Archive for November 6th, 2009

Group vows to fight 2-Gates project

Gates in the Old River
by Ruth Roberts

With less than two weeks to go before the close of public comment on the 2-Gates Fish Protection Demonstration Project, members of a newly formed Discovery Bay coalition are working to extend that comment period on the proposed project that many feel would cause irreparable damage to the Delta and forever alter the recreational lifestyle and property values of the waterfront community.

The San Francisco Bay and Delta Foundation (SFBDF) was formed 10 days ago following a public forum hosted by the Bureau of Reclamation. The public meeting was designed to solicit input from the community on the project, but left many residents with more questions than answers.

“The takeaway (from the meeting) was that we don’t know what the effects of 2-Gates will be, but they range from not good to devastating,” said Mike Guzzardo, SFBDF publicity chairman. “We feel that they (Bureau of Reclamation, one of the project’s collaborators) are making assumptions on work they have not done. We are concerned that they have not done an EIR (Environmental Impact Report) on the southern Delta and specifically Discovery Bay.”

The 2-Gates project is a five-year experimental program designed to save the Delta smelt by rerouting them away from the water pumps on Old and Middle rivers in Byron.
Continue reading ‘Group vows to fight 2-Gates project’

Governor drops ‘bomb’ on Delta

Arnold Schwarzenegger in StocktonSTOCKTON – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came to plug electric vehicles at a new manufacturing plant, but in the process he stunned local officials by saying that a water agreement by legislators early Wednesday will allow the state to “fix the Delta and to build a canal around the Delta.”

It’s well-known that Schwarzenegger supports a peripheral canal, but Wednesday’s comment – one of his most direct endorsements to date – stung in Stockton, the heart of anti-canal country.

He spoke at the grand opening for Electric Vehicles International, near the Port of Stockton.

“You don’t come in our backyard, where you could spit and hit the Delta, and tell us he’s going to put the canal in without really understanding the impacts,” said San Joaquin County Supervisor Leroy Ornellas, who was invited to Wednesday’s ceremony but had to cancel after it was delayed to accommodate the governor’s news conference in Sacramento.

The package of bills, finished by legislators at 6 a.m. Wednesday, does not explicitly authorize a canal to send water past, rather than through, the Delta. It would, however, delegate future Delta decisions – including a canal, which is already being studied – to a new seven-member council, with four members appointed by the governor.

Full Article at this link.

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