Magic Kingdom Meets Water Barons' Sleight-of-Hand

[annm4peace]

ho wants to pay $125 to hear Paul Rodriguez speak about why subsidized corporate agribusiness needs more water?

Magic Kingdom Meets Water Barons' Sleight-of-Hand

by Dan Bacher

A trip to Disneyland is always fun, right?

Maybe not... that's if you have to listen to a comedian/grower, southern California water agency hacks and others talk about the need to export more water from the California Delta at the expense of imperiled Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other fish populations by building a peripheral canal and new dams.

"On May 14, you could take a working vacation to attend the 3rd Annual OC (Orange County) Water Summit at the Grand Californian Hotel at the Disneyland Resort," quipped Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta.

The event, entitled "Capture the Flow," is sponsored by the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA). "California continues to confront significant challenges to its water future – an outdated water system, severe water supply shortages due to drought, and regulatory restrictions on water deliveries," the event's press release proclaims. "Our water delivery system was built a generation ago to meet the needs of 16 million people – it now strains to meet the needs of 38 million. Business owners, policy makers, and community leaders need information and resources to continue to thrive." (http://www.acwa.com/events/2010-orance-county-water-summit-capture-flow)

The speakers are Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez; Paul Rodriguez ("actor, comedian, and water activist"); Joel Kotkin, author of "The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050"; Robert Boller, Vice President of Sustainability for Kendall-Jackson Winery; and Curt Schmute ("expert on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta").

"Mr. Schmute acquired his expertise on the Delta as the Principal Engineer and Water Resources Manager for Metropolitan Water District," said Barrigan-Parrilla.

"The cost is $125," said Barrigan-Parrilla. "Of course, you might not want to pay $125 to hear Paul Rodriguez tell you why agribusiness needs more water."

Rodriguez, a comedian and San Joaquin Valley fruit grower, is the spokesperson for the Latino Water Coalition, an astroturf group serving as a front for corporate agribusiness. The group was formed at the suggestion of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger during a meeting with agribusiness interests. The group has relentlessly lobbied for a peripheral canal and new dams and more water exports for the San Joaquin Valley's Corporate Welfare Queens.

In a bizzare incident last week, Rodriguez claimed that Schwarzenegger had appointed him to the California Water Commission, a claim that Schwarzenegger denied.

"When Paul Rodriguez announced last week, prematurely, that he had been appointed to the California Water Commission, he may have inadvertently tipped off environmentalist and Senate Democrats to get ready for battle," according to Malcolm Maclachlan in the Capitol Weekly (http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=ytltxbaky694ql&xid=ytjvqjzz05x81o&done=.ytltxbaky6x4ql).

For more information about the Latino Water Coalition, read Lloyd Carter's excellent article: http://www.lloydgcarter.com/content/090629251_the-pr-firm-from-hell. More information is also available at: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=California_Latino_Water_Coalition.

[annm4peace]

1. after 200 years, we continue to take from the Native Americans

"At this point, coho are so close to extinction and the Scott and Shasta are so severely dewatered each year that this type of action may be warranted, but it cannot be a substitute for rewatering, and in the long term it's not likely to be a viable survival strategy for coho in these basins," said Klamath Riverkeeper Erica Terence. "It's a band-aid solution at best on what has become a major water hemorrhage," she added.

As young coho were being captured and shipped elsewhere in the Klamath River basin as part of their emergency rescue program by the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) in the Scott and Shasta valleys readied to start issuing permits (ITPs) with CDFG's blessing for Scott and Shasta irrigators and ranchers to kill coho as usual.

Klamath Riverkeeper joined a coalition of river and fish advocates that filed a legal challenge against the ITP program last fall. Co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Quartz Valley Indian Tribe, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, the Institute for Fisheries Resources, the Environmental Protection Information Center, the Sierra Club and the Northcoast Environmental Center.