Just when you thought that things were going bad on the California Delta, with the federal government and state continuing to go forward with a wacky scheme to redesign the hydrology of the West Coast's most ecologically significant estuary, the so-called South Delta “Improvement” Program (SDIP), the Bureau of Reclamation is proceeding with another plan that could pave the way for more water exports.

This plan, the Delta Mendota/California Water Intertie Project, would allow more pumping from the delta, in some years 400,000 acre feet, at a time when a team of state and federal scientists continues to study the dramatic “Pelagic Organism Decline (POD) in the open water of the Delta.

The Bureau of Reclamation held two informal “open house” style “scoping” meetings on the Intertie project on August 1st in Sacramento and August 3rd in Stockton; I attended the one in Sacramento.

The Bureau and San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority are the lead agencies pushing this project. “They had planned to construct the Intertie in February 2006, but the Planning and Conservation League filed litigation and halted those plans,” explained Mindy McIntyre of the Planning and Conservation League.

Now the Bureau is moving forward with the Intertie scheme once again, but this time it’s being forced through the lawsuit to complete a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Since the public input process has just started, it is crucial that anglers and conservationists concerned about the future of the Delta-Bay Estuary’s salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, striped bass, black bas and other fisheries become actively involved.

The Intertie will increase water deliveries to San Joaquin Valley agriculture like Westlands. “It poses the same threats to the Delta that the SDIP does, but because the Intertie is a much less complex project, it will be operational much sooner than the SDIP,” McIntyre explained.

These meetings – and the public comments that the agencies receive - will also establish what will be analyzed in the EIS. McIntyre and other conservationists are closely monitoring the EIS to make sure that it will include full analysis of impacts to fisheries, water quality, and impacts to upstream areas.

The Intertie project consists of constructing and operating a pumping plant and pipeline connection between the federal Delta Mendota Canal (DMC) and the State Water Project’s California Aqueduct (CA). “The Intertie would be used in a number of ways to achieve multiple benefits, including meeting current water supply demands, allowing for the maintenance and repair of the CVP export and conveyance facilities and providing operational flexibility to respond to emergencies related to both the CVP and the State Water Project (SWP),” according to the Bureau’s notice on the Intertie Project in the Federal Register.

The proposed project would allow the CVP to turn up its export pumps to their fully authorized capacity of 4,600 cfs. This would be achieved by constructing and operating a 450 cfs pumping facility and 500-foot underground pipeline that connects the two canals. A preliminary estimate of the cost of the project is $29,000,00 for the pipe and pumping facilities, according to the Bureau.

The Intertie is not a new concept. The Westlands Water District and Reclamation in 1988 studied an intertie connecting the two canals that would allow up to 600 cubic feet per second of CVP supplies to be diverted from the Delta Mendota Canal to the California Aqueduct and conveyed either to San Luis Reservoir or directly to Westlands Water District. However the project was withdrawn before environmental studies were completed. In 2000, the Intertie was included as a proposed action in the August 2000 CALFED Bay-Delta Program, Programmatic Record of Decision (ROD).

In 2001, an emergency related to damage of the canal lining of the California Aqueduct required the installation of a temporary intertie to maintain water deliveries to SWP over a 30-day period.

More recently, Reclamation in September 2004 completed an Environmental Assessment on the DMC/CA Intertie Project. In that EA, the Bureau claimed that the additional pumping from the Delta would have no negative impacts to fisheries. After completing the EA, Reclamation, under pressure from a lawsuit by the Planning and Conservation League, was forced to prepare an EIS.

Although fishery and conservation groups fear that the construction of the intertie will result in more water exports from the Delta to southern California, project advocates contend that the Intertie could also help fisheries.

According to Sharon McHale, program manager for the program, “by connecting the two canals, we get more flexibility in the operation of the federal and state projects. This flexibility could actually be a benefit to fish.”

She explained that the Intertie gives the water managers the flexibility to operate one or the other facility, state or federal, in response to different water and environmental needs. She noted that the federal and state projects operate much differently. The Central Valley Project operates all day long at a constant rate up to 4600 cfs, while the SWP operates on a fluctuating basis at an average rate of 6680 cfs.

“We won’t know until the EIS is done what the impacts on fish will be,” she added, “but I can assure you that our staff will work diligently to protect fish populations, including Delta smelt.”

Despite her assertion, improved flexibility for fisheries is not included as a project objective, according to McIntire. Instead, the project objective specifically states that the Intertie will be used to increase water deliveries for project contractors.

Although the Intertie is a separate project from the SDIP that fishing and environmental groups and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe have rallied against over the past year, this project is planned to be operated in coordination with the barrier operations – designed to redesign the South Delta hydrology – proposed under SDIP.

McIntyre is very concerned about the proposed project objective to export more water when fisheries are at historic lows. However, she is glad that the Bureau recognizes the need for full and competent environmental review, where the public has the opportunity to comment on impacts to fisheries from the different alternatives.

She is also alarmed about the absence of the Department of Water Resources at the scoping meetings “This project is being pursued to increase the coordinated operation of the SWP and the CVP, but DWR is taking no role in shaping the project, and no responsibility for limiting impacts to state resources. DWR is letting the federal government take the driver’s seat,” said McIntyre.

McIntire said that DWR did not complete CEQA documents on the EIR for the Intertie. Instead, San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority, a group of CVP contractors including the Westlands Water District, completed those documents. Their EIR specifically states that increased diversions resulting from the Intertie will have no impact on fisheries.

“The purpose of the project is to increase water exports from the Delta,” she emphasized. “State and federal scientists have identified three primary contributors to the Pelagic Organism Decline, and current export levels are one of those primary stressors. With all of the problems the Delta’s fisheries are currently experiencing, it is irresponsible to pursue a project designed to increase that stressor.”

In addition, McIntyre contends that it is ironic that the state and federal governments are planning more exports just after the Bureau proposed retiring 200,000 acres of farmland in the Westlands Water District. Because of this, she is suggesting that the Bureau include a reduced pumping alternative in the EIS.

Other factors that need to considered in the EIS are the reviews the federal government is currently conducting of a controversial biological opinion regarding proposed increases in Delta water exports; this year’s listing of green sturgeon under the Endangered Species Act; and recent state and federal studies about the impact of climate change on the Delta.

Finally, McIntyre is concerned about the construction timeline proposed by the Bureau – by 2008 – even before the SDIP is completed.

“The Environmental Assessment concludes that the Intertie will allow the state and federal governments to increase exports by 400,000 acre feet,” she concluded. “Unfortunately, once the pipe is in place, there are really no constraints to increasing the exports by an additional 1.5 million acre feet.”

This EIS process is apparently being “fast-tracked,” with a public comment deadline of September 5, 2006. The Bureau will release a draft EIS on the project for public review and comment in the spring of 2007, followed by a public hearing at which the Bureau will receive public comments on the adequacy of the draft environmental document.

A final EIS is estimated to be released in the summer of 2007, followed by an ROD. If approved, project construction is slated to be completed by the winter of 2008.