On Tuesday, the Legislature finally released a highly contentious suite of five bills related to the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta.

Among other things these bills would create a politically appointed council with authority to approve new "Delta Conveyance" (e.g. a Peripheral Canal) and would authorize these bureaucrats to assess unlimited fees on water users through most of California to pay for it. However there are no estimates of costs.

While the bills call for "determinations" of water needs of the Delta, they do not require enforceable standards. In addition, there are no sources of funding for ecosystem restoration.

The bills do contain some good reforms including requiring water use reporting and creation of a Delta Conservancy. However, as some of those provisions were already defeated once on the floor of the State Senate, it's not clear how they will survive.

The Legislature plans to use a conference committee process to jam the bills through in the last three weeks of the session, starting with a legislative "informational" hearing on August 18th. 

The Delta Package includes:

• Preprint Assembly #1 (Huffman) - Delta Plan

• Preprint Assembly #2 (Feuer) - Water Efficiency

• Preprint Senate #1 (Simitian) - Delta Stewardship Council

• Preprint Senate #2 (Pavley) - Delta Interim Actions, Water Rights & Groundwater

• Preprint Senate# 3 (Wolk) - Delta Conservancy, Delta Protection Commission Revisions

DRAFT STATEWIDE CLIMATE ADAPTATION STRATEGY SHOWS NEED FOR INVESTMENT IN SAFEGUARDING HABITATS, COMMUNITIES

On Monday, the California Resources Agency released the draft of its 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy Report. As required by Executive Order S-13-08, the report summarizes projected climate change impacts and provides short-term and long-term recommendations on how state agencies should respond.

This report makes it clear that global warming is costing Californians dearly:

• Over the past 15 years, heat waves have claimed more lives in the state than all other declared disaster events combined.

• Sea-level rise will put 480,000 people at risk and nearly $100 billion in property.

• The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spent over $500 million on fire suppression during fiscal year 2007-08. Wildfire occurrence statewide could increase by as much as 37-49 percent by 2085.

The report argues compellingly that in addition to dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we must make a sustained investment of time and energy in responding to those global warming effects that can't be avoided.

While we applaud the state's efforts in compiling its draft report, we're concerned that there won't be a sufficient financial investment to be successful. That's why we're working hard to make sure that our federal and state climate policies make large investments in safeguarding natural resources and communities from the effects of global warming. Without new funding, we'll be caught unable to respond effectively to rising sea levels, deadly heat waves, and shrinking snowpack; struggling to put out a fire without a fire hose. PCL's Matt Vander Sluis highlighted these concerns in an interview on KPFA on Monday evening (minute 27).

The release of the draft document sets in motion a 45-day public comment period. The first of two stakeholder workshops is scheduled for August 13th in Sacramento.