Before turning to all the serious news regarding the Delta, Restore the Delta staff recommends our supporters take a few minutes to watch Jon Stewart's evaluation of the California water crisis.

Stewart's performance reminds us that quite often there is more truth in fiction than what can be found in nonfiction media sources.

Click here to watch.

Malcolm Maclachlan writes:

The California Latino Water Coalition is one of several groups that have sprung up in recent years as the Golden State has tried to address its water woes. But according to critics, those blue signs are hiding another color: the green of Astroturf. In politics, "Astroturfing" means creating and financing a group to make it appear to be a real grass-roots organization when, in fact, it isn't. It is a common practice in the high-stakes world of Sacramento lobbying and communications strategy.

Click here to read the entire story.

About 600 concerned Delta advocates, including farmers, fisherman, boaters, landowners, environmentalists, and business leaders turned out for the four Bay Delta Conservation meetings hosted by the California Resources Agency. As we expected, the meetings were a controlled process and were designed to minimize comments from attendees. However, to the credit of Delta community members, numerous concerns and critiques were raised regarding the Bay Delta Conservation Plan serving as a mere tool for implementing the Governor's peripheral canal strategy.

In short, the BDCP presentations made by SAIC, the company contracted to create the BDCP plan, sounded much like King Julian's scheme (in Madagascar II) to use animal sacrifice as a way to acquire water from the volcano gods. According to an SAIC representative, by building a large pipe to divert a large amount of Sacramento River water, Delta fisheries will be made healthier because it will be easier for fish to escape the pumps in an upstream current. As with King Julian's presentation of the facts to the huddled masses, the SAIC science presentation "seemed" sound on the surface, but the premise - diverting large quantities of fresh water from a collapsing estuary in order to fix it - is fiction. Unfortunately, the consequences for the Delta, complete destruction of its fisheries and communities, would not be as harmless as an into- the-volcano prank in a kid's movie.

While the Bay Delta Conservation Plan Steering Committee, water exporters, and Resource Agency Directors should have been present at these meetings, Delta advocates succeeded in sending a clear message back to the staff present: that neither the Delta can be fixed, nor California's water problems solved by building a pipe or canal through the heart of the Delta in order to export water at the rate of 15,000 cubic-feet-per-second to agribusiness in the San Joaquin Valley.

Last week, Senator Diane Feinstein displayed courageous leadership in successfully defeating amendment #2500 that Senator DeMint offered to H.R. 2996, the FY 2010 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations - an end run to suspend the endangered species protection for the Delta so that more water could be exported to San Joaquin Valley agribusiness. Her strong defense of the Department of the Interior's work to restore and sustain the Delta and California's water supply was key to the defeat of the amendment, and Restore the Delta is truly grateful to Senator Feinstein.

Yet, yesterday, Senator Feinstein called for waiving the Endangered Species Act to speed water transfers from the delta to farmers as part of her new legislative effort to solve California's water crisis. (To read Senator Feinstein's comments click here for the San Francisco Chronicle story.)

Clearly, it is time to begin calling Senator Feinstein to let her know that we appreciate her past efforts and that she needs to continue protecting the endangered species act, Delta fisheries, and Delta communities. Let her know that Delta fisheries and Delta farmers are deserving of full protection under the law. The number of Senator Feinstein's Washington D.C. office is (202) 224-3841.

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