Local Lawmakers in the Delta Region are shooting down a proposal by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and three Southern California Congressmen. The proposal aims to keep Delta water flowing down south while putting restoration of the San Joaquin River to a temporarily stop as a drought relief solution.
Speaker Boehner made the announcement to push forward legislation to stop restoration in favor of drought relief made by Congressman Devin Nunes, Congressman Kevin McCarthy, and Congressman David Valadao. The policy would ensure pumps remain on.
Boehner said Wednesday that where he’s from in Ohio, the logic applied in California regarding water policy would cause people to shake their heads.
“How you can favor fish over people is something people in my part of the world would never understand,” Boehner said.
It should be noted that the three Congressmen from Southern California are advocates for the Delta Tunnels to bring water from the Delta to the south.
Congressman Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, disagreed with Speaker Boehner and opposed the idea of taking water from the Delta as a solution to a drought.
“California is enduring a severe drought, which has negatively affected the families, farmers, and small business owners in the Delta region and throughout the state. This bill would allow south of the Delta water contractors and their allies who want to steal water from the Delta to do so, further exacerbating the problem. It ignores environmental protections, water quality issues, and the health of the Delta. This bill is not a solution to California’s water challenges. To steal from one community to benefit another is unacceptable,” said McNerney.
State Assemblyman Jim Frazier, D-Oakley, also opposed the legislation and called it theft of Delta water.
“In light of California’s drought emergency, it is imperative that we address the concerns associated with our state’s water policy. However, none of our water issues will be resolved by sacrificing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta with a short-sighted water plan that will leave the region in devastation. Our problems will also worsen by stifling critical San Joaquin restoration projects that were created to repair and invigorate some of California’s most precious resources,“ explained Frazier.
Frazier stated the need to come back with another approach.
“It is my hope that my colleagues in Congress will work together towards a viable, long-term solution rather than a hasty decision that will create further water and environmental problems in California’s future,” said Frazier.
Contra Costa County Supervisor Mary Piepho, a republican, expressed concerns over Congressman Boehners comments.
“As a Republican, I’m disappointed in the leadership of my party in this regard. The simple claim that fish are not valuable and Central Valley farmers are more important than the Sacramento/San Joaquin County Delta and OUR local economy.”
Piepho encouraged Congressman Boehner to come to the table with a long-term solution of equal goals for both Northern and Southern California.
“My colleagues and I on the Delta County Coalition are working hard to balance the needs of Californian’s with the limited resources of the Delta. I welcome Congressman Boehner and his colleagues to the table. Only working together can we truly achieve long-term solutions that meet state law to achieve the co-equal goals of reducing reliance on the Delta and providing a reliable water supply for all Californian’s.”
Diane Burgis, Oakley City Councilwoman who also serves on the Delta Protection Commission, suggested the solution is not to take water from the Delta, but rather build water storage facilities in Southern California to assist with droughts and water needs of the region.
“With the most severe drought in years, we must work to find solutions for water storage in the Southern California Region as opposed to taking water from our Delta. This plan seems to be serving the people of southern California as opposed to the entire state,” said Burgis. “I encourage those in congress to find a better and more thoughtful solution.”
Photo taken from Big Break Regional Shoreline in Oakley by ECT
7 comments
It isn’t just fish, health of the Delta it is also drinking water for many communities. And lets not forget those tunnels will drain all of the Sacramento River during dry years.
John Boehner is 100% wrong here. This isn’t about fish, its about a community culture and protecting what we have. I would encourage Mr. McNerney and others in Congress to turn up the rhetoric against Mr. Boehner to show him how wrong he is.
Thank you to McNerney, Frazier, Piepho and Burgis for sticking up for our local community and way of life.
In simple terms, if you want access to water, don’t move to the desert.
Just think of how many desalination plants could be built for the same cost of Jerry Browns Bullet train.
Great reply. I feel the same way. If all our Governors and other elected officials had gotten off their lazy butts and invested in desalination plants up and down the coast we wouldn’t be in this mess that we are in today.
@ John
It would be cheaper and create more long term jobs too. You are spot on.
California currently uses 40 million acre feet of fresh water per year, and this is projected to increase by 6 million acre feet per year by 2020 (Wiki). California is subject to major droughts, some of which have lasted 300 years.
22 nominal 1 gigawatt nuclear reactors, of modern design, with reverse osmosis desalination (one of a dozen technical options), would provide 40 million acre feet of fresh water at approximately 35-50 cents per cubic meter (based on Persian Gulf and Chinese data).
This cost factor is OK for urban use (10% of the 40 million acre feet), but too high by a factor of 10 for agriculture use (approximately 85%). The cost factor is slowly declining with time, but currently subsidies would be needed for agricultural water.
There are currently 27,000 large desalination plants worldwide, with approximately 10,000 being built per year.
Art Collins, retired aerospace engineer.
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