California Ag TODAY: Pressure Amounts Against Bay Delta Conservation Plan

There is a lot of reaction from those opposed to the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The 34,000 pages of the plan were released Monday afternoon and reaction came fast, within hours.

If you read the quotes below you will see that opponents are ready to fight to the end. People around the Delta and environmental groups are very engaged in this issue. In the Central Valley only farmers are aware of this effort.

In Southern California, we're not even sure they know where they get their water, or that a battle is being waged. The Metropolitan Water District, however, is the 800-lb gorilla and knows full well. But, the beachgoers are blissfully unaware. Don't let that fool you. When they need water, there are 20-million of them and they will get water.

Northern California has water and Southern California will get their water, but the question remains for Central California farmers: will we be left in between with nothing?   

It is interesting to note how the environmentalists continue to cleverly use these water fights. For instance, the lawyer for Friends of the River appears to be helping the farmers and their water rights. Yet, Friends of the River is the primary opposition to expanding the flood spillway for the Merced River. This project paid for by the water users (Merced Irrigation District) would yield 70,000 acre-feet of increased capacity during wet years to help offset the ground water overdraft here on the East Side of the San Joaquin Valley.

Friends of the River claims the proposed law sets a precedent against the Wild and Scenic Rivers act even though the law’s language specifically prohibits that.  We don't mean to be one-sided with this presentation as we will have a lot more to say about this, but it is necessary to understand the depth of the opposition to this plan.   

"Friends of the River and its allies will fight to save our rivers, the Delta, the Bay and the fish from the water tunnels in the public arena, in the courts when it is time for months, years, decades, for as long as it takes." - Bob Wright, Senior

Counsel for Friends of the River

  "This water grab is not likely to survive legal challenges for violations of endangered species, water quality, environmental review and water code statutes. Should it though, a fatal obstacle still remains. Before a single spade of dirt is turned, we will trigger a full legal adjudication of Central Valley waters." - Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance  

"The BDCP from our perspective can be best described as a triple platinum lie – that is, they promised that they are going to save the salmon, but in fact, most likely it’s going to destroy our salmon resources and with them, our salmon fisheries." - Zeke Grader, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations  

"Taxpayers are being asked, pardon me they are not being asked … there are special interests that are going to saddle property tax payers and water users throughout California with about $50 billion of debt." - Jonas Minton, Water Policy Advisor with the Planning and Conservation League  

"We’re being asked to sacrifice the greatest estuary on the west coast of the Americas, we’re being asked to sacrifice the largest strip of prime farmland in the state of California, sustainable Delta farms, we’re being asked to sacrifice upstream rivers, part of our Wild and Scenic heritage, we’re being asked to sacrifice Northern Californians groundwater supply..." - Barbara Berrigan-Parilla, Executive Director with Restore the Delta 

 "Once more, Gov. Brown's administration has proposed essentially the same thing: giant tunnels and huge price tags that would create environmental destruction and not resolve the state's water demand needs." - Kathryn Phillips, Director Sierra Club California  

"There is little doubt that the massive tunnels will drain the Sacramento River and North State aquifers, diminish vital flows into the already stressed Delta, further stress native salmon runs, and destroy 150-year-old family farms to benefit unsustainable corporate agribusiness on the west-side of the San Joaquin Valley."
- Barbara Vlamis, Executive Director of AquAlliance.  

"I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that the Delta is protected by advocating for alternative measures which are less destructive, such as water conservation..." - Delta Assemblyman Jim Frazier  

"It's time to put more effort into a viable alternative, a Plan B -- a more affordable, less divisive and more achievable path forward." - State Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Solano  

“These documents are a whitewash of a white elephant. The BDCP is a sham and a scam -- fluffy propaganda for a project that will burden ratepayers and taxpayers with ruinous debt for the benefit of a few hundred corporate farms." - Carolee Kreiger, California Water Impact Network (C-WIN)  

"It’s likely that years, or even decades, will pass before the issue is resolved one way or the other." - Dan Walters/Sacramento Bee   