Enviro Litigation Stops Echowater Project....

[Darian]

In what is a mind boggling position on the part of an environmental organization, CESAR has filed a suit in federal court to stop the discharge of ammonia into the Sacramento River by the Sacramento Wastewater Treatment Plant. Sounds like a good thing but the filing brings a project to upgrade the wastewater treatment facilities to enable reduction or elimination of the discharge of ammonia to a halt and increasing costs. An article describing this suit appeared in the Courthouse News. Check it out:

http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/0...er-project.htm

IMO, this litigation is unwarranted, seeking to stop what was already underway. On the other hand, if the point of the suit is to stop discharge of ammonia, regardless of efforts to address the problem on the part of the Regional Sanitation District, then CESAR needs to propose a suitable alternative to replace the upgrade project. Simply stopping discharge of ammonia is not possible using the current wastewater treatment system. Some NGO's shoot themselves in the foot.

[tcorfey]

I have no proof but I would venture to guess that there is more to this then what is being reported and that the tone of the article is to discredit CESAR as an organization that is out of touch. Perhaps it is because I have been reading about the large amount of money that is being payed out to get the press to discredit the sport fishing and environmental organizations and perhaps I am some what jaded by what I have seen as environmental solutions from our government. Especially when it pertains to water quality/quantity issues in California.

[Darian]

Hmmm,.... Interesting perspective. The article appeared in Courthouse News and to be fairly objective to me; more report than opinion. The project was initiated as a result of a mandate to upgrade to a higher level of treatment than the current level which was the subject of heavy criticism/litigation/reportage over the last 5 years. There is no denying that ammonia discharge by the Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility into the Sacramento River/delta does occur and that upgrading the facility to reduce or eliminate ammonia discharge would benefit all species of aquatic life there (including the Delta Smelt, if enough are actually left to benefit).

The Echowater project was begun some time before this suit was filed in February of this year. Presumably, the result of the project would result in what CESAR says they want to achieve. So, CESAR filed after having knowledge that the project was underway or if not knowing, indicates they filed while un-informed. CESAR says their suit is not about stopping the project but to stop discharge of ammonia into the Sacramento River. However, their suit resulted in stopping the project in it's tracks, delaying completion and reduction or elimination of discharge of ammonia into the river, not to mention increasing project costs for defense of litigation. The regional wastewater agency had nothing to do with that.

So, what's their real objective??? Giving them credit for some level of intelligence, I have to think this is more about gaining some publicity for themselves than really benefiting the Delta. Frankly, I've never heard of them before the filing of this suit. IMO, many NGO's aren't much better at what they do than the corporate/governmental entities they choose to criticize. After all, they're bureaucracies themselves. Now, I'm not anti-NGO. I just believe that they should look before they leap. As this situation shows, their actions may have unintended consequences.

[tcorfey]

Actually after doing a little research this is really twisted but….

CESAR is referred to as a farmer-associated group called the Center for Environmental Science, Accuracy & Responsibility.

Looking at their website http://www.bestscience.org

I found that CESAR is actually a "hidden" branch of the Westlands Water District with Westlands top attorney Craig Manson acting as the Executive Director and Jean Sagouspe (Former President of Westlands board) acting as the Chairman.

So it seems that delaying the project is exactly what CESAR has in mind for if they can continue to allow the ammonia in to the river it can continue to reduce the population of Delta Smelt. If they can extinct that fish then they can grab more water. Pretty sneaky posing as an environmental group so that their tactics provide evidence that environmental groups are not to be trusted while still moving towards their goal of eliminating anything that stands in the way of pumping water down south.

Thanks for bringing this up...

[Darian]

Ya know, I love a good conspiracy theory as much as anyone but I'm not sure about this one. Conspiring to sue to stop some identified problem where the solution to that problem is already in progress in order to hasten the demise of a species already near or nearing extirpation, in order to lower obstacles to increased pumping....??? That's really confusing. I'm just not making the same connections, here but, who knows....

Also, CESAR as a "hidden branch" of Westland's escapes me. The two organizations may have swomeboard members in common and similar objectives without being a division of one another. Westland's By-laws indicate that in order to serve on the board, you must be a land-owner or a representative of one. Almost all of the current board members are attorneys (might be land owners as well). Craig Mason is General Counsel for Westlands but it's not uncommon for attorneys to represent a number of clients with conflicting ideas/goals while serving on other boards, etc. Sagouspe is a grower and former director in Westlands. Beyond those two, nothing I've been able to find directly connects Westland's and CESAR.