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Monday’s top of the scroll: Interior chief offers water help to California; Feds take action on Central Valley water problems

Posted by: Maven on June 29, 2009 at 7:57 am

From the Associated Press & the Merced Sun-Star:

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Sunday announced several steps he hoped would ease the toll the state’s water shortage is taking on farmers and said he would assign a top deputy to help find solutions. At a spirited town hall meeting in California’s agricultural heartland, Salazar told a packed auditorium that Deputy Interior Secretary David J. Hayes will “bring all of the key federal agencies to the table” to coordinate efforts.

Salazar said he wanted to direct $160 million in Recovery Act funds to the federal Central Valley Project, which manages the dams and canals that move water around the state, and will expedite water transfers from other areas.

Members of the San Joaquin Valley congressional delegation told Salazar that three years of drought were forcing farmers to fallow hundreds of thousands of acres and idle farmworkers. “The time for meetings and talk is over,” said Rep. George Radanovich. “We need action now.”

From KMPH Channel 26:

Salazar said his trip was aimed at listening to the needs of Valley farmers, announce some actions, and see where things go from there. He told the crowd environmental restrictions protecting the delta smelt are set to expire Wednesday, July first… and the pumps will go back on.

He added a study, looking at the so-called “Two-Gates” project, will be put on the fast track. The project would place gates at the two tributaries where the water flows from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, protecting fish from the pumps, while still allowing water to flow.

Salazar later added that the solution of convening a so-called “God Squad” may not be the way to go. The ‘Squad’ would consist of leaders who have the power to bypass environmental regulations, and turn on water pumps at the delta immediately.

“This would be to admit failure, it would defeat eco-system restoration efforts,” Salazar said. “It has been rarely invoked, and usually leads to litigation.”

From the Central Valley Business Times:

Mr. Salazar says he has assigned Deputy Secretary David Hayes to coordinate the federal response to California water supply and related environmental issues with the state and stakeholders.

Other steps are to include:

• Renewed federal involvement and leadership in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) and federal engagement in water supply issues that extend beyond the scope of the BDCP and the immediate geography of the Bay Delta.

• Significant progress will be made on the most contentious water supply and environmental issues by the end of 2009, including but not limited to the issues raised by the BDCP, he says.

• Continued efforts to distribute $220 million in Recovery Act funding for specific water and environmental infrastructure projects in California. Of this amount, $160 million will be directed to the Central Valley Project. An additional $40 million in drought relief funds will be announced within the month, the majority of which will go to California’s Central Valley.

• The expedited review of infrastructure projects that could potentially add flexibility to water delivery systems, including the proposed “Two Gates” project and the canal “intertie” project.

And lastly, this from the Merced Sun-Star article:

Comedian Paul Rodriguez, who owns 40 acres of nectarines near Dinuba and heads the Latino Water Coalition, mocked environmentalists’ argument that the decline in smelt is the “canary in the coal mine” warning of a declining ecosystem.

“The canary is there so it will perish and the miner can live, but these people got it backward: They want the fish to live so we can die,” Rodriguez said as audience members stood and cheered.

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June 29, 2009 · Filed Under Drought, Weather & Snowpack, San Joaquin Valley

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