danbacher The peripheral canal won’t “mend” imperiled Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations; it will only exacerbate the ecosystem collapse caused by record water exports from the Delta in recent years!
Photo of Brown delivering State of the State Address courtesy of the Governor’s Office.
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by Dan Bacher
In his State of the State Address on January 18, Governor Jerry Brown emphasized his commitment to fast-tracking the construction of the peripheral canal under the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), a Nineteenth Century “solution” to Twenty-First Century problems.
Brown said that water is a “huge issue we must tackle” – and then greenwashed the BDCP process by claiming it will somehow “restore” the Delta ecosystem and create “new habitat for spawning fish and other wildlife.”
Brown proclaimed, “Last week, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar – met here in Sacramento with those in my administration who are working to complete the Bay Delta Conservation Plan.
Together we agreed that by this summer we should have the basic elements of the project we need to build. This is something my father worked on and then I worked on—decades ago. We know more now and are committed to the dual goals of restoring the Delta ecosystem and ensuring a reliable water supply.
This is an enormous project. It will ensure water for 25 million Californians and for millions of acres of farmland as well a hundred thousand acres of new habitat for spawning fish and other wildlife. To get it done will require time, political will and countless permits from state and federal agencies. I invite your collaboration and constructive engagement.”
Ironically, the theme of his speech was “California on the Mend.” Delta advocates oppose the construction of the peripheral canal because it will lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other fish species.
This canal won’t “mend” imperiled Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations; it will only exacerbate the ecosystem collapse caused by record water exports from the Delta in recent years!
The plan will not only greenwash the destruction of Delta fish, but will remove vast tracts of Delta farmland, some of the most fertile on the planet, from production in order to increase water exports to corporate agribusiness interests farming drainage-impaired land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
Again, removing good land from production in order to irrigate bad land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, land that should have never been irrigated, is hardly “mending” California!
Not only would the canal be environmentally destructive, but it would be enormously expensive. A draft economic report by Steven Kasower of the Strategic Economic Applications Company, released to the California Legislature in 2009, revealed that the costs for the construction of a peripheral canal around the California Delta or a tunnel under the estuary would be much higher than previously estimated, ranging from $23 billion to $53.8 billion depending upon the type of conveyance facility. (http://yubanet.com/california/Op-Ed-Dan-Bacher-Peripheral-Canal-Would-Cost-23-to-53-8-Billion.php)
In his address, Brown claimed, “California is on the mend,” touting his “accomplishments” in 2011.
“Last year, we were looking at a structural deficit of over $20 billion,” Brown stated. “It was a real mess. But you rose to the occasion and together we shrunk state government, reduced our borrowing costs and transferred key functions to local government, closer to the people. The result is a problem one fourth as large as the one we confronted last year.”
However, the “mending” Brown spoke of doesn’t appear to apply to the Brown administration’s management of Delta fisheries and California water.
The Brown and Obama administrations authorized the export of a record amount of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in the 2011 water year. The water export total, including water diverted by the Contra Costa Canal and North Bay Aqueduct, was 6,633,000 acre-feet in 2011 – 163,000 acre-feet more than the previous record of 6,470,000 acre-feet set in 2005, according to DWR data.
The record pumping from the Delta in 2011 – used to fill billionaire Stewart Resnick’s Kern Water Bank and southern California reservoirs – resulted in a huge, unprecedented fish kill at the Delta pumps. Agency staff “salvaged” a total of 11,158,025 fish in the Delta water pumping facilities between January 1 and September 7, 2011 alone. Scientists estimate that the actual amount of fish lost in the pumps is 5 to 10 times the “salvage” numbers.
Approximately 9 million Sacramento splittail, the largest number ever recorded, were “salvaged” during this period. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006.
These unprecedented water exports and fish killed in the Delta pumps hardly can be described as “mending” the Delta. By exporting a record amount of water and killing a record number of fish, the Brown and Obama administrations surpassed even the Schwarzenegger and Bush administrations in their total disregard for the Delta ecosystem and the public trust.
With a record like this, how are we to possibly believe that the Bay Delta Conservation Plan will “restore” the Delta ecosystem and create “new habitat for spawning fish and other wildlife?”
The BDCP Management Committee that oversees the plan has completely excluded Delta residents, family farmers, Indian Tribes, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, conservationists, environmental justice advocates, elected officials and business owners.
At the same time, the Department of Water Resources has hired two employers of powerful water contractors, Laura King Moon of the State Water Contractors Association and Susan Ramos of the Westlands Water District, to help develop the plan to build the peripheral canal (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/12/14/westlands-official-working-for-dwr-on-delta-plan). If this isn’t an overt conflict of interest, I don’t know what is.
While presiding over record water exports and pushing for the construction of the peripheral canal, Governor Jerry Brown has also continued the abysmal environmental legacy of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger by forging ahead with the corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative process. The MLPA Initiative is a parody of “protection,” since it creates “marine protected areas” that fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, pollution, military testing, wind and wave energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other human impacts other than fishing and gathering.
The illegitimacy of the privately funded process is demonstrated by the alarming fact that Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force to create “marine protected areas” on the South Coast. Reheis-Boyd, a strong supporter of new oil drilling off the West Coast, the Keystone XL Pipeline and the gutting of environmental laws, also served on the North Coast and North Central Coast MLPA panels. What is a big oil lobbyist doing overseeing the creation of “marine protected areas” in California? (http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/02/the-oil-industrys-marine-reserves)
Brown’s claim that “California is on the mend” is false when you review his 2011 environmental record, including his administration’s forging ahead with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s BDCP and MLPA Initiative fiascos, record Delta water exports and record fish kills in the Delta pumps.
For the full text of Brown’s address, go to: http://gov.ca.gov/home.php
For more information about the campaign to stop the canal, go to: http://restorethedelta.org.
danbacher by Dan Bacher
Occupy Sacramento said it will “make its presence known” Tuesday night when the Sacramento City Council discusses Mayor Kevin Johnson’s latest “strong mayor” initiative to consolidate his power and further crush what few vestiges of democracy are left in Sacramento. No details were available at press time.
Occupy Sacramento supporters have long criticized Johnson and the city council for not making any real attempt to resolve the stalemate at Cesar Chavez Park, where 110 arrests have been made for curfew violations since Oct. 6, according to Cres Vellucci of Occupy Sacramento.
“The City – including Johnson and the council – insist the First Amendment ends at 11 p.m. weekdays, Midnight on weekends in city parks (but not on city council grounds),” said Vellucci. ”But lawyers and civil libertarians say no such limitation should be allowed by local law.”
Vellucci said the cost to taxpayers – including enforcement action and court proceedings – has been pegged at more than a half million dollars. The City’s admitted expenditure for the first month alone – October – was nearly $300,000.
“To date, no ‘occupier’ has been convicted despite threats by the City of jail time and heavy penalties,” said Vellucci. “Eighty-five cases (of 110) have been dismissed by the City, and the DA refused to prosecute some charges. Twenty-five (25) new cases from December remain.”
There is no doubt that Mayor Kevin Johnson, the Sacramento City Council, the City Manager and the Sacramento Police Department only represent Wall Street and the 1 percent, not the 99 percent. Their illegal campaign of repression against Occupy Sacramento demonstrates that they regard the First Amendment, Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution with complete and utter contempt.
Rather than allowing the protesters to exercise their First Amendment Rights, the City has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours on arresting and harassing protesters in a time of slashed budgets for programs and services.
Sacramento Police, like the UC Davis police and other law enforcement agencies throughout the nation, have waged a campaign against the Occupy movement in what appears to be a coordinated strategy of repression in conjunction with Department of Homeland Security and other federal law enforcement agencies. The violent police assaults across the US are no coincidence, according to Naomi Wolfe in her groundbreaking investigative piece in the U.K. Guardian on November 25, 2011 (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,” said Wolfe. ” 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.”
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 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.
Considering the wave of repression by city, state and federal law enforcement agencies and the 1 percent’s stooges in the courts, it’s urgent that people show solidarity with the Occupy Movement and attend an upcoming major protest. Occupy Sacramento will be Marching from Cesar Chavez Park, 9th and I Streets, to the Federal Courthouse, 501 I Street, on Friday, January 20 at 10:30 am as part of an “Occupy the Courts” National Day of Action.
For more information about Occupy Sacramento, contact: Cres Vellucci, 916-996-9170, news0058 [at] comcast.net, http://www.occupysac.org.
danbacher by Dan Bacher
Occupy Woodland will “occupy” Woodland Community College and Occupy Vacaville will get started by occupying City Hall Tuesday only a few miles down the road from where University of California, Davis students were brutally and infamously doused with pepper spray for doing the same thing.
In Woodland the occupation begins with a news conference at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, at Woodland Community College (2300 E. Gibson, Woodland, CA).
In Vacaville, Occupy Vacaville kicked off its campaign – there are thousands of occupy groups across the world now – with an all-day occupation starting at 8 a.m. at Vacaville City Hall (650 Merchant St.).
Workshops, speakers and teach-ins – on everything from foreclosures to veterans rights – will be held by Occupy Woodland, which has called on participants to bring tents and food, according to Steve Payan of Occupy Woodland.
Occupy Vacaville says it will be talking to independent, local businesses, churches and unions, as well as starting a Vacaville “free store,” a huge garage sale where everything is free to the community,” according to Andrew Cunningham of Occupy Vacaville.
Occupy activists from Sacramento – where there have been 110 arrests since October as Occupy Sacramento protested at Cesar Chavez Park – are expected to participate in the occupations.
For more information, contact:
Steven Payan, Woodland , 916-996-9170, www.facebook.com/OccupyWoodland
Andrew Cunningham, Vacaville, 408-242-6719, www.facebook.com/OccupyVacaville
danbacher While the DFG rightfully apprehended the lobster poacher this morning, the same Department did absolutely nothing to stop the biggest fish kill ever in the Delta in 2011 by the biggest poachers in California history, the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Photo of poached lobsters by Department of Fish and Game.
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by Dan Bacher
California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) wardens cited a Southern California man early Sunday morning, January 15, for poaching dozens of lobsters inside a so-called “Marine Protected Area” (MPA) created under the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
“Wardens observed Marbel A. Para, 30, of Romoland (Riverside County) and a companion SCUBA diving in the Laguna Beach State Marine Reserve after midnight on Jan. 15,” according to a DFG news release. “This location, which is in the Heisler Park area off the coast of Laguna Beach, has historically been closed to lobster fishing for years (even prior to the establishment of the MPA).”
“After the divers left the water and returned to their vehicle, the wardens made contact with them and discovered 47 California spiny lobsters in their possession. In addition to illegally taking the lobsters from an MPA, the divers were well over the legal possession limit of seven lobsters per diver, and all but five of the lobsters were undersize. Para claimed that all the lobsters were his, and his companion was not cited,” the release stated.
This is the first major violation that DFG wardens have cited in any of the controversial “marine protected areas” since they went into effect in Southern California on Jan. 1, 2012. “The MPAs were created through the Marine Life Protection Act in order to simplify and strengthen existing marine reserves and fishing regulations to allow recovery of fish populations that have been in severe decline,” the release claimed.
“The vast majority of our fishing and diving constituents are responsible and law-abiding,” said DFG Assistant Chief Paul Hamdorff. “It is always our goal to catch those who choose to intentionally abuse the resources of this state for their own benefit.”
Wardens cited Para for several poaching violations including unlawful take and illegal possession of lobster, and possession of overlimits and undersized animals. A report will be filed with the Orange County District Attorney and Para may face additional charges related to this case.
“All the lobsters were confiscated, photographed as evidence and then safely returned to the ocean,” the DFG concluded.
What the DFG left out
Unfortunately, the DFG release fails to mention five key points about the so-called “marine protected areas” that went into effect in Southern California waters on January 1. Without including these facts, the DFG leadership is creating a false view of the closed zones imposed by the MLPA Initiative.
First, representatives of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association have opposed the creation of any new “marine protected areas” until funding is provided to enforce the existing ones. Because of the difficulty posed to an understaffed, underfunded department in enforcing these “MPAs,” the wardens often refer to the MPAs as “Marine Poaching Areas.”
“It is impossible for the warden force to effectively enforce existing regulations, much less new regulations that the Fish and Game Commission approves over our objections,” said Jerry Karnow, Legislative Liason for the California Fish and Game Wardens Association, in a superb opinion piece in the Sacramento Bee on January 31, 2010. “Many of the regulations approved by the commission will not protect the natural resources of California. They will serve only one purpose; they will stretch the warden force ever thinner, which will eventually result in another warden’s on-duty injury or death.” (http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/2500939.html)
Second, the South Coast “marine reserves” were created by the MLPA “Blue Ribbon Task Force” chaired by Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association. Reheis-Boyd is a big oil industry lobbyist with an egregious conflict of interest in the designation of MPAs, considering that she has repeatedly called for new oil drilling off the California coast. Reheis-Boyd is also a big supporter of Canadian tar sands drilling and the gutting of environmental laws.
Third, the MLPA process was overseen not only by an oil industry lobbyist, but by a marina developer, coastal real estate executive and other corporate operatives and political hacks with numerous conflicts of interest.
Fourth, in a parody of true marine protection, these fake “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 human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering. What type of marine “protection” is that?
Fifth, the MLPA Initiative that created the MPAs is privately funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, setting a bad precedent for the privatization of conservation and the public trust in California.
Also, while the DFG rightfully apprehended the lobster poacher on Sunday morning, the same Department did absolutely nothing to stop the biggest fish kill ever in the Delta in 2011 by the biggest poachers in California history, the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Agency staff “salvaged” over 11 million fish, including 9 million Sacramento splittail, in the Delta pumping facilities. Scientists point out that the actual numbers of fish lost in the pumps are 5 to 10 times the salvage numbers. These “death pumps” killed more fish than all of the poachers in the state combined.
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.
And while the DFG is willing to make a high profile bust to garner publicity, the DFG leadership is not willing to challenge the Obama and Brown administration campaign to build a peripheral canal to export more water to corporate agribusiness and southern California. This canal would result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other imperiled species.
danbacher Representatives of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association have opposed the creation of any new “marine protected areas” until funding is provided to enforce the existing ones. Because of the difficulty posed to an understaffed, underfunded department in enforcing these “MPAs,” the wardens often refer to the MPAs as “Marine Poaching Areas.”
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by Dan Bacher
California’s 1,100-mile coastline has more than 124 Marine Protected Areas covering about 848 square miles of state waters, or about 16 percent of the coast. ”Yet the California Department of Fish and Game has fewer wardens per capita than any other coastal state, creating a challenge for California in how best to police the vast areas,” Dearen stated (http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_19743552).
“And with the addition of the Southern California’s protection zones on Jan. 1 and more slated to be created in San Francisco Bay and the far northern coast soon, the workload is only going to increase,” Dearen continued. “While concern over the state’s ability to patrol this vast area led to changes during the planning process, the department is currently not well staffed enough with wardens to do a complete job.”
Dearen notes that 15 of the department’s 75 positions in marine enforcement are currently vacant, and the DFG’s Marlin is the only large fish and game vessel patrolling the MPAs from the central coast to the Oregon border.
“The agency has about 10 other small vessels with limited range that assist the Marlin in central and northern California, and the U.S. Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also provide assistance,” said Dearen.
Representatives of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association have opposed the creation of any new “marine protected areas” until funding is provided to enforce the existing ones. Because of the difficulty posed to an understaffed, underfunded department in enforcing these “MPAs,” the wardens often refer to the MPAs as “Marine Poaching Areas.”
However, Dearen fails to mention four key points about the so-called “marine protected areas” that went into effect in Southern California waters on January 1. Without including any of these facts, the reporter is creating a false view of the closed zones imposed by the MLPA Initiative.
First, the South Coast “marine reserves” were created by the MLPA “Blue Ribbon Task Force” chaired by Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association. Reheis-Boyd is a big oil industry lobbyist with an egregious conflict of interest in the designation of MPAs, considering that she has repeatedly called for new oil drilling off the California coast. Reheis-Boyd is also a big supporter of Canadian tar sands drilling and the gutting of environmental laws.
Second, the MLPA process was overseen not only by an oil industry lobbyist, but by a marina developer, coastal real estate executive and other corporate operatives and political hacks with numerous conflicts of interest.
Third, in a parody of true marine protection, these fake “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 human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering. What type of marine “protection” is that?
Fourth, the MLPA Initiative that created the MPAs is privately funded by the shadowy Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, setting a bad precedent for the privatization of conservation and the public trust in California.
Dearen concludes his article by claiming, “To help address patrolling concerns, the environmental community, coastal city governments and others are coming up with creative ways to help.”
“Groups like Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and Heal the Bay are organizing ‘citizen monitors’ who use binoculars from shore to watch out for violations in MPAs that are close to shore. The citizen monitors report any potential violators and collect data that can be shared with wardens to help them target hot spots,” said Dearen.
However, using “citizen monitors” to “report any potential violators and collect data” sounds like a very creepy idea that smacks of neighbors spying on their neighbors – and helps to expand the “surveillance society” that the federal, state and municipal governments have promoted to crush the First Amendment and our rights under the Constitution.
This idea of “citizen monitors” helping to patrol the oceans opens itself to numerous abuses, especially when California’s fishing laws are very complex and confusing even to the wardens that enforce them. For example, if an angler is fishing in a marine protected area where salmon fishing is allowed but rockfishing is not, how is an inexperienced person going to even know this?
There is no substitute for having professionals, wardens who are trained in enforcing Fish and Game laws, enforcing the closed zones. Yet the state doesn’t have the money to enforce existing MPAs, let alone the new reserves, in a time of shrinking state budgets and growing deficits.
In a superb opinion piece in the Sacramento Bee on January 31, 2010, Jerry Karnow, Legislative Liason for the California Fish and Game Wardens Association, exposed the insanity behind the MLPA process (http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/2500939.html).
“It is impossible for the warden force to effectively enforce existing regulations, much less new regulations that the Fish and Game Commission approves over our objections,” said Karnow. “Many of the regulations approved by the commission will not protect the natural resources of California. They will serve only one purpose; they will stretch the warden force ever thinner, which will eventually result in another warden’s on-duty injury or death.”
“While it seeks to design Marine Protected Areas, my warden colleagues have a different meaning for ‘MPA’ – we call them Marine Poaching Areas. Since the protection act closes productive fishing areas, poachers will know where to rape our resources, and they will know that there is unlikely to be any law enforcement presence or legal anglers present to turn in poachers,” he emphasized.
The MLPA Initiative, like the parallel Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal to divert Delta water to corporate agribusiness and southern California water agencies, is a corrupt process overseen by corporate interests with numerous conflicts of interests.
The Initiative is a very bad example of public policy, since it kicks sustainable fishermen and gatherers off huge areas of the ocean while failing to protect our marine waters from polluters, water diverters, energy companies, the oil industry and ocean industrialists.
The failure of the MLPA to address ocean industrialization and other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering is undoubtedly the reason why Safeway Stores, the Western States Petroleum Association and the Walton Family Foundation (Walmart) are huge supporters of the MLPA Initiative and similar corporate greenwashing efforts. (http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/30/the-worst-of-the-one-percent)
danbacher by Corrina Gould – January 2012
Each time someone walked onto that land and paid respects to the fire, it strengthened the community as a whole. The miracle was not in just protecting the site, but in protecting each other and allowing the space to include almost anyone who came with a good heart and good intentions. Over the months that we lived together, we endured weather hardships, boredom, laughter, tears, celebrations, and disappointments. We created bonds that will stay with us forever; sometimes with people we would have never imagined being in our lives before Sogorea Te.
We were truly blessed by the ancestors, because we took a stand and because we opened our hearts and allowed a healing to happen. No one and nothing can take away these gifts. Our lives have been transformed and we can never be the same, nor should we want to be. We were all a part of something more than history; we were a part of a miracle, a complete transformation. When that sacred fire that burned for 109 days finally went out in the physical sense, it continued to burn in each of us individually. When we come together, our shared experience rekindles those flames and reminds us that we are human beings with a purpose.
Over the last few months, people have posted alarming pictures on Facebook and have written things about the desecration of Sogorea Te, stirring up great concern amongst those who hold this sacred land close to our hearts. We, the Committee to Protect Sogorea Te, have tried to look into each issue as it has arisen and want to be transparent with all of the people who involved their time and lives in protecting the land. Some of the Committee kept watch over Sogorea Te during the early stages of GVRD’s park development project, while others, including myself, didn’t see what had happened to the land until October, when we were able to end the 2011 Peacewalk there.
Let us not mince words. The sight of what had been done to our beloved land was devastating. We knew when we parted ways and crossed that gate on July 31st that Sogorea Te would never look the same again. But what we saw upon returning was nothing short of getting kicked in the gut. It literally took my breath away.
We mourn what once was. We celebrated a victory in July, and yet, looking at the land now makes this victory taste bitter in my mouth. Out of all that GVRD wanted to do with the land, we only asked for three things: that they not build bathrooms, not include a 15-car parking lot, and not grade a hill that contains] burials/cremations. These are for the most part what we won.
They are not going to build a bathroom, the parking lot is only two handicap parking places and will be located adjacent to the sidewalk. We were aware that GVRD planned to take out the invasive species of plants and tear down the mansion and, yes, even put in trails. However, when I went there several weeks ago, what I saw was that the entire site had been molested. The creek is virtually exposed, all of the trees have been cut down, and, to our dismay, the grading has occurred.
In December, we were able to visit Sogorea Te and walk the site with tribal monitors and other tribal representatives. As I walked along the area where the hill once stood, I looked for anything that could stop them from continuing the destructive grading, but couldn’t find even a shell. The tribal representatives said that they did not find any cultural artifacts or remains and that the hill was only “fill”. In fact, there were many cremations in the area, yet because the soil of the hill had been moved previously and 5ft of it has now been scraped off, finding remnants at this stage seems near-impossible.
It was frustrating that the tribal representatives didn’t have any answers. When was the project going to be finished? “I don’t know.” Why did they take out native plants and still leave some of the invasive? “I don’t know.” Will the tribe make a statement or have a public meeting to let people that supported the tribe in obtaining a cultural easement know what is happening to the land? “No. We don’t have to answer to anyone.”
A tribal sovereign government is still a government. It is also a fact that this same tribal government allowed for the desecration of Sogorea Te in decades past and continues to make concessions to other developers, allowing desecration of other burial and sacred sites. Together we must decide what needs to be done to stop the on-going desecration of all of our sacred places.
The story of Sogorea Te is ours collectively. We each make up a part of the history that was a miracle. It is our voices that need to reach out to everyone. We stood up and lead a good fight. We protected a sacred site, and, at the same time, we protected ourselves and each other. We each brought to Sogorea Te our best and became better human beings because of this experience.
We all continue to mourn not just the loss of parts of the sacred site, but also the community we created and left behind. Human beings need to be needed, and for some, this sacred place gave us a place to belong, a place that we each had worth, and a place where prayers are answered. Our ancestors continue to bless us in so many ways.
I am eternally grateful to each person- elder, adult, youth and child. Grateful to the plants, animals, elements, and medicine that was shared. Grateful for all of the lessons learned and that I continue to learn from this experience. I am grateful to the Creator and the ancestors for allowing me to have such wonderful people cross my life path–and for the continued journey that they have in store for us, as we continue to be inspired by one another and look forward to that community that we all know is possible.
Corrina Gould, Chochenyo/Karkin Ohlone
On behalf of the Committee to Protect Sogorea Te
http://protectglencove.org/2012/update-letter/
danbacher News Advisory: Embargoed for Release until April Fool’s Day (April 1), 2012!
The Department of Fish and Game has taken a new, no nonsense approach to fishing without a license or sturgeon report card. Click the you tube link below to view the video secretly taken on Wednesday’s trip on San Pablo Bay by Gordon Hough, captain of the Morning Star!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfe7YhBTE9Y&feature
If you think the penalties are severe for catching a sturgeon without obtaining a sturgeon card, imagine what will happen if you are caught fishing in one of the new “marine protected areas,” created under the “visionary” oversight of a big oil industry lobbyist, that went into effect in Southern California waters on January 1.
Inside sources report that the Western States Petroleum Association, Walmart, Safeway Corporation and the Resources Legacy Foundation, all avid backers of the “landmark” Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, have generously offered to pay for the costs of enforcement.
Word has it that the Academi Corporation – previously known as Xe Services LLC, Blackwater USA and Blackwater Worldwide – will be enforcing these “Yosemites of the Sea” and “glorious marine parks” in a “historic” public-private partnership with the California Department of Fish and Game under the leadership of DFG Director Chuck Bonham. Of course, esteemed “vigilante volunteers” from the Orange County Coastkeeper and Heal the Bay will help the DFG and the Academi (formerly Blackwater) in their surveillance of fishermen!
Oil companies, municipal polluters, corporate aquaculture operations, the U.S. military, and wind, wave and nuclear power companies don’t need to worry, though – only fishing and gathering are prohibited in these wonderful new “sea parks!”
danbacher Restore the Delta policy analyst Jane Wagner-Tyack explained, “The report is so out of touch with reality that it actually places the new Stockton water supply project under water because the authors have decided that the way to fix the Delta is to permanently flood it. By depriving Stockton of a water supply, it seems that someone has made a decision to relocate the Delta’s largest urban population of 300,000 residents somewhere else.”
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by Dan Bacher
Restore the Delta is challenging the accuracy and value of the Public Policy Institute’s controversial “report” on the Delta, “Transitions for the Delta Economy,” funded by the Stephen Bechtel Foundation, Resources Legacy Fund and David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
In the report’s summary, the Public Policy Institute (PPIC) proclaimed, “Enormous changes—from natural forces to management decisions—are coming to California’s fragile Delta region and will have broad effects on its residents. This report finds that in the first half of this century, the Delta as a whole is likely to experience a loss of 1 percent of economic activity as a result of these changes. It also identifies planning priorities for managing the Delta’s future.”
The full report is available at http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_112EHR.pdf
After reviewing the report, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta (http://restorethedelta.org), commented, “It is disheartening that the report fails to fully and properly analyze Delta water quality, current project proposals, and the real Delta economy.”
Barrigan-Parrilla emphasized that the PPIC report assumes that the new “dual conveyance” system, more commonly known to Californians as the peripheral canal/tunnel, will only divert 4.9 million acre feet of Delta water, despite the reality that water contractors will have difficulty justifying the sale of billions of dollars in new revenue bonds to finance the project if they are going to receive a significant smaller share of Delta water.
Conner Everts with the Southern California Watershed Alliance noted, “Southern California rate payers cannot afford to pay more and more to Metropolitan Water District for an unsustainable water supply. Regional self sufficiency, which can be achieved through conservation, storm water and reuse projects, is a much more affordable way to make more water for Southern California water users.”
Restore the Delta policy analyst Jane Wagner-Tyack quipped, “The report is so out of touch with reality that it actually places the new Stockton water supply project under water because the authors have decided that the way to fix the Delta is to permanently flood it. By depriving Stockton of a water supply, it seems that someone has made a decision to relocate the Delta’s largest urban population of 300,000 residents somewhere else.”
Barrigan-Parrilla said that despite multiple attempts by Delta water agency representatives, Delta engineers, levee experts trained at other renowned universities, economists, and Delta advocates, the authors of the PPIC reports on the Delta have rebuffed attempts to incorporate local input into their research. The report’s writers are Josué Medellín-Azuara, Ellen Hanak, Richard Howitt, and Jay Lund, with research support from Molly Ferrell, Katherine Kramer, Michelle Lent, Davin Reed, and Elizabeth Stryjewski.
“The PPIC models regarding salinity changes in the Delta and how such changes would alter our economy are flawed,” Barrigan-Parrilla concluded. “If people in California want to know the real value of the Delta economy presently and how exporting water could destroy it, they should read the Economic Sustainability Plan recently published by the Delta Protection Commission – a rigorously reviewed document produced by experts who know the Delta best.”
PPIC tries to hide funding by Bechtel, Packard and Resources Legacy
Barrigan-Parrilla noted that while the cover states the report was funded by The Watershed Science Center at UC Davis, page 62 of the report explains that the study was paid for by the Delta Solutions program funders, that once again includes the Stephen Bechtel Foundation, Resources Legacy Fund and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
“So it seems this time rather than checks going directly to PPIC from these pro peripheral canal foundations, checks floated through the University and then to UC Davis,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “Restore the Delta believes this is a worsening scenario because the average person will simply believe that the study was financed by an unbiased educational institution without a hidden agenda. And if there is nothing to hide, then why aren’t the funders on the cover?
According to the Bechtel Foundation’s website (http://www.sdbjrfoundation.org), “Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. created the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation in 1957 to improve the quality of life for Californians by addressing selected issues that challenge the health and prosperity of the state. In addition to his leadership of the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and the Stephen Bechtel Fund, Mr. Bechtel is Chairman Retired and a Director of Bechtel Group, Inc.”
The Brown and Obama administrations are currently fast-tracking Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal in order to export more Delta water to southern California and corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Delta advocates believe the construction of peripheral canal or tunnel would result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other imperiled fish species.
Do PPIC’s authors live in a parallel universe?
The PPIC report’s assumption that the new peripheral canal/tunnel will only divert 4.9 million acre feet of Delta water is mind boggling, considering that exports from the Delta have reached record levels well over 4.9 million acre feet annually over the past 10 years. The Brown and Obama administrations exported a record amount of water from the Delta in 2011.
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.
Are we to believe that the state water contractors are going to agree to the building of an enormously expensive peripheral canal that would actually divert less water from the Delta than the record levels that were delivered to southern California and San Joaquin Valley agribusiness in 2011? The PPIC report authors apparently live in a parallel universe devoid of science, logic and facts.
The record pumping from the Delta in 2011 – used to fill billionaire Stewart Resnick’s Kern Water Bank and southern California reservoirs – resulted in a huge, unprecedented fish kill at the Delta pumps. Agency staff “salvaged” a total of 11,158,025 fish in the Delta water pumping facilities between January 1 and September 7, 2011 alone. Scientists estimate that the actual amount of fish lost in the pumps is 5 to 10 times the “salvage” numbers.
A horrific 8,985,009 Sacramento splittail, the largest number ever recorded, were “salvaged” during this period. 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.
There is no doubt that the Brown administration has eclipsed the Schwarzenegger administration’s abysmal environmental legacy by exporting a record amount of water from the Delta and killing record numbers of fish in the Delta pumps in 2011.
The MLPA/peripheral canal connection
Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird are not only continuing Schwarzenegger’s mad drive to build a peripheral canal, but they have forged ahead with Schwarzenegger’s privately funded Marine Life Protection Act” (MLPA) Initiative. The initiative is a corrupt process, overseen by a big oil lobbyist, marina developer, coastal real estate executive, agribusiness hack and other corporate operatives with many conflicts of interest, that creates so-called “marine protected areas” on the California coast.
And guess who is funding the MLPA fiasco? The Resources Legacy Fund and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, two of the three funders of the recent PPIC report promoting the construction of the peripheral canal, are also funding the MLPA Initiative! The initiative creates “marine protected areas” that fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture, wave and wind energy projects and all other human impacts on the ocean than fishing and gathering.
In one of the most overt conflicts of interest in California history, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the “august body” that designed the “marine protected areas” that went into effect on the Southern California Coast on January 1. Reheis-Boyd, a big oil industry lobbyist advocating for new offshore drilling off the California coast, the Keystone XL pipeline and the gutting of environmental laws, chaired the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast, as well as “serving” on the North Central Coast and North Coast Task Forces.
The Packard Foundation and four other “non-profits” donated a total of $20 million to fund the MLPA Initiative. The Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, a shadowy organization that North Coast environmental leader John Lewallen describes as a “money laundering operation” for corporate money, received the funds from these foundations to implement the unpopular MLPA process.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation contributed $8.2 million to fund the MLPA process. 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.
The Laguna Beach-based Marisla Foundation, founded by Getty Oil heiress Anne Getty Earhart, gave $3 million over several years. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation donated $7.4 million, the Keith Campbell Foundation contributed $1.2 million and the Annenberg Foundation contributed $200,000.
All of this money was dumped into the Resources Legacy Foundation to kick recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and seaweed gatherers, the most vocal advocates of fishery restoration and true environmental protection and the most fervent opponents of the peripheral canal, off the water in a disgusting case of corporate greenwashing. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/02/18/the-corporate-money-behind-the-mlpa-initiative)
danbacher “Although my Delta protection bill, AB 550, was unsuccessful, it succeeded in getting support from the Water Parks & Wildlife Chair, Jared Huffman, and bipartisan support from 4 other committee members,” said Assemblymember Alyson Huber.
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by Dan Bacher
Assemblymember Alyson Huber’s bill to prohibit the construction of a peripheral canal around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta without a full fiscal analysis and a vote of the state legislature failed in committee on Tuesday, January 10.
The bill vote in the Assembly Water Parks and Wildlife Committee was 5 ayes and 7 nos, with 1 member not in attendance.
However, Huber, a Democrat from El Dorado Hills, noted that the bill made significant progress over last year when the same bill, SB 550, failed to get a second to the motion to vote on it.
“Although my Delta protection bill, AB 550, was unsuccessful, it succeeded in getting support from the Water Parks & Wildlife Chair, Jared Huffman, and bipartisan support from 4 other committee members,” said Huber. “We have made great progress from last year and I am still committed to pressing for a full fiscal analysis and a vote of the legislature before any Delta water conveyance program can move forward.”
AB 550 would “prohibit the construction and operation of a peripheral canal from diminishing or negatively affecting the water supplies, water rights, or quality of water for water users within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed, or imposing any new burdens on infrastructure within, or financial burdens on persons residing in, the Delta or the Delta watershed,” according to the bill text.
Tracy Chimenti, a Penryn mandarin farmer and recreational angler who attended the hearing, said, “I supported the bill because it gives the Legislature a chance to analyze the fiscal impacts and true cost of the project so a rational decision can be made in the open.”
“I oppose the canal because from the economic standpoint, it is a multi-billion dollar boondoggle,” said Chimenti. “As a small farmer, I try to use the most cost effective way to grow fruit.”
He also opposes the canal because of the dramatic impacts it would have on fish populations and the environment.
“Taking more water from the Delta in an alternate flow regime will simply damage the sport fishery and native fish populations,” emphasized Chimenti. “On top of that, the many fishing businesses that Delta and Central Valley fisheries support would go down the tubes with the construction of the canal.”
Supporters of the bill included Restore the Delta, Food and Water Watch, the California Delta Chambers, Central Delta Water Agency, City of Lodi, City of Stockton, the Rio Vista Chamber Commerce, South Delta Water Agency, Wilson Farms and Vineyards and numerous other groups and individuals.
“Restore the Delta maintains that the people of California deserve to know that due process will take place before tax payers and rate payers are asked to spend billions of dollars on a peripheral canal,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. “It is imperative that our state’s Legislature continues to oversee large-scale projects and does not delegate its authority to unelected bureaucrats who are not held accountable by voters.”
The Association of California Water Agencies, Westlands Water District, the State Water Contractors, Kern County Water Agency, Santa Clara Valley Water Agency, Metropolitan Water District, County of Los Angeles and numerous others receiving water exports from the Delta opposed the bill.
In a letter to Huber, these agencies stated, “We view AB 550 as a threat to achieving the co-equal goals of ecosystem restoration and reliable water supplies in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Most importantly, your legislation will undermine water supply reliability throughout California and will threaten jobs and the economic health of three quarters of the state’s population residing south of the Delta. AB 550 is a blatant repeal of the historic Delta/water management legislation enacted in November 2009 that created a path towards new Delta conveyance.”
The Brown and Obama administrations are currently fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal in order to export more Delta water to southern California and corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Delta advocates believe the construction of peripheral canal or tunnel would result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other imperiled fish species.
Advocates of openness and transparency in government believe that the BDCP, like the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative to create so-called “marine protected areas” on the California coast, is a corrupt process filled with numerous conflicts of interest. For example, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association and a strong advocate for new offshore oil drilling, chaired the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force that developed the “marine protected areas” that went into effect in Southern California ocean waters on January 1.
Likewise, 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, the plan initiated by state and federal water contractors to allow them to build a peripheral canal or tunnel.
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 “personnel exchange agreement” between the Department of Water Resources and Westlands Water District from November 15, 2009 through December 31, 2012. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/12/14/westlands-official-working-for-dwr-on-delta-plan)
The news of Ramos’ hiring followed the alarming disclosure that DWR hired Laura King Moon, the Assistant General Manager of the State Water Contractors, to assist in the completion of the BDCP. (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/10/25/state-hires-water-contractor-rep-to-help-oversee-bay-delta-plan/)
“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,” summed up Michael Preston, spokesman for the Winnemem Wintu Tribe and a UC Berkeley Junior studying Society and the Environment and Native American Studies.
Preston’s tribe is now engaged in an ambitious campaign to reintroduce McCloud River winter run chinook salmon from the Rakaira River in New Zealand to the McCloud above Shasta Dam.
danbacher Begley’s role in the film was announced as the Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal.
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by Dan Bacher
Ed Begley Jr., a renowned actor and environmental advocate, will narrate Restore the Delta’s groundbreaking documentary film Over Troubled Waters.
“The story of the Delta as told by Delta locals is a must-see for all Californians,” said Mr. Begley, working with Media Creations, a regional production company.
“We need to know why this area is worthy of protection. It is a hidden treasure, and with enough water it is a place where fisheries and sustainable agriculture can thrive together once again,” said Begley.
Begley’s role in the film was announced as the Brown and Obama administrations are fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal. Delta advocates oppose the peripheral canal’s construction because it would likely result in the extinction of imperiled Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and Sacramento splittail populations.
Ed Begley Jr., a veteran stage, television, and film performer, first came to public attention for his portrayal of Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the long-running hit television series St. Elsewhere, for which he received six Emmy nominations. A few of his feature film credits include Batman Forever, The Accidental Tourist, The In-Laws, and most recently Pineapple Express (a movie that I loved!)
“Having served as the past chair of the Environmental Media Association, Mr. Begley’s response to pressing environmental issues is one of action and engagement personally and publicly,” according to Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta.
A winner of several environmental awards from national and regional conservation groups, Ed Begley Jr. has endorsed Restore the Delta’s work and mission.
“While I am a resident of Southern California, I support the work of Restore the Delta, a broad coalition of Delta residents, farmers, environmentalists, concerned citizens, and business people from throughout California,” said Begley. “Restore the Delta is a grassroots organization that advocates for adequate water flows into the Pacific Coast’s largest estuary – the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.”
“Restore the Delta is fighting to protect the primary nursery for California’s coastal fisheries, including salmon fisheries that support the food chain for Orca whales. Restore the Delta is also fighting to protect water needed by thousands of small family farmers within the Delta – including some of California’s oldest farming families who helped to build this state,” stated Begley.
Begley emphasized that over the last thirty years, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a once thriving ecosystem that sustains salmon and other fish populations up and down the California Coast, has been in steady decline.
“One of the main causes of the Delta’s decline has been the excessive export of water to other areas in the state,” he explained. “A great deal of this water has been sent to large-scale corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and in Kern County. But this part of the story regarding the Delta’s decline is often overlooked by mainstream media.”
As a Southern California resident, Begley noted that there are “many potential programs and resources” that can be put into place to increase their water supply reliability while reducing their dependence on water taken out of the Delta – and he pointed to his own personal efforts to conserve water.
“At my home, I have installed catchment basins so that I can collect rain water each winter for reuse in my garden throughout the year. But we also need to support larger scale water conservation and recycling programs that will enable us to have the water that we need while protecting one of California’s most important ecosystems,” Begley added.
Over Troubled Waters, the story of the Delta told by Delta locals, is scheduled for release in Spring, 2012. “This project has been initially endorsed by over a dozen individuals and groups, spanning from John McCrae with the rock group CAKE to Congressional representatives, from California legislators to Delta business leaders, and from professional fishermen to regional musicians,” said Barrigan-Parrilla.
For more details on Cake’s endorsement of Restore the Delta, go to my article in the Sacramento News and Review: http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/eco-friendly-rock-n-roll-lifestyle/content?oid=3682716.
To see the endorsements and learn more about Over Troubled Waters visit http://overtroubledwaters.org/endorsements/. Staff with Restore the Delta and Media Creations are available for interviews. For more information, contact: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 10100 Trinity Pkwy, Suite 120, Stockton, CA 95219, Email: Barbara [at] Restorethedelta.org, Phone:209-479-2053
2011: a record year for water exports and fish kills
The announcement by Restore the Delta follows a record year for Delta water exports. 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.
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.
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).
At the same time Governor Jerry Brown and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird are forging ahead with the plan to build the peripheral canal after a year of record fish kills and water exports, they are continuing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, a process overseen by a big oil industry lobbyist, marina developer, coastal real estate executive, agribusiness hack and other corporate operatives with numerous conflicts of interest.
