Scott V
05-06-2009, 03:57 PM
Taken from SacBee:
Dozens of property owners in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are challenging a state demand to access land for studies related to a controversial water canal.
The state Department of Water Resources has filed court petitions in five counties seeking access to 36 properties whose owners have rejected the department's request for access. The first hearing on those petitions was scheduled today in Contra Costa County. The other affected counties are Sacramento, San Joaquin, Yolo and Solano.
DWR is in the preliminary stages of investigating a modern-day version of the peripheral canal, a concept rejected by voters statewide in 1982. The canal is being considered anew as a device to avoid direct water diversions from the Delta, which serve 23 million Californians but also kill millions of fish and alter aquatic habitat.
The proposed earthen canal would divert a portion of the Sacramento River's flow at a point near Freeport and deliver it around the Delta directly to water export pumps near Tracy. The canal would be up to 50 miles long and at least 600 feet wide, and would cost at least $10 billion to build.
DWR wants access to hundreds of private parcels for a three-year period to study soil conditions, habitat and wildlife. The information would inform preliminary studies on the canal. Some of the work would involve trenches 12 feet deep and 20 feet long, and drilling up to 200 feet deep.
Property owners say the requested access is overly broad and threatens farming practices and enjoyment of the land. Some also claim DWR has not established the necessary legal authority to begin studying a canal.
"The general feeling down here is that the state, egged on by its (water) contractors, is just going to try to roll over the Delta," said Tom Zuckerman, a property owner on Rindge Tract, an island near Stockton, who is challenging DWR's access request.
DWR spokesman Matt Notley said about half of the property owners it has contacted have granted access. He said the department doesn't want to harm land or property owners during the surveys.
"Any damage that occurs because of us, they'll be compensated," he said.
Dozens of property owners in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are challenging a state demand to access land for studies related to a controversial water canal.
The state Department of Water Resources has filed court petitions in five counties seeking access to 36 properties whose owners have rejected the department's request for access. The first hearing on those petitions was scheduled today in Contra Costa County. The other affected counties are Sacramento, San Joaquin, Yolo and Solano.
DWR is in the preliminary stages of investigating a modern-day version of the peripheral canal, a concept rejected by voters statewide in 1982. The canal is being considered anew as a device to avoid direct water diversions from the Delta, which serve 23 million Californians but also kill millions of fish and alter aquatic habitat.
The proposed earthen canal would divert a portion of the Sacramento River's flow at a point near Freeport and deliver it around the Delta directly to water export pumps near Tracy. The canal would be up to 50 miles long and at least 600 feet wide, and would cost at least $10 billion to build.
DWR wants access to hundreds of private parcels for a three-year period to study soil conditions, habitat and wildlife. The information would inform preliminary studies on the canal. Some of the work would involve trenches 12 feet deep and 20 feet long, and drilling up to 200 feet deep.
Property owners say the requested access is overly broad and threatens farming practices and enjoyment of the land. Some also claim DWR has not established the necessary legal authority to begin studying a canal.
"The general feeling down here is that the state, egged on by its (water) contractors, is just going to try to roll over the Delta," said Tom Zuckerman, a property owner on Rindge Tract, an island near Stockton, who is challenging DWR's access request.
DWR spokesman Matt Notley said about half of the property owners it has contacted have granted access. He said the department doesn't want to harm land or property owners during the surveys.
"Any damage that occurs because of us, they'll be compensated," he said.