lgc_admin's blog

Restore the Delta, http://www.restorethedelta.org, says special interests are driving the governor's push for construction on a new Peripheral Canal to begin in two years. Let the Buyer Beware.

Attorney General Brown Sues to Overturn Bush Administration Rules Undermining Endangered Species Act. To learn more click here: http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1644

A University of Pacific (Stockton) economist is willing to bet $10,000 that a recent Public Policy Institute of California study on the need for a Peripheral Canal is based on flawed assumptions.

A former U.S. Department of Interior official Julie McDonald improperly meddled in almost every single Endangered Species Act decision over the last few years, according to a new report from the Interior Department's Inspector General.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a new biological opinion that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will not like. Last year, Fresno federal Judge Oliver Wanger threw out the Bureau's first biological opinion which said the Bureau and the State Water Project could continue joint operations to pump water from the Bay-Delta at Tracy without harming fish species like the Delta Smelt.
The new Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinion states: "[I]t is the Service's biological opinion that the coordinated operations of the CVP and SWP, as proposed, are likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the delta smelt.
To read the Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinion CLICK HERE:
http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/delta_update.htm

HEADLINE: Water issues more than just fish versus jobs

BYLINE: Robert Merrill, California State University, Fresno Professor

Recent articles regarding the need to increase water supplies in the San Joaquin Valley and the political response to the judicial decision shutting off the pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have carefully avoided several important issues. Those articles also contain some untruths regarding water-related issues.

Do you think the battle over the declining Delta fishery is only about farmers versus fish? Read this piece by Tom Zuckerman, special projects manager of a Delta irrigation district representing downstream farmers.

http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/1446968.html

For decades Zeke Grader has been a leading advocate for protecting California's fisheries. He was recently asked what was necessary to restore collapsing salmon runs and a seriously ill Bay-Delta estuary. This is how Zeke would build a "house" to keep our fisheries healthy:

Read the full press release and filing at the http://www.c-win.org homepage.

*FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a Board Member of the C-WIN group.

Are California's salmon runs going the way of the passenger pigeon? Read
Peter Boyle's commentary.