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Post Info TOPIC: Delta Blues
Emerger


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Delta Blues
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I recently wrote U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein in regards to the Delta water flow issue. Thought I'd share her canned response with everyone.

For some much needed levity on this issue from Jon Stewart go here. In between laughs he aptly points out that we are currently in this situation thanks to the emergency relief appropriation act in 1935. A government stimulus bill that paid $500,000,000.00 towards the creation of the trans-mountain water diversion and irrigation and reclamation that effectively made farm-able land out of the Californian desert.

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Thank you for writing to express your support for the biological opinions that govern water flows in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. I appreciate hearing your thoughts about this issue, and I welcome the opportunity to respond.

I understand your concern that pumping additional water to South of Delta agricultural water users will negatively impact the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem, and I appreciate hearing your thoughts about the Endangered Species Act protections currently governing water flows. I share your commitment to finding a long-term solution to improve the reliability and quality of California's water supply that will protect threatened and endangered species that rely on the Delta. In the meantime, however, I cannot sit idly by while the State's agricultural economy is on the verge of collapse.

Three consecutive years of severe drought in California has resulted in more than 400,000 acres of farmland being fallowed and has left thousands of farmworkers unemployed. Many Central Valley agricultural communities face unemployment rates as high as 40 percent. While winter storms have boosted storage capacity at key reservoirs and replenished the Sierra Nevada snowpack to between 90 and 129 percent of average, hundreds of family-owned farms in the Central Valley still may not receive sufficient water allocations to plant, hire and harvest this growing season.

On March 16, 2010, the Department of the Interior announced an updated allocation for Central Valley Project water supplies. Based on a conservative precipitation forecast (with a 90 percent chance that there will be more water available than currently forecasted), farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley will receive 25 percent of their contract water supply, and farmers in the Sacramento Valley will receive 50 percent. Both of these allocations are up from 5 percent. The Department also reaffirmed that they are working to secure the equivalent of an additional allocation of 8 to 10 percent for South-of-Delta agricultural users through administrative measures. Given the important progress made on this issue administratively, I believe that legislation on this subject is not necessary at this time.

Please know that I share your commitment to protecting the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. I will keep your thoughts in mind as I continue working toward a long-term, sustainable solution that balances the needs of environmental, agricultural, and urban uses and ensures that California can meet its current and future water needs.

Again, thank you for your letter. If you have other questions or comments, please contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator




-- Edited by Emerger on Monday 29th of March 2010 02:04:43 PM

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Cliff
DrBombay


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Theres been farms and citys popping up all over the california valley for years. They know there isn't water there to support it all, Then they bitch about the water shortage. As for ecosystems, The only one that old hag is concerned with is the one she's living in. There always going to want us to believe theres a drought, Even when theres not. The fact is the last 100 years has been unuasuly wet. Tree rings don't lie, Politicians do. Kudo's to you Cliff for taking the time to write the letter.



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