Over 20 people urged the state and federal governments to halt the program, a wacky scheme to redesign the hydrology of South Delta to provide increased water exports to southern California, until the unprecedented fish decline and food chain crash in the Delta is solved. Many anglers from the Allied Fishing Groups walked up to the front of the room to deposit stacks of signed postcards opposing the project, delivering a total of 4000 postcards to the three Department of Water Resources representatives.

“This project is all about money,” said Bob Strickland, president of United Anglers of California. “Southern California has the money while northern California has the water. It is easier for them to take water from northern California than it is to solve the problem of their water supply. When the eco-system is in dire straits like it is now, what are southern California and agribusiness doing to find alternative sources of water like desalinization?”

Bill Jennings, chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, delivered a blistering attack on the SDIP, testifying that the program would do nothing to “improve” the Delta as the project’s proponents contend, but would instead further push the Delta smelt and rest of the ecosystem over the cliff of extinction.

“The environmental assessments for virtually every previous significant project in the Delta have promised benign or beneficial effects,” said Jennings. “All exacerbated existing conditions. Having waded through all 2,788 pages of the SDIP EIR/S, we can say it is little different from previous EIRs except in the magnitude of its dishonesty.”

He continued, “That DWR and the Bureau are pushing this project at a time when the Delta’s pelagic fisheries are on the brink of oblivion speaks volumes about the values and intentions of its proponents. DWR has abandoned any pretext of being a trustee agency. It has essentially become a subsidiary of export interests – a handmaiden to the Metropolitan Water District.”

After analyzing, point by point, the many defects of the project and its environmental documents, Jennings said, “Our message is simple. Fix the Delta first!”

Before the hearing, Kathy Kelly of the Department of Water Resources made a brief presentation. Like the water contractor representatives who spoke later, Kelly tried to portray the SDIP as some sort of touchy-feely “consensus” program designed to restore the Delta ecosystem while providing water supply to thirsty Californians.

“The project’s three purposes are to reducing the straying of salmon into the South Delta, to provide adequate water to Delta farmers and to provide increased reliability of water to the State Water Project and Central Valley Project.”

Using a power point presentation, Kelly showed how the project would convert temporary agricultural barriers into permanent barriers with boat locks with operable gates. She emphasized that a decision will be made only on the permanent tide barriers and dredging and that it will be several years before anything is decided regarding pumping and water exports, due to the ongoing studies by state and federal government scientists trying to determine the causes of and solutions to the Delta food chain crash.

The project consists of two components, an operations component and a physical component. “We are deferring our decision on the operations component until the physical component is completed.” She said. “We have declining populations of fish in the Delta, so to propose an operations increase without the data is unsupportable.”

Yet incredibly, she said the state plans to go ahead with construction of the physical infrastructure for pumping anyway, with a construction date for the gates set for early 2009!

“ I interpret Ms. Kelly's emphasis as affirming we have hit a nerve by calling a water export project a water export project despite the confusing approach DWR has chosen for the EIR/EIS document and phasing of the project,” observed Doug Lovell, chairman of the Bay-Delta Chapter of the Federation of Fly Fisheries, after the hearing.

In his testimony, Lovell advised the state to withdraw the EIR for the program and to instead reduce the pumping level to that when the Delta smelt was recovering.

Dave Hurley, representing the California Striped Bass Association, Stockton chapter, began with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: “Our lives begin to end when we remain silent about things that matter.”

“I challenge Kelly that we need this type of progress,” he continued. “There are other options to this program such as increased water conservation by water users. You don’t need to read all five program documents to know that any plan that requires more pumping from the Delta in a time of crisis cannot have the word ‘Improvement’ on it. The Delta is the heart and soul of the northern California.”

Like others, Hurley emphasized that what happens in the Delta greatly affects the fishery and marine ecosystem of San Francisco Bay and the ocean, since the Delta is the most significant estuary along the Pacific Coast of North and South America.

Five speakers, including representatives from the Santa Clara Valley Water District and “California’s Water Future,” gushed forth about the program’s purported benefits. Fiona Hutton, representing California’s Water Future, the newly formed water-contractor collaborative, claimed that her organization spoke for over 20 million Californians that depend on their water system. She contended that SDIP created the hope “for a balanced and fair program for water supply needs and ecosystem improvements.”

However, Doug Lovell countered, “It is absurd to claim that any California citizen supports SDIP just because some fraction of their drinking water is delivered by a water contractor that joined the organization.”

Five Delta locals, including farmers and marina owners, pointed out actual monetary losses and salt intrusion damages due to existing and future exports.

I was excited by the large turnout by anglers, hunters and environmentalists; over 50 sportsmen packed the room. In addition to organizational representatives already mentioned, members of the Recreational Fishing Alliance, Bass Classics of Santa Clara Valley, Sierra Club, Planning and Conservation League and different chapters of the California Striped Bass Association eloquently argued against moving forward with SDIP. Fish Sniffer columnist Dan Mathisen and I also testified at the hearing.

The public comment period was scheduled to end before this magazine comes out, although Allied Fishing Groups have requested a 30-day extension in the public comment period. At press time, the groups were planning to present thousands of postcards to DFG Director Ryan Broddrick and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

For more information, contact: Douglas W. Lovell, Engineer, Streamborn, PO Box 8330, Berkeley CA 94707, 510-528-4234 (work), 510-528-2613 (fax), 510-520-3146 (mobile).

More articles by Dan Bacher