danbacher “There is a revolving door at the Department of Water Resources for water contractors to move in and out of positions within the Department,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. “It is akin to the way lobbyists move in and out of government positions in Washington D.C. As more Californians learn about how a small group of special interests control our water future, their anger will match that of the general public toward lobbyists.”
Photo of Clifton Court Forebay on the South Delta, the body of water created in 1969 that serves as the Mile Zero intake point of the California Aqueduct and feeds the Delta–Mendota Canal. Photo courtesy of the Department of Water Resources (DWR).
By Dan Bacher
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.
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.
The contract was extended to run through December 31, 2011 and again to continue through December 31, 2012.
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).
“Under the direction of Raphael Torres, Ms. Ramos shall work cooperatively with other DWR/DHCCP Executives. Ms. Ramos shall apply her knowledge and experience with State and Federal Water Contactors and/or initiatives as they relate to DHCCP or Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) in support of the success of the DHCCP,” the contract continued.
The maximum amount to be paid in the agreement for the entire period is listed as $652,180.54, She will be paid the same monthly labor rate, $17,444.50, as she would be in her position as Deputy General Manager, from March 1, 2011 to December 31, 2012.
Ramos, a former U.S. Bureau of Reclamation official, made $165,000 a year in her job at Westlands in 2009 (http://www.lloydgcarter.com/content/110706500_nice-payday-top-westlands-officials).
Why was Ramos, rather than a current state employee, hired for the project?
The justification for contracting out, as provided in the contract signed by Richard Sanchez, the Chief of the DWR’s Division of Engineering, on September 14, 2011, is “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.”
A phone call and email to the Westlands Water District regarding Ramos’ status was not returned.
Westlands, the largest water district in the U.S., is known for the numerous lawsuits that they have launched against fish restoration on the Sacramento, San Joaquin and Trinity rivers and their continual lobbying of the state and federal governments for increased water exports from the California Delta. Corporate growers in the district, located on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, use subsidized water from the federal Central Valley Project to irrigate drainage impaired land laced with selenium and other toxic salts.
Hiring of Westlands official draws fire from conservation groups
News of Ramos’ employment by DWR while on loan from Westlands drew outrage from representatives of fishing and environmental groups and Indian Tribes.
Dick Pool, president of Water for Fish, said, “The Department of Water Resources is supposed to be looking out for the water interests of everybody in the state. This and other actions point to the fact that DWR is working with Westlands and a few other water contractors to the detriment of fish and every other water interest.”
“Susan Ramos’ hiring by the Department of Water Resources is a classic example of the revolving door between government agencies and water districts controlled by mega-corporate farms such as Westlands,” said Tom Stokely, Water Policy Analyst for the California Water Impact Network. “It further erodes public confidence at a time when distrust of government is at an all time high. We can be sure the public’s interests will not be protected.”
News of Ramos working for DWR followed the revelation that recently retired federal judge Oliver Wanger was planning to represent Westlands in a lawsuit filed against it by fishing and environmental groups and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. However, political pressure and a series of negative editorials convinced apparently convinced Wanger to withdraw from the case. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/12/06/wanger-backs-out-of-representing-westlands-water-district)
The news of Ramos’ service on loan from Westlands also follows the alarming disclosure that the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) 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 (BDCP). (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/10/25/state-hires-water-contractor-rep-to-help-oversee-bay-delta-plan/)
In a letter to Assemblymember Jared Huffman on October 13, Natural Resources Secretary John Laird attempted to explain King Moon’s status with DWR.
“Ms. Moon is working for the California Department of Water Resources, serving on loan from the State Water Contractors until the completion of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan,” said Laird. “She is responsible to and represents DWR solely, and is subject to all DWR rules, protocols and confidentiality agreements.”
Conflicts of interests have become normalized
Michael Preston, spokesman for the Winnemem Wintu Tribe and a UC Berkeley Junior studying Society and the Environment and Native American Studies, commented, “It’s outrageous that these conflicts of interests have become normalized.”
“People have come to accept these political moves, without any consideration for the Tribal, fishing, small farming and other communities impacted by these processes, as normal,” stated Preston.
Preston’s tribe is now engaged in a campaign to reintroduce the winter run chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Shasta Dam and to stop a controversial federal plan to raise Shasta Dam.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, also commented on the latest Brown administration scandal in the context of increasing conflicts of interest and corruption in California water politics.
“I think the hiring of Susan Ramos exemplifies the nexus between corporate agribusiness and government in California and how a very small percent of Californians control the public interest through water,” she stated.
“There is a revolving door at the Department of Water Resources for water contractors to move in and out of positions within the Department,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. “It is akin to the way lobbyists move in and out of government positions in Washington D.C. As more Californians learn about how a small group of special interests control our water future, their anger will match that of the general public toward lobbyists.”
“A couple of years ago we would encounter a potential conflict of interest every six months. Now we find a new conflict of interest nearly every day,” she quipped.
What about transparency?
Advocates of openness and transparency in government contend the cases of Susan Ramos, Oliver Wanger and Laura King-Moon exemplify how corporate interests completely dominate water politics in California at tremendous expense to the public trust.
Ironically, the Brown and Obama administrations recently committed themselves to being more open and transparent regarding the controversial BDCP process.
According to a news release on November 29, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the California Natural Resources Agency and the California Department of Water Resources announced a “first step” in responding to public comments on a draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with California water agencies that “will enhance transparency in developing the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) by speeding access to draft technical documents. This initial step will be followed by additional responses to public comments that have been filed on the MOA.”
“Our expectation is that broad stakeholder understanding of its scientific underpinnings will improve their engagement in both the plan and its implementation,” claimed Secretary of Natural Resources John Laird. “Fish, farmers and the 25 million average Californians who rely on the San Francisco-San Joaquin Delta for water deserve nothing less.”
Laird continued: “One thing is absolutely clear as review of the comments on the MOA have begun — no one wants even the appearance of a special advantage.”
However, if the state and federal governments are so committed to “enhancing transparency” and avoiding creating “even the appearance of a special advantage” under the BDCP, Delta advocates are asking why it required 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?
Supporters of the Delta and transparency in government are now asking, “What else are the state and federal governments hiding?”
“We couldn’t make up the numerous conflicts of interests between those who want the water and the Department of Water Resources if we tried,” summed up Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla. “Truth once again is stranger than fiction.”
danbacher Steven Joseph Carter, known as “Joe,” spent five days in jail for occupying a tree! Photo courtesy of Occupy Sacramento.
joe_occupies_a_tree.jpg
by Dan Bacher
Steven Joseph Carter, the tree sitter at Cesar Chavez Park who spent parts of three days in a tree in solidarity with Occupy Sacramento, was released from jail on Tuesday, December 13 on his own recognizance.
The protester spent five days in Sacramento County Jail after his arrest, the longest any of the activists arrested by police has been jailed in the city of Sacramento’s campaign against Occupy Sacramento and the First Amendment.
On Human Rights Day, December 10, Occupy Sacramento activists marched on the jail to demand the freedom of Carter and to protest the police brutality, violence and abuses that occur at the facility daily.
Carter, who was held on $16,000 bail since last Friday, is being charged with misdemeanor counts of curfew and “impeding an arrest.” The charges carry up to 18 months in jail, according to Occupy Sacramento Legal Committee coordinator Cres Vellucci.
He is being represented by the Public Defender office. His next court date is February 29, 2012.
“In total now, after 24 arrests last week, there have been 111 arrests at the Park. None have been successfully prosecuted,” emphasized Vellucci. “The City Monday dismissed charges against nine people who were supposed to go to trial Tuesday.”
Occupy Sacramento activists called Monday’s dismissals a victory for the First Amendment.
“We have said all along, and our lawyers have argued, that this local ordinance that proclaims the Bill of Rights only relevant before 11 p.m. weeknights or midnight on weekends is unconstitutional,” said Vellucci. “We think the City of Sacramento knows that and does not want to see it challenged in a court of law.”
The crackdown on the First Amendment by the cities of Sacramento, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Francisco and others across the country is apparently part of a nationally coordinated campaign by the Department of Homeland Security and other federal law enforcement agencies in collaboration with local police departments, as exposed by author Naomi Wolf in her November 25 article in the UK Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/25/shocking-truth-about-crackdown-occupy),
“So, when you connect the dots, properly understood, what happened this week is the first battle in a civil war; a civil war in which, for now, only one side is choosing violence,” wrote Wolf. “It is a battle in which members of Congress, with the collusion of the American president, sent violent, organised suppression against the people they are supposed to represent.”
The ultimate irony is that while the City of Sacramento and the “leadership” of other cities across the country continue to wage their war against the Occupy movement, the First Amendment and Bill of Rights, the Wall Street criminals continue to profit off their bailouts by the Obama and Bush regimes after having violated a plethora of state and federal laws.
In this unjust oligarchy, defenders of the Constitution are arrested and brutalized for standing up for the law while the real criminals not only go free, but are rewarded for their criminal behavior. The police agencies are effectively serving as the private security forces for the Wall Street banksters who should be locked up in federal prison.
For more information, contact: Cres Vellucci, 916-996-9170, news0058 [at] comcast.net, http://www.occupysac.org/
danbacher
Just like the Dolphin Group has nothing to do with saving sea creatures, the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta has nothing to do with “sustaining” the fish, people and the communities of the Delta.
Photo of swimming bottlenose dolphins courtesy of NOAA.
by Dan Bacher
“The Dolphin Group” would at first appear to be a group of environmental activists dedicated to looking out for the welfare of dolphins or other aquatic creatures.
However, it is in reality a 30+ year-old political consulting firm with offices in Los Angeles and Sacramento, revealed Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. The Dolphin Group specializes “in helping clients identify challenges and opportunities, anticipate and navigate potential problems and to fulfill and leverage public affairs objectives.”
“Founded in 1974, the Dolphin Group has played an integral role in steering public policy debates to the benefits of its clients for more than three decades. Since its inception as a political consulting firm, it has evolved to meet the changing dynamics of today’s world to become one of California’s oldest and most respected public affairs firms,” the group’s website proclaims. (http://dolphingroup.org/The_Dolphin_Group/The_Dolphin_Group___Home.html)
“Our clients include Key Fortune 500 companies, major land developers and many of California’s leading agricultural and business organizations that are often at the forefront, willingly or unwillingly, of some of the most debated and contentious issues facing businesses today, including health care policy, environmental regulations and land use issues. Our clients’ businesses are often the most demanding and scrutinized industries in the nation.”
Among other clients, Dolphin Group has worked for the Philip Morris tobacco company, including running the unsuccessful campaign for Proposition 188, a 1994 California ballot initiative bankrolled by big tobacco interests, according to Source Watch ( http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group).
Dolphin Group President Michael Boccadoro is also listed as the spokesman for the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta on a press release earlier this year. “The occasion was then-Judge Oliver Wanger’s approval of a settlement agreement in a case filed by the Coalition against the California Department of Fish and Game,” she noted. “The subject was striped bass predation on salmon.”
“We applaud the Department of Fish and Game for coming together with us to develop a solution to the significant negative impact striped bass have on the Delta ecosystem,” said Coalition for a Sustainable Delta spokesman Michael Boccadoro on March 17, 2011. “Predation by non-native species such as the striped bass is one of the most clear-cut stressors on endangered Delta fisheries and addressing this problem is a vital step toward creating a sustainable future for the Delta estuary.” (http://www.sustainabledelta.com/pdf/Stripedbassrelease031711.pdf)
The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta is the agribusiness Astroturf group that has sued the Department of Fish Game over its fishing regulations protecting striped bass, claiming that striped bass predation, not excessive Delta water exports, is responsible for declining Central Valley salmon and Delta smelt populations, in spite of lack of any credible scientific evidence to prove this claim.
“They want to sustain the Delta as an ongoing source of water and more water for export for large corporate agribusiness in the Central Valley, and new development in the desert -all at the expense of Delta communities,” Barrigan-Parrilla noted.
The Coalition was founded by three executives from Paramount Farms, owned by agribusiness tycoon Stewart Resnick, to curtail pumping restrictions under the Endangered Species Act that protect Central Valley salmon and Delta fish so they can divert more water from the estuary.
The group is claiming that striped bass are a significant cause of predation on endangered winter run and spring run chinook salmon and Deta smelt in order to divert attention from the primary reason for recent fish declines – massive water exports from the Delta throught the state and federal projects.
According to its website (http://www.sustainabledelta.com), “The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta is a not-for-profit organization comprised of water users who depend on the Delta for conveyance of a large portion of their water supplies and individuals who utilize the Delta for aesthetic and recreational enjoyment. Coalition efforts are dedicated to creating a healthy Delta ecosystem by working towards a comprehensive solution to the many factors or “stressors” affecting the estuary.”
The organization boasts its accomplishments as:
• “Broadening the public dialogue and regulatory attention to include other stressors that have previously been ignored;
• Advocating for a National Academy of Science (NAS) review of the flawed science utilized in the delta smelt and salmon biological opinions that regulate state and federal pumps;
• Drawing increased attention to the significant impacts of wastewater discharges in and upstream of the Delta through the Great Delta Toilet Bowl report;
• Holding accountable industries, municipalities and regulatory agencies that have contributed to the Delta decline without consequence for many years; and
• Initiating extensive scientific research on the multiple stressors impacting Delta fisheries.”
Stewart Resnick, the billionaire agribusinessman who funds the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, appears to have eclipsed the Westlands Water District as the “Darth Vader” of California water politics. He and his wife, Lynda, contributed $ 3.97 million to political campaigns from 1993 to December 2009, effectively buying the votes of both Democratic and Republican Party politicians. (http://californiawatch.org/data/resnick-and-associates-spend-nearly-4-million-campaigns)
The Resnicks are most notorious for making a tidy profit off selling subsidized water back to the public. (See The Resnicks, the biggest tree fruit growers in the world, are most notorious for making a tidy profit off selling subsidized water back to the public. (See http://www.alternet.org/story/145721/the_resnicks_manipulate_water_policy_with_big_campaign_contributions.)
The Resnicks’ contributions to pro-corporate agribusiness, pro-peripheral canal politicians include $85,800 to California Governor Jerry Brown, $29,950 to Senator Dianne Feinstein, $18,600 to Senator President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and $17,000 to Congressman Dan Lungren from 1993 to 2009.
They also contributed $776,638 to Governor Gray Davis, $271,990 to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and $238,500 to Governor Pete Wilson. They gave $776,638 to the Democratic Party Committees including the Democratic National Committee and $59,276 to Republican Party Committees including the Republican National Committee.
The Resnicks contributed $22,150 to Barack Obama’s presidential and Illinois Senate campaigns and $20,750 to John McCain’s presidential and Arizona Senate campaigns.
As you can see, the Resnicks contribute to both parties and both sides of political campaigns so they can hedge their bets, making sure that they have inordinate political influence regardless of which candidate or party wins.
“We have the best government that money can buy,” quipped Bill Jennings, Chairman/Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. “The Resnicks seem to be equal opportunity contributors to both the Republican and Democratic parties.”
Just like the Dolphin Group has nothing to do with saving sea creatures, the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta has nothing to do with “sustaining” the fish, people and the communities of the Delta.
To sign on to a letter urging the California Fish and Game Commission to reject the DFG striped bass eradication proposal, go to: http://www.water4Fish.org/striper.
danbacher Natural Resources Secretary John Laird claimed, “This independent, peer review helps create a more dynamic, sound plan that will stand the test of nature and time.”
john_laird_photo_2.jpg
by Dan Bacher
Secretary of Natural Resources John Laird on November 5 lauded the release of seven-member Independent Scientific Review Panel’s report on the “Effects Analysis component” of the controversial Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), a plan to build a peripheral canal under the guise of a habitat conservation plan.
“The Bay Delta Conservation Plan is without a doubt one of the largest and most complex science-based ecosystem restoration programs ever undertaken,” Laird claimed in a statement. “Having a panel of well-respected, independent scientists peer review the adequacy of the many vital science components of this plan and publicly, openly presenting those findings will help set the stage for the many important conversations we will have with stakeholders.”
“Also, this independent, peer review helps create a more dynamic, sound plan that will stand the test of nature and time,” he gushed.
“This independent panel’s recommendations establish an important framework for discussion about how to meet one of the dual goals. We will continue to work with the team to ensure sound scientific justifications for any potential actions. Fish, farms and the 25 million Californians who depend on the Delta for their water deserve nothing less,” Laird concluded.
Laird neglected to point out that the only reason why the science plan was released was because of massive outrage by an unprecedented 242 fishing, tribal and environmental organizations, 11 Members of Congress and 17 California Legislators about the lack of transparency and the bias towards water contractors in the BDCP process.
On November 16, an amazing 242 fishing, tribal and environmental organizations signed onto a letter to Laird and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that slammed the top-down process dominated by corporate agribusiness and water agency interests that export water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. To read the entire Environmental Water Caucus letter, go to: http://www.ewccalifornia.org/reports/moaLetter11-16-11.pdf.
“The MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) was negotiated behind closed doors and only serves to reinforce the growing awareness that the BDCP is biased in favor of the export water contractor’s agenda to increase exports from the Delta and its connected rivers, despite the documented negative impacts those exports have had on endangered fish species, Delta habitats, water quality and public trust values,” the letter stated.
In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on October 24, U.S. Representatives Jerry McNerney (CA-11), George Miller (CA-7), Mike Thompson (CA-1), Doris Matsui (CA-5) ) and John Garamendi (CA-10) asked that the “Memorandum of Agreement” between the Department and water agencies be rescinded. They also said the process must be opened up to include key stakeholders left out of the discussions, including Bay Area, Delta and coastal communities, farmers, businesses, and fishermen. (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/10/24/18694808.php)
Eleven Members of Congress also slammed the BDCP MOA in a letter to the US Bureau of Reclamation on November 16 (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/11/17/salmon-advocates-praise-members-of-congress-for-delta-water-stand.) The Representatives included George Miller, Jackie Speier, Barbara Lee, Pete Stark, Lynne Woolsey, Pete Stark, Kurt Schrader, Earl Blumenauer, Sam Farr, Michael Thompson and Anna Eshoo.
Even more disturbing than Laird’s failure to mention the reason for the document’s release is Laird’s statement, “We will continue to work with the team to ensure sound scientific justifications for any potential actions.” So the science is being used to “justify” already planned “potential actions” – the peripheral canal or tunnel in this completely rigged process?
Laird, like officials in the Schwarzenegger administration that preceded him, is doing his best to greenwash the destruction of the Delta by promoting the Bay Delta Conservation Plan – better described as the “Bad Delta Canal Plan.”
Delta advocates oppose the peripheral canal’s construction because it will inevitably result in the export of more water from the imperiled Bay-Delta Estuary to Southern California and corporate agribusiness interests on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. The peripheral canal, if built, will likely lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Sacramento splittail and green sturgeon.
In addition, a review of the independent science board’s membership shows a glaring omission: the lack of any tribal scientists, in spite of the fact that the Yurok Tribe’s Natural Resources Department alone has 70 staff in the peak of the fishing season (http://www.deltacouncil.ca.gov/science-board/delta-isb-members). In this way, the BDCP mimics Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Science Advisory Team that failed to include any tribal scientists.
While Governor Jerry Brown in September appointed a Tribal Advisor “to strengthen communication and collaboration between California state government and Native American Tribes,” there are no tribal scientists on either the Delta or MLPA science panels.
Of course, the BDCP Management Committee, in a classic example of environmental injustice, has excluded all of the stakeholders who care about restoring the Delta, including California Indian Tribes, Delta residents, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, family farmers and environmental justice advocates.
See the report here: http://www.deltacouncil.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/BDCP_Effects_Analysis_Review_Panel_Report_FINAL.pdf
Learn about the Independent Science Review board here: http://deltacouncil.ca.gov/science-board/delta-independent-science-board
danbacher “Police did not use pepper spray to break-up the protest, but used very brutal ‘pain’ holds on some of those arrested,” said Cres Vellucci, Occupy Sacramento spokesman. “Those actions are being investigated. The local ACLU office has been contacted.”
Arms linked in solidarity, peacefully assembling. Photos by Occupy Sacramento.
arms_linked_in_solidarity…
by Dan Bacher
The City of Sacramento played the Grinch again on December 8 when they arrested 23 Occupy Sacramento supporters defending their First Amendment rights at Cesar Chavez Park.
However, this Grinch, unlike the Dr. Seuss character, didn’t just try to steal Christmas, but to deprive people of their rights under the Constitution.
The activists – including military veterans from the Vietnam and Iraq wars marking the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor – were arrested early Thursday morning about 2:30 a.m. during a “First Amendment Party” at Cesar Chavez Park.
21 of the 23 were booked into Sacramento County Jail and all were released by 2:30 p.m.
The Sacramento Police also cited and released two people without taking them to be booked in the County Jail. The two cited included a man in a wheelchair and a disabled military veteran.
Activists claimed they encountered some police brutality during the arrests. “Police did not use pepper spray to break-up the protest, but used very brutal ‘pain’ holds on some of those arrested,” said Cres Vellucci, Occupy Sacramento spokesman. “Those actions are being investigated. The local ACLU office has been contacted.”
One Occupy Sacramento supporter, Joe, was still occupying a tree in the park at press time.
Vellucci said a total of 110 people have arrested at the Park since Oct. 6. There are nine trials on the misdemeanor charge scheduled to start Dec. 13.
District Attorney Jan Scully refused to prosecute, but the City of Sacramento is pursuing the cases, which carry six-month jail sentences for a curfew violation.
“Occupy Sacramento maintains the First Amendment does not end at 11 p.m. (midnight on weekends), and that free speech and freedom of assembly rights continue for 24 hours a day, despite a local ordinance banning First Amendment activities in city parks at night,” said Vellucci. “There is a federal civil rights suit pending.”
The crackdown on the First Amendment by the cities of Sacramento, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Francisco and others across the country is apparently part of a nationally coordinated campaign by the Department of Homeland Security and other federal law enforcement agencies in collaboration with local police departments, as exposed by author Naomi Wolf in her November 25 article in the UK Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/25/shocking-truth-about-crackdown-occupy).
“So, when you connect the dots, properly understood, what happened this week is the first battle in a civil war; a civil war in which, for now, only one side is choosing violence,” wrote Wolf. “It is a battle in which members of Congress, with the collusion of the American president, sent violent, organised suppression against the people they are supposed to represent. Occupy has touched the third rail: personal congressional profits streams. Even though they are, as yet, unaware of what the implications of their movement are, those threatened by the stirrings of their dreams of reform are not.”
On Saturday, December 10 at noon, Occupy Sacramento will be honoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Day at Cesar Chavez Park, 10 and I streets, Sacramento.
The Declaration, adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948 provides for the civil and human rights of every person, including assuring that everyone has the right to
• freedom of peaceful assembly and association
• work and a standard of living adequate for health and well-being
• food, clothing, housing, medical care and education.
The 12 pm to 4 pm Human Rights Fair will feature teach-ins, speakers, informational tabling, spoken word and music.
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, founding member of the Gold Star Families for Peace, will speak at 1 p.m. Her son, Casey, was killed in the U.S. war in Iraq.
Her talk will be followed at 2 p.m. with a march to the County Jail (651 I Street) to demand humane treatment of prisoners.
Music and spoken word poetry will be featured from 3 to 4 p.m., followed by the Occupy Sacramento General Assembly.
Finally, there will be a march to Second Saturday in midtown at 6:30 p.m.
For more information, contact occumama [at] gmail.com, 916-448-8157, http://www.OccupySac.com, Occupy Sacto@facebook, OccupySacto@Twitter
danbacher by Dan Bacher
Spurred by public outrage and numerous negative newspaper and internet editorials, recently retired federal judge Oliver W. Wanger today announced his decision to withdraw from representing the Westlands Water District in a lawsuit filed against it by fishing and environmental groups and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.
“Recent media comment has raised confusion about the cases upon which former Judge Oliver W. Wanger may work as a private attorney,” Wanger’s law firm, Wanger Jones Helsley, said in a statement dated Monday, December 5, but not released until Tuesday, December 6.
“He cannot work on cases involving matters he heard as a judge,” according to the statement. “The rules do not prevent him from taking cases involving parties who previously appeared before him. No conflict or violation of any rule has occurred.”
However, to avoid “misperception and diversion of attention from the merits of the case,” the statement said Wanger and his firm “have substituted out of the pending state appellate case involving the Westlands Water District.”
“Neither he nor the law firm has provided any legal service whatsoever to the Westlands Water District in the state appellate case or in any other matter, nor is Westlands a client of Mr. Wanger or the firm,” the firm emphasized.
In response to Oliver Wanger’s decision, Westlands Water District General Manager Thomas W. Birmingham said in a statement that “the Westlands Water District regrets that we will not have the benefit of Oliver Wanger’s assistance in connection with this case.”
“But we have the highest respect for his integrity and appreciate his strict adherence to the most exacting standards of legal ethics,” Birmingham stated. “His decision not to proceed with this matter is entirely consistent with the meticulous attention he applied to all aspects of the law during his long career in the federal judiciary.”
Birmingham made it clear that although Wanger withdrew from the current case, “We hope to work with him on other issues in the future.”
Wanger’s decision to represent Westlands, the largest water district in the U.S., in the case was met with outrage by environmentalists, Indian Tribes, fishermen, Delta residents and environmental justice advocates that are working to restore Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations. After a series of editorials appeared in mainstream and alternative media throughout the state, Wanger and his law firm apparently decided to withdraw from the case.
A San Francisco Chronicle editorial on December 1 (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/01/EDP91M71BI.DTL), said Wanger’s “switch from jurist to courtroom litigant doesn’t appear to violate judicial rules. But it’s a disappointing mistake in judgment. It undercuts the credibility of his past rulings, and it’s another setback for the trust badly needed to work through issues of delta water flows, water rights and safeguards for jeopardized fish.”
Members of fishing organizations, environmental groups and Tribes celebrated Wanger’s decision, under political pressure, to back out from representing Westlands in the case as a victory.
“Wanger’s decision to withdraw is an inspiration to all of us who are attempting to influence public opinion through the media,” said Tom Stokely of the California Water Impact Network.
On August 25, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), Friends of the River, North Coast River Alliance, Save the American River Association and Winnemem Wintu Tribe filed their lawsuit against Westlands and its two water distribution districts over the renewal of six interim water service contracts.
The groups and Tribe say water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are a key reason for the dramatic decline of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations, while Westlands claims the contracts are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The lawsuit asks for: “injunctive relief, restraining the defendant from carrying out the project; a writ of mandate, setting aside contract approval; and declaratory relief, declaring the contracts to be unlawful,” according to Bill Jennings, Executive Director/Chairman of CSPA.
“The environmental devastation wrought on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by Central Valley Project operations generally and Westlands’ diversions specifically has become patent in recent years,” the petition states. “The importation of over 1,000,000 acre feet of water from the Delta to Westlands has caused substantial harm to the Delta’s imperiled fisheries. Boron, selenium and salt pollution in the Delta originates in part from return flow discharged by Westlands and surrounding water contractors.”
Key fish species imperiled by Delta water exports and contaminated return flows include winter, spring and fall runs of Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and threadfin shad, according to the petition.
Westlands has a long history of opposing fish restoration on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and Trinity River. It has launched a series of lawsuits and has often used its political muscle at the state and federal level to lobby for for more water exports from the Delta and to strip Endangered Species Act protections for imperiled fish species. The district, located on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, irrigates drainage-impaired land laced with boron, selenium and other salts.
danbacher The Foothill Conservancy and other Mokelumne River advocates are delighted by the news. “It’s a wise decision that everyone should feel good about,” said Foothill Conservancy Executive Director Chris Wright.
Photo of the Mokelumne River’s Electra Run by Katherine Evatt.
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On Monday, December 5, the East Bay Municipal Utility District announced that the soon-to-be released revised draft environmental impact report for its long-range water plan recommends that the utility not include the controversial expansion of Pardee Reservoir.
The expansion would flood a free-flowing section of the Mokelumne River near Jackson, drowning the Middle Bar Reach and part of the Electra Run. Both river reaches are highly valued for their recreational, historic, and cultural significance.
The Foothill Conservancy and other Mokelumne River advocates are delighted by the news. “It’s a wise decision that everyone should feel good about,” said Foothill Conservancy Executive Director Chris Wright. “And it looks like a huge victory for the river. We have yet to see the EIR, but this announcement indicates that EBMUD agrees with us that there are better, less-destructive ways to meet its future water needs.
“The strong, unified community opposition in Amador and Calaveras made a real difference,” Wright said. “EBMUD claims it won’t do water projects without local community support, and it was clear that the Pardee expansion had virtually none.”
The expansion of Pardee Reservoir was included in the Water Supply Management Program 2040 approved by the EBMUD board in October 2009. The Conservancy, Friends of the River, and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance promptly filed suit, claiming the huge water utility had violated the California Environmental Quality Act.
The Sacramento Superior Court agreed, and an April 2011 decision by Judge Timothy M. Frawley voided the water plan approval and sent EBMUD back to re-do certain aspects of the related EIR.
Among the key points of the court’s decision was that EBMUD had failed to look at a reasonable range of alternatives in its planning process. The court specifically pointed to the omission of the expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County. In today’s media release, EBMUD stated that “it may be possible to partner” with Contra Costa Water District in a future Los Vaqueros expansion.
“Of course, even if EBMUD follows through with this announcement, that doesn’t mean the Mokelumne is permanently protected,” Wright said. “We need to secure National Wild and Scenic River designation to make sure neither EBMUD nor any other agency can build new dams or diversions between Salt Springs Reservoir and Pardee.”
“We hope this signals the beginning of a new partnership between EBMUD and our foothill communities, where we can focus on protecting and restoring the Mokelumne and its watershed, beginning with the Wild and Scenic designation. We look forward to working with East Bay MUD to maintain the water quality they need while we keep this important river flowing through our counties.”
For more information, contact Chris Wright at 209-295-4900 or chris @foothillconservancy.org.
danbacher Proposals to privatize state parks take place in the context of the drive by Wall Street-backed politicians and big corporate environmental NGOs and foundations to privatize the public trust.
Photo of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park courtesy of California State Parks Association.
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Occupy the state parks?
by Dan Bacher
David Gurney, independent journalist, slammed the state of California’s winter closure of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Sonoma County – and pondered whether state parks proposed for closure will be turned over to private interests, as some have proposed.
“In the first ring of a dismal peal that signals the death knell for our revered State Parks system, Sugarloaf Ridge Park east of Santa Rosa has now closed,” said Gurney in his latest column on his Noyo News Blog (http://noyonews.net/?p=3045).
“Some say this is the beginning of the privatization process for California public lands, as the State heedlessly closes our recreational and money-making parks,” said Gurney. “Will our publicly owned parks be turned over to private interests? Will the people be barred from their own public lands, or forced to pay private interests to enter? Noyo News asks – why?”
Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, located near Kenwood, contains the headwaters of Sonoma Creek. The creek runs through gorge and canyon, across the meadow floor, beneath scenic rock outcroppings, and is surrounded at times by redwoods and ferns. A 25-foot waterfall flows after the winter rains.
According to the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, “Sugarloaf, Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa, Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen, Austin Creek State Recreation Area in Guerneville and the Petaluma Adobe are all slated to close July 1, as are several parks in Lake and Mendocino counties. Parks officials contend closing 70 parks statewide will achieve $22 million in annual savings demanded by Gov. Jerry Brown last year to help solve a $26.2 billion deficit.” (http://www.watchsonomacounty.com/2011/12/featured-articles/state-shuts-sugarloaf-ridge-park/)
On October 4, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill (AB) 42, the bill sponsored by the California State Parks Foundation (CSPF) to allow funding from non-profit corporations to keep state parks open.
This bill authorized the State Department of Parks and Recreation “to enter into an operating agreement for the development, improvement, restoration, care, maintenance, administration, or operation of a unit or units, or portion of a unit, of the state park system, as identified by the director, with a qualified nonprofit organization, as provided.”
Throughout California, some of the 70 parks slated for closure are already seeing significant portions and areas of individual parks close. All of the 70 parks on the closure list are anticipated to have service reductions enacted between now and next spring that will become permanent closures on July 1, 2012, according to the California State Parks Foundation.
Proposals to privatize state parks take place in the context of the drive by Wall Street-backed politicians and big corporate environmental NGOs and foundations to privatize the public trust.
The state of California has already allowed the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) implementation to be privatized through a Memorandum of Understanding between the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation and the Department of Fish and Game. The result is the creation of so-called marine protected areas under the MLPA Initiative that fail to protect ocean waters from oil drilling and spills, pollution, corporate aquaculture, military testing, wave and wind energy projects and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
The other result of privatization of the MLPA process is the domination of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Forces that oversee the “implementation” of marine protected areas by corporate interests, including a big oil lobbyist, marina developer and coastal real estate executive.
Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), served as the chair of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force to create “marine protected areas” on the South Coast that are set to got into effect on January 1, 2012. She also served on the North Coast and North Central Coast panels to create these “marine protected areas.” Her leadership role, in and of itself, makes the MLPA process completely illegitimate.
When not chairing or serving on these rigged panels, Reheis-Boyd has been busy lobbying for new oil drilling off the California coast, tar sands drilling in Canada (http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Alberta+oilsands+green+enough+California/5530495/story.html?cid=megadrop_story), and for the weakening of environmental regulations throughout the West.
Likewise, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), another corrupt “public” process designed to construct a peripheral canal to export more water from the imperiled California Delta water to southern California and corporate agribusiness, is dominated by operatives from the Westlands Water District, State Water Contractors Association and other corporate interests who will make huge profits at the expense of the imperiled Delta.
Delta advocates believe the peripheral canal or tunnel, if constructed, is likely to lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other imperiled species. Of course, the Brown and Obama administrations have completely excluded Delta residents, California Indian Tribes, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, family farmers, environmental justice advocates and all of those who truly care about the Delta from the BDCP Management Committee.
Whether we’re talking about state parks, marine protection or plans for the Delta, privatization is horrible public policy that will result in the destruction of our public trust resources. Privatization is part of well orchestrated campaign by the 1 percent to take away public resources from the 99 percent.
Residents of Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley recently organized a three-day occupation of Hendy Woods State Park in an effort to save it from closure.
Will increasing numbers of people upset by the economic crisis engineered by Wall Street banksters and their political servants in the Obama and Brown administrations, Congress, the Senate and the State Legislature take the lead from the Occupy movement and start to occupy state parks slated for closure?
danbacher On November 28, the Trinity River Guides Association and the California Water Impact Network asked the Trinity River Restoration Program to “take a break” to determine if river restoration projects completed to date have met their objectives or had unintended impacts.
Photo of Trinity River courtesy of Wikipedia.
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Guides, conservationists demand moratorium on Trinity River channel projects
By Dan Bacher
History is repeating itself on the Trinity River as fishing guides and environmental activists unite to stop a controversial channel restoration project funded by the federal government.
In 1993, Byron Leydecker, the late founder of Friends of the Trinity River, got stuck in the mud while fishing on the river with Herb Burton of Trinity Fly Shop. The sediment was discharged into the river by a restoration project funded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
The incident so outraged the two anglers that it led to the formation of a broad coalition of recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, environmentalists, the Hoopa Valley Tribe, the Yurok Tribe and local residents to restore the Trinity River back to its former greatness as a fishery.
The river restoration campaign led to the Trinity Record of Decision signed by former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and former Hoopa Valley Tribe Chairman Duane Sherman in Hoopa on December 19, 2000. The ROD, for the first time ever since the construction of Trinity Dam, allowed 47 percent of the water to flow down the Trinity rather than being diverted to the Sacramento River via Whiskeytown Reservoir.
Now the future of the Trinity River is under assault by the same misguided projects that spurred the campaign to restore the Trinity in the first place. On November 28, the Trinity River Guides Association and the California Water Impact Network asked the Trinity River Restoration Program to “take a break” to determine if river restoration projects completed to date have met their objectives or had unintended impacts.
The letter states that there is public concern about significant filling of pool habitat for adult salmon and steelhead from excessive gravel introduction into the river channel as well as numerous side channel failures.
“Numerous side channels constructed in the Trinity River prior to and since the 2000 Trinity Record of Decision (Trinity ROD) have completely failed,” according to the letter. “The 80,000 tons of spawning gravel placed in the river near Lewiston over the past few years have continued to overwhelm approximately twenty significant adult fish holding/staging pools in the river upstream of Douglas City, with no scouring of additional pools to replace them.”
Bill Dickens of the Guides Association said, “There is no choice but to oppose this type of project until an evaluation of the existing projects is complete. We are just asking the Restoration Program to do what is already required as part of the Trinity River Record of Decision.”
“As fishing guides, we fully support restoration of the river’s fisheries, but we’re not convinced that they are doing it the right way. It’s time to take a break and look at what’s been done before tens of millions of additional taxpayer dollars are spent,” Dickens noted.
Tom Stokely with C-WIN said, “The Interior Department and the Trinity River Restoration Program are not responsive to public concerns. The Guides Association wrote a letter on March 14, 2011 that has still not received a response. It’s inexcusable.”
C-WIN is the successor organization to Friends of Trinity River that closed earlier this year after the passing of Friends founder Byron Leydecker, according to Stokely.
Robin Schrock, the program’s executive director, defended the restoration work in an interview with the Redding Record Searchlight (http://www.redding.com/news/2011/dec/01/trinity-river-advocates-denounce-restoration). She claimed the program has followed the guidelines of the Record of Decision authorizing the work.
However, Stokely emphasized that fishery restoration goals for the Trinity River Restoration Program are not being met while the projects continue. A review of DFG data reveals that the goals for naturally spawning fall chinook, spring chinook, fall steelhead and fall coho were not met in 2010. The hatchery count for steelhead was not met either.
The goal for fall chinook salmon is 62,000 naturally spawning adult fish and 9,000 adult hatchery fish. The natural spawner count in 2010, 20,876, was 34 percent of the goal. The number of hatchery fall chinooks in 2010, 8,953, was 99 percent of the goal.
The adult spring chinook goal is 6,000 natural fish and 3,000 hatchery fish. The natural spring run chinook count for 2010 was 4,477, 75 percent of the goal. The hatchery spring run count was 3,880, 129 percent of the goal.
The goal for fall steelhead is 40,000 natural and 10,000 hatchery adults. The natural steelhead count in 2010 was 3,811 fish, 10 percent of the goal. The hatchery steelhead count was 4,640 fish, 46 percent of the goal.
The coho salmon goal is 1,400 natural adults and 2,100 hatchery fish. The natural coho count in 2010 was 817, 58 percent of the goal. The hatchery coho count was 5,852, 279 percent of the goal.
A copy of the letter can be found at: http://c-win.org/webfm_send/199
The campaign by the river guides and environmentalists to stop the controversial restoration project takes place as the Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal or tunnel. The purpose of the peripheral canal, referred as “improved conveyance” by state and federal officials, is to expedite the export of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the Trinity River to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies.
“The Trinity River is at great risk from increased Delta exports,” said Stokely. “Anything that reduces pumping restrictions on the Delta adversely impacts the Trinity River by allowing Trinity Lake to be drawn down even more than it is already.”
Leonard Masten, chairman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, on July, 2, 2010 slammed the state-federal peripheral canal plans in a press release that called on the Legislature to repeal the water bond, Proposition 18, rather than to postpone it until 2012.
Masten noted that the proposition, known as the Safe, Clean and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act, “is not really about drinking water.”
“It’s about building and privatizing taxpayer-built dams and moving the control of the California’s water from the public trust to the private sector,” he said. “The measure also paves the way for the construction of a peripheral canal that would more easily ship Northern California Water south.”
Masten said he agreed with the statement by Mark Franco, then headman of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, that “The peripheral canal is a big, stupid idea that doesn’t make any sense from a tribal environmental perspective. Building a canal to save the Delta is like a doctor inserting an arterial bypass from your shoulder to your hand– it will cause your elbow to die just like taking water out of the Delta through a peripheral canal will cause the Delta to die.”
Delta and Trinity River advocates oppose the canal because it will likely result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail and green sturgeon, as well as imperiling Trinity River salmon and steelhead runs.
danbacher Dr. Peter Moyle and Dr. William Bennett of the UC Davis Watershed Science Center, in reference to this kind of settlement proposal, stated, “The Cure is worse than the Disease”
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by Dan Bacher
Last week the Save the Striper Coalition launched a letter writing campaign to the Fish and Game Commission in opposition to their approving the water contractor settlement proposal to eradicate striped bass from the Bay and Delta.
The striped bass eradication campaign is sponsored by the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, an agribusiness Astroturf group funded by Stewart Resnick, the agribusiness tycoon who owns Paramount Farms in Kern County. Resnick and the coalition are big opponents of Endangered Species Act protections for Central Valley salmon and Delta smelt and big supporters of the peripheral canal plan to export more Delta water south.
They are blaming stripers for salmon and smelt “predation” when the real “predators” are the biggest fish-killing machines in U.S. history – the federal and state Delta pumps that export massive amounts of water to corporate agribusiness and southern California.
As of today nearly 900 email letters have been sent to the Commission and to Fish and Game. The program is proceeding well.
Two of the most prominent fisheries scientists in the state have weighed in with the Commission. Dr. Peter Moyle and Dr. William Bennett of the UC Davis Watershed Science Center sent the Commission a letter.
Wth reference to this kind of settlement proposal they said, “The Cure is worse than the Disease”. They also told the Commission that this kind of plan is inadvertently playing roulette with the basic ecosystem processes.
They conclude by saying, “We stress that attempting to reduce striped bass and other predator populations is unlikely to make a difference is saving endangered fishes, and will serve only to distract attention from some of the real problems.” You can see the scientists full letter to the Commission athttp://water4fish.org/res/pdf/StriperScience.pdf
The Commission will take up this issue at their Sacramento meeting on February 1st and 2nd, 2012. To be successful, we need more letters and more people involved.
We would like to hit thousands of letters. Our striper future hangs in the balance. If you haven’t signed on yet, do so right now. If you know others who have not yet signed on, please bring the issue to their attention.
You can forward this email or if you would like a flyer to distribute to clubs or organizations email info [at] water4fish.org and we will send you a flyer pdf you can print. To sign on, supporters can click here: http://www.water4Fish.org/striper
This coalition program is supported by: the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Water4Fish, the California Striped Bass Association, Coastside Fishing Club, the Golden Gate Fishermen’s Association, the Fish Sniffer magazine, the American Sportfishing Association, California Sportsmen Radio, USA Fishing.com and Western Outdoor News.
For more information, go to: http://www.fishsniffer.com/content/1509-discussion-striper-eradication-proposal-postponed-until-february.html.
