Aug 25, 2009
by
Staff | Filed in:
Joe on the Job
Farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are trying to convince other Northern Californians that the Peripheral Canal would be bad. But the narrow interests of the farmers do not coincide with the interests of people who live in the South Bay.
The governor is asking for a $10 billion bond act to build more dams. But the real problem, one that dams cannot solve, is the way water moves through the delta from the dams on the Sacramento River to water-users in the South Bay.
The delta, the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, is degrading our water supply, and it is dangerously unreliable. The Legislature is properly focused on this issue, not marginally usable new dams.
The Peripheral Canal would divert water from the Sacramento River near Sacramento and move it to state and federal water pumps in the Southern delta near Tracy. These pumps supply the Santa Clara Valley with about half our water.
Today, water from the Sacramento River flows through the delta to the pumps. This greatly degrades the quality of the water. Irrigation wastewater is pumped into the delta channels from the irrigated islands. Seawater intrudes into the delta. This doubles the pollution load of the water and adds chemicals which cause cancer (trimhalomethane precursors).
[...]
Senator Joe Simitian of Santa Clara County is taking a leadership position on this important issue and deserves the thanks of his constituents for his hard and effective work on water issues.
Read the full text of the article here
Aug 19, 2009
by
Staff | Filed in:
Joe on the Job The legislature returned this week from their August break by taking up what is undoubtedly the most contentious topic this side of the budget, and perhaps even including the budget, water and what to do about the Delta.
Facing the legislature are five bills, packaged together to address critical issues of facing California Water and the Delta. Tuesday was largely an informational that saw the issues laid forth.
Senator Joe Simitian, a Democrat, argued that the status quo ought to be unacceptable to all elected officials and that the five bill package needs to be seen as a package. The key issue for him was finding a way to move water reliably and cleanly.
Said the Senator:
"When I looked into the situation 3 1/2 years ago I had the same concerns that I think all of you have which is that scientists tell us that there’s a 2/3 chance that the whole system is going to collapse in the next 50 years and that 24-million Californians will be left without water and that’s a 40-billion-dollar economic consequence. I stepped into the fray because the delta, which is the most significant estuary in the western coast, was going to hell in a hand basket and that benign neglect wasn’t serving the delta well over the previous quarter century."
For the Senator, the issue is not one of conveyance, but a matter of figuring out how to fix the delta and our water system. Many, including spokespeople for the Governor argued that the status quo was not acceptable. Lester Snow, Director of Water Resources, argued, "Anyone who thinks the status quo is working doesn't understand what's going on."
He went on to argue that the current bills appear to establish additional obstacles. They delay but do not expedite solutions. Many of them give little attention to water supply as opposed to habitat restoration.
Senator Simitian forcefully argued against the status quo, and argued that conveyance, which in his argument has not been proposed, is not necessarily the end of the world.
"I think that if we reject the package of bills before us today is a vote for the status quo. And the status quo means mass extinction of native species. The status quo means eventual levee collapse and disruption of water supplies to 24 million Californians. The status quo will result in destruction of much of California’s agricultural sector, and a $40 billion dollar plus hit to the state’s economy when those levees fail."
The Senator continued:
"For those who argue that conveyance yet to be proposed, yet to be described, is the end to the world as we know it, I ask you to follow the science."
Battle Lines Drawn on Water: Issues of Conveyance, Governance and Financing.
The California Progress Report, August 2009. By David M. Greenwald, Editor
To continue reading the full text of the article, click here.
Aug 10, 2009
by
Staff | Filed in:
Blog Stop by to share your questions, ideas and solutions regarding state legislative issues that affect our community. No appointments needed.
SAN CARLOS
Date: Thursday, August 6, 2009
Time: 5 pm to 6:30 pm
Location: "Hot Harvest Nights" San Carlos Farmers' Market, 700 Block of Laurel Street in San Carlos, CA
SAN JOSE
Date: Saturday, August 29, 2009
Time: 10:30am - 12:00pm
Location: Willow Glen Farmers' Market, Behind the Garden Theatre at 1165 Lincoln Ave. in San Jose
CAMPBELL
Date: Sunday, August 30, 2009
Time: 10:00am - 11:30am
Location: Campbell Farmers' Market, E. Campbell Avenue between Central and Second in Campbell
Aug 10, 2009
by
Staff | Filed in:
Joe on the Job August 07, 2009 -- Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 159, by State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), making legislation that requires drivers to move over or slow down when approaching roadside emergency scenes along the highway, permanent.
The original legislation, SB 1610, was one of the winning entries in Simitian´s 2005 ´There Oughta Be A Law´ contest, which invites Californians to submit ideas for new state legislation. Tow truck driver and Hayward resident Daniel Frederick Leon entered the contest after noticing that drivers who do not move over or slow down when approaching tow trucks or emergency crews endanger the lives of workers on the road and other motorists. The bill was initially vetoed and reintroduced in 2006 before becoming law.
"This is about promoting highway safety, plain and simple," said Simitian. "I hope that it will put a stop to the senseless deaths of police officers, tow truck drivers, paramedics, and other emergency personnel who are simply helping stranded motorists. And of course," said Simitian, "the general public will be safer as well."
Click here to read the full article
Aug 5, 2009
by
Staff | Filed in:
Joe on the Job Democratic lawmakers unveiled a package of water bills Tuesday that would create a politically appointed council with power to push through projects dealing with the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the troubled hub of California's waterworks.
The legislation, which deals with issues including conservation, ecosystem restoration and water rights, aims to break the stalemate over state water policy.
The bills call for water conservation and delta protections. They would also set in motion a potentially explosive examination of water rights in the delta watershed.
"Neither the delta ecosystem nor the state's water needs have been well served by decades of benign neglect," said Silicon Valley Sen. Joe Simitian, author of one of five bills in the package and chair of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. "The system of governance is broken and the system of conveyance is broken."
Click here to read the full article