Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA)

What can YOU do to help?

• Stay Informed. Add your email in the “Join us” email box to the right to receive periodic news and updates about the Delta. See our News tab for the latest updates. And distribute the word that the $!2B “Clean Safe Drinking Water” Act is NOT a clean safe drinking water act but rather a Peripheral Canal bond bill!
• Show you Care. Show up and attend meetings to demonstrate your support for the STCDA and the work the Delta’s local representatives are doing for the Delta.
• Write your Representatives. Sample letters and website information are provided below. Also see below informative comments sent by concerned citizens and responses from agencies and representatives.
• Spread the Word. Forward our website to anyone you know to encourage more support for saving the Delta. Send links to the YouTube video Don’t Drain the Delta to anyone who asks “Why save the Delta?” Pass out copies of one of our fliers (click here for March 1 Flyer) to your friends and at events.
• Donate.

The Problem

Various projects are underway or being planned, such as the 2-Gates “Fish Protection” Project (temporarily postponed due to actions by the STCDA but not “dead”), Frank’s Tract 2-Gates and the longer-range Peripheral Canal and related projects being driven by the Southern California Water Contractors and big Agribusiness owners who are making millions from reselling Delta water. The Water Contractors are funding and managing the Bay & Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). All of these efforts are focused on extracting more water from the Delta and will negatively impact:

• the quality of water in the estuary
• the Delta ecosystem and environment affecting water quality all the way to the San Francisco Bay
• the boating waterways
• the economy, health, safety, and lives of the citizens who live in Delta communities

Any “Gates” (dams) will severely impact recreational boating, impact safety rescue operations (coast guard, marine sheriffs – could cost lives), impact local economies, and negatively effect affect the fish and wildlife. The list of concerns and issues with installing gates in primary navigation waterways is long and significant. In addition, the gates will isolate Discovery Bay by periodically closing off the only unbridged waterway from that town to the rest of the Delta thus could easily end up impacting home values as well as boating safety. The Peripheral Canal projects include damming Middle River, removing access to Mildred Island anchorage, and restricting boating even more substantially than the 2-Gates.

The Old River/Connection Slough 2-Gates project was put on-hold by the Obama Administration in December 2009, due to lack of scientific evidence of positive results and additional expense of the project. The California Assembly spent the next 2 years busily implementing MANY new bills that include re-starting and expediting the 2-Gates project. Lately there is a proposal to re-start the prior Franks Tract gates proposal. Any gates are a significant issue. They restrict waterways, negatively impact endangered species their proponents claim to be trying to save, are a significant risk to navigation and boater safety. See the Event Tracker tab.

In November 2011 STCDA uncovered evidence that either the original 2-Gates Project, new Frank Tract Gates or both are planned to be implemented soon.

The types of efforts that have been underway include the 2010 “Feinstein Senate Jobs Bill Amendment” to mandate increased pumping levels and suspend protection for the chinook salmon (an amendment which could finally cause the destruction of the remaining salmon in California). This amendment is currently on-hold but Sen. Feinstein has said she “reserves the right to bring it back should it become necessary.”

Also in November 2011 – a proposal being considered by the Fish & Game due to a Agricultural lawsuit that proposes it is the striped bass that are causing the demise of salmon and smelt, NOT excessive pumping of water (which is opposite all scientific evidence). I haven’t read the proposal but from Roger’s letter and postings on the internet it’s apparent that it would have very detrimental effects on bass here. “With the proposed changes, striped bass would likely become less abundant and the average size of striped bass would decline.” Whether you are a fisherman or not, the bass fish industry provides millions of dollars to the Delta local economies. And environmentally speaking, it’s obvious the striped bass are not the issue. It’s the pumps. Southern interests are doing everything they can to point fingers everywhere except on the effects of over-pumping. And the results of their efforts will be bad for the Delta and Northern California.

The “Peripheral Canal”and related gates/dams and increased pumping will cause large-scale impacts even worse than our significant concerns with the 2-Gates projects. The Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District is proposing to build a peripheral canal around the Delta in order to divert more water to Los Angeles.  This may have disastrous consequences for Discovery Bay.  Right now the L.A. Water district and other water contractors are running the show for this canal project. STCDA requested it’s members help getting the Water Contractors out of the driver’s seat. October 2011 the BDCP passed an Amendment to make the water contractors “Reviewers” of the Environmental Report ! We again sent emails to BDO@usbr.gov our strong objections to putting the Water Contractors in charge of deciding the future of the Delta. 

Why?

To increase the export of water from the Delta to Central and Southern California.

Why Not?

The Delta is more than a plumbing fixture.

We need our representatives to find a more balanced approach to solving the state’s water needs.

Whether your concern are the Delta Gates project and how that project would destroy water quality in the west Delta, or water quality in the south and central Delta, the peripheral canal/pipe, or levee protection and levee integrity in the north Delta, the passage of the water bond, which will fund what we don’t want, is not in our collective self interest.

$12 Billion Water Bond – “Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act” (slated for the 2012 ballot):

• $2.25 billion for Delta sustainability (half can be used for mitigation for conveyance)
• $3 billion for surface storage – dams
• $5.89 billion for water supply reliability, local and regional water projects, and local watershed projects

Problems with the bond:

• It’s language does not even expose it is a vote for a Peripheral Canal, which was voted down years ago !!!
• Very little money is going directly to Delta restoration and increasing our water supply.
• Too much money is earmarked for projects for which we have no plans.
• $700 – $800 million per year will come from the general fund, at the expense of education and other critical needs.

Write your Representatives – Make Your Voice Heard

Encourage our government to stop spending money on short-sighted measures that are destroying the Delta and efforts that focus on the Delta only as a “plumbing fixture” which will significantly impact Delta communities and the Delta way of life. Encourage them to look at balanced approaches that can restore the Delta ecosystem, encourage conservation, and provide needed fresh water throughout the state.

We have found that an outpouring of letters of concern sent to our representatives and the agencies responsible for the Delta projects is making a difference. Go to their websites and voice your concerns.

• contact Diane Feinstein
• contact Barbara Boxer
• contact Nancy Pelosi
• contact Governor Jerry Brown

Click here to find the contact links, emails, or mailing addresses for Contra Costa County representatives.

Sample Messages to Send:

• Today, 40% of the state’s agricultural water (32% of our state’s overall water supply) is used for water-intensive crops (rice, cotton, alfalfa and pastures) whereas California is classified as an arid state. Instead these crops should be restricted and less water-intensive crops grown. Steps should first be taken to conserve water rather than keep pumping too much water from the Delta which has caused the current environmental collapse. Furthermore, the Westlands water district farms have poor soil that leaches toxic selenium and other harmful chemicals; those farms should be taken out of production, which would also save water.
• (Also email Fish & Game: fgc@fgc.ca.gov): I am opposed to the Fish & Game Striped Bass Regulation Proposal. This proposal sets a dangerous precedent to allow regulations to be set by a wealthy self interest group instead of being set based on sound scientific evidence. The chief biologist for striped bass at the Dept of Fish and Game agreed that it is the water diversions in the delta that have the biggest effect on the salmon decline and nothing to do with striped bass. In fact the evidence clearly showed that salmon, smelt and bass thrived in the years of abundant rainfall, and declined the most during the years of increased water pumping. By eliminating the top predator from the system another species will take their place and could have even more damaging effects on the endangered species. The striped bass is a highly valued game fish. The population, already at historic lows, cannot withstand the pressure this regulation change proposal would bring to bear on them. Annually the fishery contributes millions of dollars to our local economy as well as the Department of Fish and Game through the sales of fishing licenses.
• We urge our legislators to look at the big picture when dealing with California water issues to weigh all of the needs to help the state form a more balanced water plan than we currently are pursuing, rather than catering solely to the farm lobby.

Donate

Join us in protecting the California Delta. Our organization has already made significant headway against the “2 Gates Project”. We are being heard but need your help to continue to keep the Delta safe!

Donate Now! Please make your tax deductible donations payable to STCDA .

Mail your checks to:

Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA)

4112 Windward Ct.

Discovery Bay, CA, 94505

Or you may make donations by credit card by clicking on the “Donate” button.

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