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Dan Bacher: Wolk slams “business as usual” Delta management

Posted by: Maven on March 10, 2010 at 6:23 am

From Dan Bacher at IndyBay.org:

“State Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) strongly criticized the Department of Water Resources and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan for moving “full speed ahead” on the path to the construction of a peripheral canal even before the Delta Stewardship Council is appointed.

Wolk issued her statement following a joint hearing on March 9 of State Assembly and Senate committees on the funding and implementation of the 2009 legislative package on water.

“It is business as usual, and discouraging,” said Wolk, a member of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water, which convened the informational hearing along with the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife. “My worst fears were confirmed today. The train has left the station and is not stopping for anything, including the Delta Stewardship Council.”

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, in collaboration with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, rammed the water policy/water bond package through a special session of the Legislature in early November 2009 in face of massive opposition by fishing groups, California Indian Tribes, Delta farmers, northern California water agencies, environmental justice advocates and the vast majority of the state’s environmental organizations.

Wolk and other Delta legislators, including Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada (D-Davis), Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo), Senator Mark Desaunier (D-Concord) and Alyson Huber (D-El Dorado Hills), opposed the legislation because they feared it would only clear the path to the construction of a peripheral canal and the Delta’s destruction. Today their fears were completely realized.

“The whole thrust of this Delta reform legislation was to ensure that the Delta would have a true steward with independent and transparent decision-making authority to craft a plan for the Delta,” said Wolk. “Unfortunately, the testimony given today shows that the Department of Water Resources and the Bay Delta Conservation Plan are moving full speed ahead, executing contracts and making decisions even before the Delta Stewardship Council is appointed. This is a 50-year plan, so it needs to be done right, not rushed to meet an arbitrary deadline.” … “

Continue reading this article at IndyBay.org by clicking here.

March 10, 2010 · Filed Under Legislation - State & Federal

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