McNerney asks Obama appointee to investigate Peripheral Canal proposal

Rep. Jerry McNerney urged the woman nominated to head the Council on Environmental Quality to strongly lobby state officials against any kind of canal that would convey additional water to the southern San Joaquin Valley and the Los Angeles basin.

McNerney, D-Pleasanton, sent a letter Tuesday to Nancy Sutley, whom President-elect Barack Obama appointed to the Council on Environmental Quality.

McNerney, who represents Lodi, said he is concerned about the Delta Vision Committee endorsing a conveyance of Delta water south of San Joaquin County.

"I am concerned that a conveyance system to divert water around the estuary, in any form, will destroy the Delta ecosystem, and with it the agriculture and commerce, including the nation's second largest inland port, the region supports," McNerney said in his letter to Sutley.

"Today, the Delta ecosystem is faced with unprecedented threats, including a collapsed fishery, invasive species, declining water quality, flood risks and aging and failure-prone levees," McNerney said in his letter.

Mike Chrisman, California's resource secretary and chairman of the Delta Vision Committee, said he doesn't know if McNerney is right or not. The answer will come in a future environmental impact report.

"We don't know the answer to any of that yet," Chrisman said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. "Our goal is to make the Delta sustainable."

Delta at a glance

Population: 515,264 (2000 Census).
Counties: San Joaquin, Sacramento, Contra Costa, Solano, Yolo, Alameda.
Miles of levees in 1987: 1,100.
Rivers flowing into delta: Mokelumne, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Cosumnes and Calaveras.
Agriculture (2001): Average annual gross value of more than $2 billion. Crops include corn, grain, hay, alfalfa, tomatoes, asparagus, pears and winegrapes.
Number of islands: 57 major islands and numerous unleveled channel islands.
Source: Delta Vision

However, the Delta Vision Committee opposes any Delta water conveyance south of San Joaquin County without constructing new dams to generate more water, Chrisman said.

Although preserving the Delta is important, Chrisman said, the reality is that 24 million people depend on water from the Delta, many of them from the southern San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

McNerney asked Sutley to pursue other forms of water management, such as reuse, conservation, recycling, reclamation and perhaps additional surface storage.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

jwt wrote on Jan 7, 2009 7:35 AM:

" McNerney's letter doesn't ask Sutley to lobby against sending extra water to LA, and since she formerly worked for the Metropolitan Water District, he wouldn't get very far if he took that approach. He asks her to examine the viability of an alternative conveyance and to consider alternatives. Chrisman and Schwarzenegger are now prepared to break ground on a peripheral canal in 2011, with or without voter or legislative approval. McNerney wants to head off any attempt by the state to turn the canal into a candidate for public works support under the Obama administration. We could certainly benefit from public works jobs in California, but building this canal and destroying the Delta so Southern San Joaquin agri-business can keep irrigating desert is not the way to do it. "

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