Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s call to divert more Northern California water to Central Valley farms is running head on into new scientific evidence that the region’s famed Chinook salmon are on the verge of extinction.
Last week, Feinstein rattled environmentalists and some political allies when she said she might sponsor legislation to boost irrigation diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The state’s three-year drought has caused big cutbacks in water allotments to farms, worsening the Central Valley’s dismal economy. Allotments are reduced still further because of environmental restrictions aimed at protecting Delta fisheries.
In the news cycle following Feinstein’s announcement, wildlife scientists reported that the Delta’s Chinook salmon run last fall was the worst in history. Fewer than 40,000 fish were counted swimming up the Sacramento. Only eight years ago, the run was almost 800,000.
In urging increased pumping, agriculture interests have claimed there’s no connection between the increased diversions of Delta water and the collapse of the salmon. Environmentalists say the connection is obvious.
Fishing industry advocates, faced with the likelihood that for the third year in a row, salmon fishing will be banned in California waters, said Feinstein seemed bent on destroying the state’s fishing industry.
Feinstein has long been interested in agriculture isues, and she has socialized with billionaire grower and politiical donor Stewart Resnick, who with his wife has given Feinstein $29,000.
As California Watch has reported, in September, at Resnick’s behest, Feinstein persuaded the Obama administration to spend $750,000 on a new scientific study of whether the Delta’s collapsing aquatic ecosystem is the result of increased diversions of Delta water, as previous scientific studies have found.
Resnick had told Feinstein that the science used to justify the pumping restrictions was flawed. The new study Feinstein sought is supposed to be ready next month. But in a conference call with growers last week, and then in a public statement, Feinstein implied that increased pumping was justified, no matter what the environmental scientists concluded.
Longtime Democratic allies Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, criticized Feinstein. Among other things, they said her announcement threatened to wreck delicate negotiations now underway over Delta water allocations.
The Environmental Defense Fund said it would likely abandon the state-sponsored talks, saying growers showed bad faith by opening a back channel to Feinstein while negotiations were underway.
Feinstein was also criticized on editorial pages. The San Francisco Chronicle called Feinstein’s proposal an “end run” and a “water grab.” The McClatchy papers called it reckless.
But Feinstein won praise from GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, who hopes to challenge Sen. Barbara Boxer in November. “Will Senator Boxer join (Feinstein) in standing up for the people of California?” she asked.
Advocates for the fishing industry accused Feinstein of valuing farm jobs more than those of fishermen. As they told KGO radio’s Christine Craft on Friday night, (I also appeared on the program) the west coast’s fishing fleet is being wiped out along with the salmon. For fishermen, it’s both an environmental and economic catastrophe, they said.
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