Mike McKenzie
07-03-2009, 08:55 AM
CSPA Action Alert, 2 July 2009
(Please Circulate to friends and allies)
The Delta needs you at the Rally
and Press Conference on the north steps
of the Capitol Tuesday, 7 July at 11:00 AM
Dear CSPA Supporter
CSPA is asking you to make a special effort on an critically urgent matter. Certain members of the legislature and the administration are trying to shove a combined water bill package through the legislature that will provide for an unaccountable "water czar" and tens of billions of dollars in fees and bonds to construct a peripheral canal and more dams. This is a CLEAR AND PRESENT threat to the delta, and if passed may be the delta's death knell. CSPA is asking you to do the following:
Read the below CSPA Action Alert
Attend the rally on the Capitol steps on July 7th.
Important! Forward this to tell your friends about this nefarious plan and have them attend the rally as well.
These are critical times. We would not ask you to take this valuable time out of your lives if this issue was not crucial to the existence of the delta. Don't let the Delta and yourself down.
Scheme to create Czar to oversee construction and funding of Dams and Peripheral Canal
Public hearings On Critical Water Legislation May Not Take Place
Your presence and help is crucial!!!
A rally and press conference is scheduled for 11:00 AM on the north steps of the State Capitol to address a legislative bullet aimed at the heart of the fisheries, ecosystem and farming communities of the Delta. This may be one of the last times that your personal presence will make a difference in the effort to save the estuary and its fisheries. We need you to join Senator Lois Wolk, CSPA Executive Director Bill Jennings, Restore the Delta's Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, the FishSniffer's Dan Bacher, fishermen, environmentalists, farmers, boaters, and other Delta legislators to help make an unequivocal statement to our government about the imperative need for open public process to protect and restore fishery, recreational and farming values in the Delta.
The waffling failure of our state legislative leadership to address the continuing crisis facing fisheries and the Delta ecosystem has morphed into a shocking ploy by proponents of dams and a peripheral canal to circumvent public participation and legislative oversight. It would provide for a politically appointed czar with authority to implement and fund recommendations of the disingenuously named Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). This czar would have authority to authorize construction of a Panama Canal North around the Delta and issue tens of billions of dollars in fees and revenue bonds necessary to finance the boondoggle.
Sound like a surreal fictional conspiracy? It is actually a 100-plus page "secret" document complied by the Legislative Analyst's Office combining elements of six unfinished bills into a yet unreleased "Water Bill Package" that was scheduled to be considered by Senate and Assembly policy committees on 7 July and then "perhaps" on 9 July and now "perhaps" by a conference committee after the fact. In other words, the proposed scheme may circumvent the Senate Natural Resources and Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committees before being voted on by the entire legislature. Bluntly put, if this maneuver is successful, the commercial and sportfishing community will be deprived of the right to constructively comment on this nefarious proposal and advocate specific amendments necessary to protect the Delta and restore fisheries.
Budgetary gridlock and dysfunctional leadership created the opportunity for proponents of additional dams and peripheral canal to put together this backroom strategy to bypass responsible legislative consideration and oversight. As presently formulated, this ploy disenfranchises the public, discards continuing legislative oversight, authorizes the issuance of billions of dollars in fees and bonds and sets the stage for the final solution: termination of viable fisheries and agriculture in the Delta.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO THE FISHING COMMUNITY OF CALIFORNIA??
While this is an unusual process that’s still evolving, we do know the following:
The public will have less than a week to find out what bills will be in the package, what they will do, and who will pay for it.
This could be the only hearing before the bills are heard on the Assembly and Senate floors where, if passed, they would go to the Governor.
None of these bills fund or include the restoration of our salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, striped bass or other fisheries dependent on the Delta and that are in collapse.
No fishery restoration plans are in place to be use even if funding were made available.
The bills fail to provide a solution to the state’s fundamental problem of over exploiting the Delta’s finite water resources.
None of the bills provide for the significant improvements in water conservation, recycling, and management to significantly reduce the demand on the Delta’s waters needed to begin to restore the productivity of the ecosystem.
CSPA is asking that you plan to attend the hearing and show your support to demand the restoration of the Delta and its fisheries before it too late and insist that the issue of a water bond be put before the voting public!
Those who can’t attend should call their State Assembly Member and Senator and ask them to stop this end run.
You can find your senator or assemblyman, their phone numbers and addresses by going to the following website:
http://192.234.213.69/amapsearch/framepage.asp
CSPA and a coalition of fishing, environmental, recreational and farming interests call upon everyone who values the Delta and believes in open, deliberative public process to gather on the north steps of the Capitol at 11:00 AM on 7 July (Tuesday) to shine the bright spotlight of public scrutiny on this abominable attempt to undermine responsible legislative process. Solutions to the collapse of our fisheries must proceed with deliberative caution through the respective legislative policy committees and be based upon fairness, transparency, the law and best available science. They must include the voices of the Delta community. Your participation in Sacramento on July 7 is crucial to a healthy Delta and restored fisheries. Arrangements are being made to facilitate visits to individual legislators following the press conference. As events are changing hourly, please check CSPA's website on July 4, 5, and 6 for current updates and additional information at http://www.calsport.org/index.htm
Mike
(Please Circulate to friends and allies)
The Delta needs you at the Rally
and Press Conference on the north steps
of the Capitol Tuesday, 7 July at 11:00 AM
Dear CSPA Supporter
CSPA is asking you to make a special effort on an critically urgent matter. Certain members of the legislature and the administration are trying to shove a combined water bill package through the legislature that will provide for an unaccountable "water czar" and tens of billions of dollars in fees and bonds to construct a peripheral canal and more dams. This is a CLEAR AND PRESENT threat to the delta, and if passed may be the delta's death knell. CSPA is asking you to do the following:
Read the below CSPA Action Alert
Attend the rally on the Capitol steps on July 7th.
Important! Forward this to tell your friends about this nefarious plan and have them attend the rally as well.
These are critical times. We would not ask you to take this valuable time out of your lives if this issue was not crucial to the existence of the delta. Don't let the Delta and yourself down.
Scheme to create Czar to oversee construction and funding of Dams and Peripheral Canal
Public hearings On Critical Water Legislation May Not Take Place
Your presence and help is crucial!!!
A rally and press conference is scheduled for 11:00 AM on the north steps of the State Capitol to address a legislative bullet aimed at the heart of the fisheries, ecosystem and farming communities of the Delta. This may be one of the last times that your personal presence will make a difference in the effort to save the estuary and its fisheries. We need you to join Senator Lois Wolk, CSPA Executive Director Bill Jennings, Restore the Delta's Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, the FishSniffer's Dan Bacher, fishermen, environmentalists, farmers, boaters, and other Delta legislators to help make an unequivocal statement to our government about the imperative need for open public process to protect and restore fishery, recreational and farming values in the Delta.
The waffling failure of our state legislative leadership to address the continuing crisis facing fisheries and the Delta ecosystem has morphed into a shocking ploy by proponents of dams and a peripheral canal to circumvent public participation and legislative oversight. It would provide for a politically appointed czar with authority to implement and fund recommendations of the disingenuously named Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). This czar would have authority to authorize construction of a Panama Canal North around the Delta and issue tens of billions of dollars in fees and revenue bonds necessary to finance the boondoggle.
Sound like a surreal fictional conspiracy? It is actually a 100-plus page "secret" document complied by the Legislative Analyst's Office combining elements of six unfinished bills into a yet unreleased "Water Bill Package" that was scheduled to be considered by Senate and Assembly policy committees on 7 July and then "perhaps" on 9 July and now "perhaps" by a conference committee after the fact. In other words, the proposed scheme may circumvent the Senate Natural Resources and Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committees before being voted on by the entire legislature. Bluntly put, if this maneuver is successful, the commercial and sportfishing community will be deprived of the right to constructively comment on this nefarious proposal and advocate specific amendments necessary to protect the Delta and restore fisheries.
Budgetary gridlock and dysfunctional leadership created the opportunity for proponents of additional dams and peripheral canal to put together this backroom strategy to bypass responsible legislative consideration and oversight. As presently formulated, this ploy disenfranchises the public, discards continuing legislative oversight, authorizes the issuance of billions of dollars in fees and bonds and sets the stage for the final solution: termination of viable fisheries and agriculture in the Delta.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO THE FISHING COMMUNITY OF CALIFORNIA??
While this is an unusual process that’s still evolving, we do know the following:
The public will have less than a week to find out what bills will be in the package, what they will do, and who will pay for it.
This could be the only hearing before the bills are heard on the Assembly and Senate floors where, if passed, they would go to the Governor.
None of these bills fund or include the restoration of our salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, striped bass or other fisheries dependent on the Delta and that are in collapse.
No fishery restoration plans are in place to be use even if funding were made available.
The bills fail to provide a solution to the state’s fundamental problem of over exploiting the Delta’s finite water resources.
None of the bills provide for the significant improvements in water conservation, recycling, and management to significantly reduce the demand on the Delta’s waters needed to begin to restore the productivity of the ecosystem.
CSPA is asking that you plan to attend the hearing and show your support to demand the restoration of the Delta and its fisheries before it too late and insist that the issue of a water bond be put before the voting public!
Those who can’t attend should call their State Assembly Member and Senator and ask them to stop this end run.
You can find your senator or assemblyman, their phone numbers and addresses by going to the following website:
http://192.234.213.69/amapsearch/framepage.asp
CSPA and a coalition of fishing, environmental, recreational and farming interests call upon everyone who values the Delta and believes in open, deliberative public process to gather on the north steps of the Capitol at 11:00 AM on 7 July (Tuesday) to shine the bright spotlight of public scrutiny on this abominable attempt to undermine responsible legislative process. Solutions to the collapse of our fisheries must proceed with deliberative caution through the respective legislative policy committees and be based upon fairness, transparency, the law and best available science. They must include the voices of the Delta community. Your participation in Sacramento on July 7 is crucial to a healthy Delta and restored fisheries. Arrangements are being made to facilitate visits to individual legislators following the press conference. As events are changing hourly, please check CSPA's website on July 4, 5, and 6 for current updates and additional information at http://www.calsport.org/index.htm
Mike