of the Corporation’s Board of Directors. Prior to Intel, Gordon co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957.
The Keith Campbell Foundation’s contributed $1.2 million. D. Keith Campbell founded Campbell and Company in 1972, and currently serves as Chairman of its Board of Directors.
“Campbell and Company is now one of the largest derivative investment managers in the world. Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, it employs more than 130 skilled professionals, and manages approximately thirteen billion dollars. Its worldwide client base includes institutions, corporation, and individuals,” according to the foundation’s website.
Finally, the Annenberg Foundation contributed $200,000. The Annenberg Foundation is a private foundation established in 1989. It is the successor corporation to the Annenberg School at Radnor, Pennsylvania founded in 1958 by Walter H. Annenberg.
Walmart greenwashes MPAs, catch shares
Wal-Mart, through the Walton Family Foundation, is another huge contributor to ocean privatization efforts through “catch shares” programs and the creation of so-called “marine protected areas” including those created under the MLPA Initiative. (http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/08/19/wal-marting-the-oceans)
In a August 16 news release from Walmart corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, the Walton Family Foundation announced “investments” totaling more than $71.8 million awarded to various environmental initiatives in 2010. The foundation handed over $36 million alone to Marine Conservation grantees including Ocean Conservancy, Conservation International Foundation, Marine Stewardship Council, World Wildlife Fund and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
The five top grantees were: Conservation International, $18,640,917; the Nature Conservancy,$9,305,449; Environmental Defense Fund, $7,086,054; the Marine Stewardship Council, $4,500,000; and the Ocean Conservancy, $3,757,768.
There is no doubt that the MLPA Initiative and other similar corporate-funded efforts have little or nothing to do with protecting the ocean – and everything to do with the privatization of the public trust by the 1 percent.
“The MLPA is the beginning of the privatization of our natural resources in California where, in an underhanded and illegal way, the decisions have been taken from the people and put into the hands of the ocean industrialists,” said Barbara Stephens-Lewallen, well-respected North Coast environmental leader from Philo in Mendocino County.
danbacher If Brown and Salazar are so committed to ensuring “a fair, open and transparent” BDCP process, why did it require a California Public Records Act Request to find out that Westlands’ Deputy Manager was surreptitiously inserted into the Department of Water Resources to guide writing the permit that would give more of the public’s water to Westlands?
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by Dan Bacher
California Governor Jerry Brown and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on December 19 reaffirmed their “strong mutual resolve” to moving forward with the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal, in spite of strong opposition by Delta advocates.
They also “reinforced their joint commitment to effective action to achieve the dual goals of a healthy San Francisco Bay Delta ecosystem and a reliable water supply for California,” the same dual goals that doomed the CalFed program to failure.
Brown and Salazar announced several minor changes that they claimed will “ensure a fair, open and transparent process” and “a full opportunity for input by all interested parties” in the development of a plan to address the future of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas. These changes included revisions to the draft BDCP Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that they contend are “responsive to the comments received by a wide range of water stakeholders in recent weeks.”
“It is clear that our Delta ecosystem needs repair and restoration,” said Governor Brown. “We shouldn’t wait for a natural disaster to force our hand. This agreement takes us in the right direction to protect California’s water supply.”
“Successfully developing a science-based Bay Delta Conservation Plan holds the promise of breaking from the unsustainable status quo and being a game-changer for California,” said Secretary Salazar. “That is why the Obama administration is joining with Governor Brown and recommitting funding and technical assistance to support what could become the largest restoration project in history.” (http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Governor-Brown-and-Secretary-Salazar-Reaffirm-Commitment-to-Bay-Delta-Conservation-Plan.cfm)
However, Congressman Jerry McNerney wasn’t impressed with the Brown and Obama administration claims that they were going to “ensure a fair, open and transparent process” under the BDCP.
“I am disappointed and upset that the Department of the Interior has decided to move forward with this Memorandum of Agreement,” said McNerney. “Despite a few changes, the MOA remains deeply flawed and is an affront to the people of the Delta communities.”
“From its inception, the Bay Delta Plan has been crafted by, and for, water exporters from Southern California. They have used their economic power to influence the state and federal governments, and the Delta communities will suffer as a result,” said McNerney.
“Make no mistake, the Delta communities and I will never accept a Bay Delta Plan that includes a peripheral canal that was conceived without our input. I will continue to stand with the families, farmers, and small business owners of the San Joaquin Delta whose livelihoods would be destroyed by a peripheral canal,” emphasized McNerney.
Incredibly, Brown and Salazar issued their statement claiming that they would ensure “a fair, open and transparent process” just days after I revealed that an employee of the Westlands Water District is currently working “on loan” for the Department of Water Resources (DWR) on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan!
Documents obtained by this reporter under the California Public Records Act reveal that Susan Ramos, Deputy General Manager of the Westlands Water District, was hired in an inter-jurisdictional personal exchange agreement between the Department of Water Resources and Westlands Water District from November 15, 2009 through December 31, 2010. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/12/14/westlands-official-working-for-dwr-on-delta-plan)
The contract was extended to run through December 31, 2011 and again to continue through December 31, 2012. The maximum amount to be paid in the agreement for the entire period is listed as $652,180.54.
Ramos “will serve as a liaison between all relevant parties surrounding the Delta Habitat Conservation and Conveyance Program (DHCCP) and provide technical and strategic assistance to DWR, in cooperation with all appropriate Federal and State Water Contractors, on a variety of matters based on her experience working with the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, federal contractors and others,” according to the agreement (Contract 4600008672).
The justification for contracting out Ramos, rather than employing a current state employee in the position, was provided in the contract signed by Richard Sanchez, the Chief of the DWR’s Division of Engineering, on September 14, 2011.
“Ms. Ramos possesses specialized knowledge and has experience working with the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and federal contractors. The technical and strategic assistance that will be provided by the Contractor cannot be performed satisfactorily by State civil service employees,” the contract stated.
If Brown and Salazar are so committed to ensuring “a fair, open and transparent” BDCP process, why did it require a California Public Records Act Request to find out that Westlands’ Deputy Manager was surreptitiously inserted into the Department of Water Resources to guide writing the permit that would give more of the public’s water to Westlands?
The news of Ramos’ service on loan from Westlands followed the disturbing disclosure that the California Department of Water Resources hired Laura King Moon, the Assistant General Manager of the State Water Contractors, to assist in the completion of the controversial Bay Delta Conservation Plan. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/10/25/state-hires-water-contractor-rep-to-help-oversee-bay-delta-plan/)
Delta residents, fishermen, Indian Tribes, conservationists, family farmers and environmental justice advocates are opposed to the peripheral canal because it would result in the export of more northern California water to corporate agribusiness and southern California. The canal’s construction would likely lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail and other imperiled species.
danbacher Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the MLPA Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast that created the new “marine protected areas.” Reheis-Boyd, while representing the interests of big oil companies, also served on the North Coast and North Central Coast task forces.
Map of North Central Coast “marine protected areas.” Coastside Fishing Club has filed an appeal with California’s 4th District Court of Appeal in its challenge of MLPA regulations adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission for the North Central Coast.
by Dan Bacher
An appeal of an unfavorable court ruling gives California’s fishing and boating community renewed hope for overturning regulations imposed under the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
A coalition of fishing and boating groups, the Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), announced on December 15 that the legal challenge against the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process is not yet over.
Coastside Fishing Club, one of the three petitioners in litigation before the San Diego Superior Court challenging MLPA regulations adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission for the North Central Coast, filed an appeal with California’s 4th District Court of Appeal.
“Regulations to close large areas of southern California’s coastal waters to fishing will likely go into effect in January 2012, and the appeal process will likely last until late 2012,” according to a news release from the coalition.
A December 15 press release from the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) said the controversial new “marine protected areas” (MPAs) will go into effect Jan. 1, 2012 on the Southern California coast from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the U.S./Mexico border. In spite of strong opposition from fishermen and grassroots environmental advocates, the state Office of Administrative Law (OAL) on December 8 approved the regulatory package put forward by the California Fish and Game Commission that sets rules and boundaries for the south coast MPAs.
Coastside’s appeal arises from the denial by Judge Ronald Prager on October 17, 2011 of its request for a Writ of Mandate voiding MLPA regulations adopted by the commission for California’s North Central Coast in 2009 based on legal defects in implementing California law. After a careful review, Coastside concluded that Judge Prager’s ruling is inconsistent with the mandates of the law as established by the legislature.
The outcome of the appeal of Judge Prager’s ruling on the North Central Coast regulations would likely influence the resolution of a similar challenge to the validity of the South Coast regulations brought in the same lawsuit by Coastside’s co-plaintiffs, United Anglers of Southern California and Robert C. Fletcher.
“It’s in the best interests of all Californians that our state’s laws be implemented in a fair and even-handed manner as the legislature directs,” said Rick Ross, Coastside’s president. “Coastside intends to pursue this legitimate goal through all available legal means. We strongly believe in the merits of our case, and the appeal process provides a fresh opportunity to have our claims considered in a different forum.”
On the same day, the coalition launched a new website, http://www.SaveCAFishing.org, to raise awareness of the legal challenge against the badly flawed MLPA process and to provide an opportunity for all anglers, boaters and anyone interested in a fair legal process to contribute to the effort.
Under the “Donate” section of the site, individuals can contribute $5 or more a month on a recurring basis, or make a one-time donation. All proceeds will directly support legal action to keep California’s healthy and abundance coastal waters open to sportfishing.
“The only true hope California’s fishing and boating community has left to stop these impending marine protected areas from existing in perpetuity is to support our legal effort,” said Dave Elm, chairman of United Anglers of Southern California. “The SaveCAFishing.org website provides a simple, convenient way to support our efforts on an ongoing basis. I challenge all anglers and anyone that supports public access to public resources to donate to our effort to ensure sustainable recreational activities are allowed to continue in California’s coastal waters.”
“A single fishing trip may cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, but a simple $5 or more monthly contribution to the legal effort against the MLPA process may be the most important investment anglers can make to ensure the continuation of the sport for current and future generations,” concluded Elm.
Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the MLPA Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast that created the new “marine protected areas.” Reheis-Boyd, while representing the interests of big oil companies, also served on the North Coast and North Central Coast task forces. Reheis-Boyd is a huge supporter of new offshore oil rigs, Canadian tars sands drilling and the weakening of environmental laws.(http://redgreenandblue.org/2011/01/13/why-is-a-big-oil-lobbyist-in-charge-of-californias-marine-protection-program)
Reheis-Boyd, along with a marina developer, real estate executive and other political hacks with numerous conflicts of interest, oversaw the creation of these marine protected areas that fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, pollution, corporate aquaculture, wave and wind energy projects, military testing and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The MLPA Initiative fiasco is privately funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation (RLFF), a private corporation supplied with money from Wall Street-funded foundations (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/02/18/the-corporate-money-behind-the-mlpa-initiative). The initiative was implemented in a controversial “public-private” partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the DFG and RLFF initiated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004.
Ironically, the California Fish and Game Wardens Association has opposed the creation of new marine protected areas until sufficient funding to patrol the existing ones is found. This is why rank-and-file game wardens refer to the MPAs as “Marine Poaching Areas.”
John Stephens-Lewallen, the North Coast environmental leader who co-founded the Ocean Protection Coalition and North Coast Seaweed Rebellion and has been a vocal critic of the MLPA process, commented, “People need access to sustainable ocean food for nutritional health and our livelihood. We can’t let these areas, closed by a corrupt private process, keep us from exercising our fundamental rights and duties to have access to sustainable food from the ocean.”
John, a supporter of the litigation against the MLPA Initiative, is currently an independent candidate for Congress in the Second Congressional District.
“The MLPA is the beginning of the privatization of our natural resources in California where, in an underhanded and illegal way, the decisions have been taken from the people and put into the hands of the ocean industrialists,” said Barbara Stephens-Lewallen, John’s wife and co-owner of Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company.
Final regulations and maps for all MPAs can be found here: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/scmpas_list.asp.
danbacher The DFG release failed to mention that Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast that created the new marine protected areas. Reheis-Boyd is a huge supporter of new offshore oil rigs, Canadian tars sands drilling and the weakening of environmental laws.
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by Dan Bacher
Controversial new “marine protected areas” (MPAs), developed under the oversight of a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, and real estate executive, will go into effect Jan. 1, 2012 on the Southern California coast from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the U.S./Mexico border.
In spite of strong opposition from fishermen and grassroots environmental advocates, the state Office of Administrative Law (OAL) on December 8 approved the regulatory package put forward by the California Fish and Game Commission that sets rules and boundaries for the south coast MPAs, according to a news release from the California Department of Fish and Game.
“Nearly one year ago the Commission adopted regulations to create a suite of MPAs in the south coast region,” the DFG claimed. “Developed pursuant to the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), this network of 50 MPAs (including 13 pre-existing MPAs retained at the northern Channel Islands) and two special closures covers approximately 354 square miles of state waters and represents approximately 15 percent of the region.”
“On Jan. 1, Department of Fish and Game (DFG) wardens will begin enforcing regulations in the MPAs. Wardens will take appropriate enforcement actions starting on that day, which could include education, warning, citation or arrest depending on the violation. In MPAs where commercial lobster fishing will be prohibited, commercial lobster traps may remain in the water until Jan. 6 if the door or doors to such traps are wired open, the trap is unbaited, the buoy remains at the surface of the ocean and no attempt is made to take spiny lobsters,” the release continued.
Final regulations and maps for all MPAs can be found here: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/scmpas_list.asp.
The DFG release failed to mention that Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast that created the new “marine protected areas.” Reheis-Boyd is a huge supporter of new offshore oil rigs, Canadian tars sands drilling and the weakening of environmental laws.(http://redgreenandblue.org/2011/01/13/why-is-a-big-oil-lobbyist-in-charge-of-californias-marine-protection-program)
Reheis-Boyd, along with a marina developer, real estate executive and other political hacks with numerous conflicts of interest, oversaw the creation of these marine protected areas that fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, pollution, corporate aquaculture, wave and wind energy projects, military testing and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The release also did not mention that the MLPA Initiative fiasco was privately funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, a private corporation supplied with money from Wall Street-funded foundations. Safeway Stores and Walmart, through the Walton Family Foundation, are also strong supporters of this classic example of corporate greenwashing. (http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/30/the-worst-of-the-one-percent)
In addition, the release failed to note that the California Fish and Game Wardens Association has opposed the creation of new marine protected areas until sufficient funding to patrol the existing ones is found. This is why rank-and-file game wardens refer to the MPAs as “Marine Poaching Areas.”
Those who believe in environmental justice, democracy and true, wholistic marine protection – as opposed to privately funded green washing – believe that January 1, 2012 will be a very sad day.
Jeff Krieger, avid Southern California kayak angler and conservationist, noted, “I’m going to kayak fish and visit the Point Dume area this weekend and say goodbye, since this area closes on January 1. This sucks and is not a victory for the 99%! It is more like a water grab by the 1%, in my mind!”
“People need access to sustainable ocean food for nutritional health and our livelihood,” commented John Stephens-Lewallen, the North Coast environmental leader who co-founded the Ocean Protection Coalition and North Coast Seaweed Rebellion and has been a vocal critic of the MLPA process. “We can’t let these areas, closed by a corrupt private process, keep us from exercising our fundamental rights and duties to have access to sustainable food from the ocean.”
John is currently an independent candidate for Congress in the Second Congressional District (http://www.johnlewallenforcongress.org).
“The MLPA is the beginning of the privatization of our natural resources in California where, in an underhanded and illegal way, the decisions have been taken from the people and put into the hands of the ocean industrialists,” said Barbara Stephens-Lewallen, John’s wife and co-owner of Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company.
DFG’s MPA mobile website, located at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/m/MPA, will also be updated to reflect the new MPAs going into effect Jan. 1. The mobile website allows the public to search for any current MPA by name, county or general area to find information about the MPA’s boundaries and regulations, and use an interactive map to locate any MPA and learn about its boundaries and regulations.
Mobile device users can also find and track their current location using the devices GPS, locate the closest MPA(s) to determine whether or not the user is currently located within an MPA, and read a summary of regulations or the complete regulations for any MPA.
For more information on the south coast MPAs or MLPA, please visit http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/southcoast.asp.
Add Your Comments
danbacher “Congress needs to step in because the Food & Drug Administration seems set on approving this first transgenic animal to enter the food chain, even though nearly all of the safety studies they are scrutinizing have been conducted by AquaBounty, the company that has sunk tens of millions of dollars into the research and development of the product,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch.
geneticallyengineeredsalm…
by Dan Bacher
Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch, welcomed the hearing that a U.S. Senate Subcommittee will hold on the environmental impacts of genetically engineered salmon on December 15 – but said that Congress needs to investigate the human health impacts of GE salmon.
The hearing of the Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard Subcommittee can be viewed live starting at 10:30 a.m. today at the commerce committee’s website:http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Home.
“The Senate hearing today called by Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) to discuss the environmental impact of genetically engineered (GE) salmon is a welcome development,” said Hauter. “Congress also needs to examine what we know about the human health impacts of consuming such laboratory creations. If they did, they’d figure out the answer: not much.”
Hauter noted that no long-term studies have been conducted regarding the human health impacts of consuming genetically modified foods, including “Frankenfish.”
“Congress needs to step in because the Food & Drug Administration seems set on approving this first transgenic animal to enter the food chain, even though nearly all of the safety studies they are scrutinizing have been conducted by AquaBounty, the company that has sunk tens of millions of dollars into the research and development of the product,” said Hauter.
“That hasn’t kept the federal government from also dispensing tax payer money—to the tune of $2.4 million since 2003—to help this private company commercialize a product there is no demand for. In fact, over 78 percent of Americans say they don’t want it approved without further study,” noted Hauter.
On September 20, Food and Water Watch conducted a pool with Lake Research Partners showing that 78 % of Americans believe AquaBounty’s GE salmon product should not be approved for human consumption. Opposition grows even stronger for genetically engineered meat, with 91 % saying the FDA should not allow transgenic pigs, chicken and cattle into the food supply until the agency could perform its own safety studies.
“Approving GE salmon now, given the information we lack about its potential effects, could be devastating for consumers, the environment, and fishermen alike,” Hauter concluded.
“This will be the biggest disaster set loose by humans to destroy Chinook, which in turn destroys our water ways and all that depend on it, including humans,” said Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “No big corporation like AquaBounty should be allowed to do this to the public trust. GE salmon will cause additional unanticipated harms that AquaBounty does not want the public to know. They just want people to eat this inferior FrankenFish!!
“Tell your Congress to step up and stop the Food and Drug Administration from approving FrankenFish!” Sisk-Franco urged.
The fishery collapsed due to a combination of factors, including record water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, poor ocean conditions and declining water quality.
Meanwhile, the same Obama administration that is fast-tracking the FDA approval of Frankenfish is also forging ahead with a controversial plan to build a peripheral canal or tunnel to export more northern California water to southern California water agencies and San Joaquin Valley agribusiness. Delta advocates believe that the peripheral canal will lead to the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other imperiled fish populations.
Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy organization, works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.
For more information, contact: Darcey Rakestraw, 202-683-2467; drakestraw [at] fwwatch.org, http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org.
