Stressors

State officials and water contractors said the pumping reductions would do little to help the 2- to 3-inch-long, silver-colored fish, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
"Clearly the judge is focusing on a particular stressor in the delta," Snow said. "There are so many other stressors in the delta system that we still have to address."
In court, lawyers for the state and federal governments and water contractors argued that water pumping was only a minor part of smelt's record decline. They also pointed to invasive species, toxic runoff, wastewater dumping and an antiquated plumbing system in the delta.But when he made his ruling, Wanger said the "the evidence is uncontradicted" that the pumps hurt the smelt and "the law says something has to be done about it."
...Sacramento Bee, 9-6-07

Yes, it does appear that the "stressors" on the Delta Smelt are not limited to the huge increases in pumping since the 2002 Colorado River agreement and the Colorado Plateau drought have cut back some water from Southern California. However, while the Hydraulic Brotherhood is very good at scattering dots, they are perhaps deliberately bad at connecting them.

For a start, if curtailment of pumping caused less acreage of the selenium-laced west side to be irrigated, that would cause some lessening of toxic wastes that end up draining back into the Delta, at the moment through a ditch formerly known as the San Joaquin River (under another federal court order to restore flows of fresh water below the Friant Dam).

But, when we consider that reducing pumping from the Delta by roughly one third during a state drought of unknown duration would also affect water supplies to urban Southern California, other stressors appear--right in the state Capitol itself. If finance, insurance and real estate special interests (FIRE) are unable to continue to build with impunity and total disregard for the resource carrying capacity of the state, how long could it be before -- like mortgage lenders -- developer lobbyists start losing their jobs and their bosses start losing their stranglehold over state government?

Of course, FIRE lobbyists and their bought politicians are pushing for dams and a Peripheral Canal. That's a gravy train worth climbing onto, particularly when you know perfectly well that FIRE will build out to whatever storage capacity the dams and the canal provide just as quickly as they can sort out the credit fallout from the last speculative real estate boom, whose national epicenter is San Joaquin County, on the Delta. And then they'll want more dams and canals, like one down the east side of the San Joaquin Valley -- and that's another gravy train beckoning in the future.

Development is not inevitable. In fact, it takes continual expert finagling in the halls of government to pull it off in a state like California, where urban sprawl and wasteful agribusiness has long ago stressed the natural resources carrying capacity.

The real work that ought to concern us Californians who live here now -- rather than all those new homebuyers or speculators in our FIRE designed future -- is to fix the Delta levees. Yet, the Hun, our governor and the Legislature propose billions for dams and canals and dole out millions for levee repair. Who knows, maybe next winter will bring floods like the Farmer's Almanac suggests, in early spring. But, levee repair opens immense cans of worms. It involves looking at failure of the Public Trust, neglect of public infrastructure, and a lot of funds committed to restoring public health and safety, which won't instantly translate into new investment opportunities for FIRE. That would be a real commitment to a real population of the public living here right now. Therefore, it is unpopular with FIRE lobbyists. It is remarkable to note that within living memory, the state Legislature seriously debated the dangers of building on flood plains. The FIRE boys and girls, in a campaign of corruption 30 years old, have created a series of special laws that almost entirely exempt developers from the consequences of their deeds -- from construction defects and toxic molds through flood damage and subprime loans with no possibility of payment -- bellowing the virtues of the Free Market all the way while stuffing the coffers of legislative campaigns with contributions.

One of the political stressors at play in the Capitol these days is the terrible thought among FIRE lobbyists that they could lose power if the judiciary can hold the line on decisions concerning our vastly over-committed natural resources. Worse, they may soon be looking at actual reversal of some of the laws they hand-crafted at great expense. One can foresee a day perhaps sooner than later, when developer and agribusiness lobbyists are simply fighting for their own jobs in the Capitol, without regard even for the future of their bosses immense fortunes. Perhaps their day in coming.

We can hope and continue to work for ecojustice -- social, economic and environmental -- for the people that live here now in the existing housing surrounded by abandoned houses of unsuccessful speculators and victims of predatory loans. We can hope and continue to work for an economy in the San Joaquin Valley that is better than the one we now have, in the death grip of a greedy, reckless, and irresponsible plutocracy of financial, insurance and real estate special interests, their agribusiness land suppliers and government lackeys, who view their mission as the retail sale of broken laws for personal gain.

Badlands confidently estimates that 40 percent of the real estate sales in Merced were made to speculators. We eagerly await official, documented refutation (replies gratefully accepted at bill.badlands@gmail.com).

Badlands editorial staff
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9-6-07
Modesto Bee
Schwarzenegger administration promotes new dams as delta fix...Samantha Young, AP
http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/60007.html
The Schwarzenegger administration on Wednesday dusted off a failed dam proposal as a way to shore up California water supplies in light of a federal judge's ruling limiting shipments from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. At a Capitol news conference...Aug. 31 ruling by a federal judge in Fresno could cut water flows out of the delta... Both Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman and Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow urged lawmakers to immediately reconsider a $5.9 billion water facilities bond plan that the governor offered in January. A Senate committee rejected Schwarzenegger's plan earlier this year, and it has remained in the background ever since....Assembly Democrats have shown little willingness to consider water facilities legislation...refused Wednesday to go along with a procedural move by Senate President Pro Temp Don Perata, D-Oakland, to advance his own $5 billion dam proposal, which includes $2 billion to help restore the delta. Perata urged Schwarzenegger to convince the Assembly to pass a water bond this year in light of the federal judge's decision...

11-26-07
USA Today
California races to repair levee system...John Ritter
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-26-california-levees_x.htm
SACRAMENTO — In satellite photos, California's Central Valley sticks out as one of the planet's most prominent features, a great gouge in the landscape that looks as if a giant fingernail plowed through the center of the state.
The valley is broad and flat and great for agriculture. That also makes it prone to severe flooding, disasters that a century-old maze of levees is supposed to prevent. But California's neglected flood defenses are in such poor shape that voters on Nov. 7 approved nearly $5 billion in borrowing to shore up the USA's largest and most complex levee system outside the Mississippi Valley.That comes on top of $500 million approved by the Legislature after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an emergency in February.
Repairing more than 100 levees deemed "critical" because they protect urban areas is a race against time as winter rains approach."Right now we're putting Band-Aids on the patient," says Jeff Mount, a geology professor at the University of California, Davis. "These repairs are the equivalent of patching a bald tire. We've got to figure out what we're going to do to replace the tire."The state's long-term commitment to redesign and overhaul its levees, using some of the bond money, butts up against a growing population — 17.6 million more people by 2050, the state estimates — and the spread of housing onto flood plains that puts tens of thousands of people at risk. Cities often oppose curbing development to avoid flood risks, and the idea of the state pre-empting local land-use decisions is politically toxic.
Katrina's effects live on
"The problem is everyone wants a high level of protection everywhere," Mount says. "We can't afford that. So how do we connect local land-use decision-making with regional planning for floods? We don't do a very good job of it.Bills to promote coordination between planning and flood control have died in the Legislature in the face of local government, developer and real estate lobbying. "You don't give up simply because it didn't work the first time," says Lester Snow, director of the state's Department of Water Resources. Snow says the "Katrina effect" — fallout from 2005's devastating hurricane in New Orleans — and last winter's costly California storms have created "quite a momentum" for giving the state more authority to regulate development in flood plains. "We intend to continue to keep pounding away at that issue," he says.With good reason. The American Society of Civil Engineers in September gave the state's levees an "F" grade and said they don't offer even minimum protection.
The Army Corps of Engineers, responsible for maintaining some California levees, has urged that a leaky levee protecting the fast-growing Sacramento community of Natomas be "decertified" — below an adequate protection standard. That could mean higher flood-insurance premiums for homeowners, says Frank Mansell, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A major levee failure on the Sacramento River could spread floodwater up to 20 feet deep and engulf more than 11,000 homes, the state estimates. About 300,000 people in metropolitan Sacramento live in the path of potential floods.
In 2004, California's Supreme Court upheld a lower-court ruling that made the state liable for consequences of levee failures, exposing taxpayers to billions of dollars in potential damages. The water resources department acknowledges that metropolitan Sacramento, population 2.04 million, has the skimpiest flood protection of any of America's "river cities," including Tacoma, Wash.; St. Louis; Dallas; Kansas City, Mo.; and New Orleans...
Along the Sacramento River on the west side of this booming state capital, houses stand in the shadow of levees, some whose slopes have dangerously eroded, others weakened by seepage from within or underneath, sometimes from holes bored by rodents.After Schwarzenegger's emergency declaration, engineers identified 104 "critical" erosion sites — those threatening the most people — that could fail on the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and their tributaries the next time rain or snow runoff fills the channels. "It doesn't even dent the overall number of sites," UC Davis' Mount says...

9-7-07
Fresno Bee
Ruling will damage region's water future...Mike Villines, 29th Assembly District in the California Legislature
http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/wo/story/131787.html
A recent ruling handed down by a federal judge in Fresno places a significant portion of the water our region receives from the San Joaquin Delta in jeopardy, which could devastate our region's economy and public health. This irresponsible decision will have a very damaging impact on our agriculture industry. Water from the Delta is a critical source of water for hundreds of local farms. Losing this water will hurt production of the California-grown agriculture that feeds the world and employs thousands of workers. Without enough water from the Delta, farmers may be forced to take more farmland out of production or pump lower-quality groundwater that can cause lasting damage to their land. The court's ruling will also threaten the public health of millions of people who live in the Central Valley, who rely upon water from the Delta as their primary source of clean drinking water. Water officials will be forced to tap into limited reserves to make up for the lost water, and could lead to mandatory rationing in communities across the state. Even worse, the ability to transfer water from one part of the state to another will diminish with the pumps slowing down, making California more vulnerable to future droughts. It is very disappointing that state officials would be forced by extreme environmental groups to take such an outlandish step just to protect one species of fish. Protecting the health and well-being of human beings should be the first priority of policymakers and the courts when considering actions that will affect the water supply of our region. While we must take responsible steps to protect the environment and prevent the extinction of endangered species, we must never take any action that could cause such a heavy toll on the health and safety of Californians or the economy. The responsible step is to build more water storage... It's time to get serious about building more above-ground water storage capacity and water conveyance projects across our state... While conservation is an important component of any comprehensive plan for our water future, it is only part of the solution.

Sacramento Bee
Flood protection that doesn't protect enough...Editorial
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/364788.html
The California Building Industry Association, determined to keep constructing homes in floodplains behind substandard levees, has triumped again. Because of the CBIA's clout, the Assembly yesterday approved a flood control bill that, while strong in many respects, does little to stop the spread of lives and property into dangerous flood zones over the next eight years. Senate Bill 5... while it is an improvement over the status quo - with cities blithely adding homes to floodplains with little awareness about flood risks or planning - it isn't as protective as the situation demands and Californians deserve...the measure does little to prevent cities and counties from adding new homes to floodplains until the year 2015. Asked why he didn't seek building restrictions prior to 2015, Machado said yesterday he wanted to create a "transition period" for local governments that didn't upset their economic development plans. While it is too late to fix SB 5, lawmakers could strengthen it by passing Assembly Bill 70....bill by Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, would require local governments to share liability with the state for new building in the floodplain. Such shared risk could well dampen the enthusiasm of local officials to put more homes in harm's way, even against the relentless pressure of builders and land speculators.