Save the Delta / Stop the Tunnels

Our Restore The Delta sign

Water Protector has been resurrected from the graveyard of unread blogs due to the imminent loss of our Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  The possibility of our Delta water being exported to Southern California in twin tunnels appears to be becoming more and more of a reality.

I had not posted because there seemed to be such a plethora of really good writers out there that are writing about the BDCP, or Bay-Delta Conservation Plan, such as Alex Breitler, of The Record, www.recordnet.com.

   Plus, Restore the Delta had already released its excellent dvd, Over Troubled Waters, www.restorethedelta.org

However, can too much really be said about an important issue?

 When I last posted, (March 8, 2010), I complained that Sen. Dianne Feinstein had pushed for Delta water to be delivered to South San Joaquin Valley farmers by misleading the general public about the true nature of the water deliveries.   Feinstein had led the public to believe the water was going to "family farms"--as in "small family-owned farms."   The water was actually intended to go to huge corporations, such as Paramount--which owns the largest planting of almond trees in the world, in an area where almond trees can't possibly grow without irrigation water ... water that comes from other regions, such as our Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

This week it came out that the progressive/but, oddly, not really progressive Feinstein

"is now fighting to limit the meaning of journalist to prevent bloggers and others from being able to claim protections from surveillance or compelled testimony " claiming that bloggers are not "real reporters" because they are "not salaried agents".  http://jonathanturley.org/2013/08/13/pruning-the-fourth-estate-feinstein-seeks-to-limit-who-can-claim-to-be-a-journalist/

Even though I am not a salaried writer, I decided that the issue of protecting our Delta and all bodies of water is worth writing about.
So begins, the resurrected Water Protector.
Come back tomorrow to read a new blog.

What the Mainstream News Media Doesn’t Tell You About the Water Pumping

When readers of The Record read an article about Sen. Diane Feinstein proposing to guarantee water to south San Joaquin Valley farmers, do they realize whom the farmers are? In February, Feinstein proposed an amendment to the jobs stimulus bill to modify biological opinions protecting the Delta smelt so these farmers could receive up to 40 percent of their allocations.



Perhaps the Record reader conjures up a mental picture of small family-run farms eking out a living with barely enough water to grow their crops. That may be the case in some water deliveries, but nothing could be further from the truth in this case. These are not your run-of-the-mill average farmers targeted to receive the water -- precious water that could result in the total depletion of the California salmon population.



No, the farmers that will benefit from Feinstein’s proposed amendment are actually corporate giants, such as Stewart and Lynda Resnick, of Beverly Hills. The Resnicks are the largest tree-fruit producers in the world. They own 115,000 acres of almond trees in Kern County. That’s 115,000 acres of trees in an area where no trees will grow without irrigation.



According to a February 17 blog by Dan Bacher in AlterNet, http://ww.alternet.org/water/145721/the_resnicks_manipulate_water_policy_with_big_campaign_contributions_ , the Resnick’s were huge contributors to Feinstein’s and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign funds. Also, Resnick and Feinstein’s husband, investment banker Richard Blum, are close friends.



If newspapers such as The Record put an actual face on these farmers, the average reader might have a better picture of how the corrupt Powers That Be influence our lawmakers.