DiFi sells out NorCal

[this_side_up]

If this should be in GD or Environment or...Graft & Corruption, please
move.

(02-12) 04:00 PST Washington - -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein ignited a firestorm among fellow California Democrats on Thursday as word spread of her proposal to divert Northern California water to Central Valley farmers.

Feinstein wants to attach the proposal as an amendment to a fast-tracked Senate jobs bill. She is pitching the plan as a jobs measure to address the economic calamity in the Central Valley. It would increase farm water allocations from 10 percent last year to 40 percent this year and next, an amount that farmers say is the bare minimum they need.

Bay Area Democrats were livid, accusing Feinstein of concocting the plan in secret, upending fragile water negotiations that Feinstein has supported and pitting California's Central Valley against its coast. Telephone calls flew as lawmakers learned of Feinstein's plan.

"I was pretty shocked," said Rep. Mike Thompson, a St. Helena Democrat and ally of North Coast salmon fishermen who support efforts to save fish species that are declining.
.....

In September, Resnick wrote Feinstein complaining that "sloppy science" by federal wildlife agencies was causing farm water shortages. A week later, Feinstein forwarded the letter to Obama administration officials, who authorized a review by the National Academy of Sciences.

"It seems to be a complete reversal of her position," Thompson said. "The entire Bay Area delegation had agreed we would do this National Academy of Sciences report to find out scientifically what should and shouldn't be done, and for her to turn that on its head and go out unilaterally with this proposal does not take into consideration the needs of all of California."

Thompson accused Feinstein of "trying to spin this as a job saver, but that ignores the jobs up north that depend on water." He compared Feinstein's plan to the Bush administration's water diversions in the Klamath River Basin in 2002 that severely damaged fisheries and were later reversed.

Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, said, "Best I can see, she's making a decision that jobs in the Bay Area and Northern California and the Peninsula south of San Francisco aren't as important as jobs in the Central Valley."

......


Farmers, fishermen and environmentalists had been negotiating on a long-term remedy to the decline of California's delta estuary, one of the largest in the world and on a scale with Florida's Everglades, but even more heavily damaged by a century of water diversions.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/12/MNBT1C05E1.DTL#ixzz0fMNNddJU










http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/12/MNBT1C05E1.DTL

[Taverner]

1. Central Valley needs the water - seriously

California is one state, dammit, and the farmers need the water. Otherwise our Ag industry is toast.

[BP2]

2. This is a complete reversal and it's only for her own political gain. Plain and simple. It's obvious

she gives not a damn about the farmers otherwise she wouldn't have fought them so hard for so many years.

It's also obvious she NOW gives not a damn about the endangered Delta Smelt that she's fought so hard to protect for so many years.

She will be pounded in November by both her opponents and (former) supporters and it will serve her right!

[this_side_up]

3. Exactly. Do you remember

reading a couple of years ago about how DiFi, her hubby and their
rich neighbors living on their estates somewhere in Colo were
pretty much draining the river dry so that their estates were
lush green?

I wonder how that's going now; any more oppositon, law suit?
Have to admit I don't know the location or even if Colo has been in drought or not.

I despise hypocrites.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do.
It's ok if I lie, cheat, steal, do drugs, drink, etc but Don't
Y'all Do It. It's Not Allowed For You, You lousy Peons!!!!
I Wipe My Feet On You - Pay My Salary & Big Bennies
and Fantastic Health Insurance.

I am so sick of these assholes. If I weren't sick, I'd think
about running for office and keep my big mouth
yapping. Except the media would ignore me because I'd
be extremely blunt, to the point, perfectly clear; none of
this long-winded, big word lawyer talk.