Dan's Fishing Issues

The State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento on September 7 approved water pollution limits for the Klamath River, a system regularly plagued with fish kills, toxic algae blooms and poor water quality in recent years.

The board adopted TMDLs (total maximum daily loads), essentially pollution limits for nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment and activities affecting water temperatures and dissolved oxygen, according to Craig Tucker, Klamath Coordinator for the Karuk Tribe. They also ban dredge mining from areas considered to be "thermal refugial zones," cold spots in the river at creek mouths that fish use during summer months.

The TMDLs also address the blooms of toxic blue-green algae that take place every summer behind PacifiCorp dams and mandate that PacifiCorp reservoirs cannot impact water temperature. "Currently the dams have a dramatic effect on water temperature and salmon and steelhead migration," said Tucker.

"The Board's decision is significant, since the TMDLs will limit new pollution sources from being developed and force clean up of current sources," said Tucker. "If the pending Klamath Dam Removal Settlement fails to be implemented, the TMDLs will force additional regulations on the operation of the dams should PacifiCorp choose to pursue a new operational license for the dams."

The TMDLs were developed over the course of several years by the Northcoast Regional Water Quality Control Board and were subjected to third party scientific reviews as well as public reviews and comments. A broad coalition of Klamath Basin Indian Tribes, fishing groups and conservation organizations supported the adoption of these pollution limits, while PacifiCorp, the subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, and Siskiyou County opposed them.

The TMDLs are the result of litigation filed in 1994 by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA) and others charging that The Clean Water Act obligated the state to set pollution limits for a host of northern California salmon streams. Similar TMDL processes have been completed for the Trinity, Scott, Shasta, Salmon and other rivers.

PacifiCorp requested that the TMDL be sent back to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Board, claiming that the company would like to see "good science, not quick science” as imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA.)

”Through the settlement process Pacificorp is collaboratively working with basin stakeholders to implement key provisions of the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement that will improve water quality prior to potential removal of the dams, if that is the ultimate decision of the Secretary of the Interior, and that will improve water quality if the dams are not removed,” said Art Sasse, spokesman for PacifiCorp.

However, Glen Spain, Northwest Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA), said this would have simply have meant the U.S. EPA would have stepped in and approved the TMDLs - there is a December 31, 2010 court-ordered deadline. "This would have meant the parties would have lost a lot of the flexibility provided for under a state approved TMDL and implementation plan," noted Spain.

While Spain, Tucker and other supporters praised the board's decision, Sasse said PacifiCorp continues to have "strong disagreements about the feasibility and attainability of the TMDL and the integrity of the underlying technical analysis."

"At its core, this is about how to best protect customers and the community," said Sasse. "PacifiCorp and other stakeholders are working diligently to implement the KHSA and realize the regulatory certainty provided by the settlement agreement. But we also have a legal responsibility to our customers to continue down the relicensing path, until and only if dam removal becomes certain."

Sasse added, "PacifiCorp will vigorously engage in ongoing regulatory processes such as the TMDL to ensure a fair and accurate assignment of responsibilities and costs to the Project, which ultimately must be borne by PacifiCorps customers."

This was the final TMDL to be approved for California’s North Coast coming out of the 1995 PCFFA lawsuit (PCFFA v. Marcus) and the 1997 settlement.

"It’s been a long time coming and there’s still a lot of work to do (along with preventing backsliding by the parties), but it is a bit of good news," said Spain. "It was the second piece of good news delivered by the Board in the past couple of months – the first was their unanimous approval of their flow criteria for the Bay-Delta estuary ecosystem."

Representatives from the PCFFA, Karuk Tribe, Yurok Tribe, Klamath Riverkeeper, the Klamath Forest Alliance and the Sierra Club testified at the meeting in support of the TMDLs.

"The staff of the North Coast board deserves a lot of credit for the incredible amount of work they did and their courage to stand up to PacifiCorp and others who didn’t want to see TMDLs, or strong ones anyway, in place," stated Spain.

Poor water quality and warm water temperatures have plagued the Klamath River for decades. Besides the annual blooms of toxic algae at the PacifiCorp reservoirs, die offs of juvenile salmon and steelhead fish due to disease spurred by warm water temperatures have become a regular occurence in the spring and summer months. In September 2002, over 68,000 adult salmon perished due to an outbreak of disease in low, warm water conditions on the lower Klamath.

For more information, contact Glen Spain of PCFFA, 541-689-2000, or S. Craig Tucker, Klamath Coordinator, Karuk Tribe, cell: 916-207-8294, home office: 707-839-1982, http://www.karuk.us.

(September 7) The California Water Impact Network (C-WIN), the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and AquAlliance filed a landmark public trust lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court to protect Delta fisheries and water quality from excessive Delta pumping.

The groups filed the suit against the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) for multiple violations of the laws protecting public trust resources of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The causes of action are: 1) violation of the public trust, 2) unreasonable method of diversion, 3) unreasonable use of water, 4) violation of Porter-Cologne Act, 5) violation of the 1995 Water quality Control Plan narrative standard for fish and wildlife and 6) violation of SWRCB Decision 1641.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that: 1) the SWRCB and DWR have failed to enforce and violated each of the causes of action, 2) enjoin DWR from diverting water from the Delta and the SWRCB from allowing operation of the State Water Project until they have complied with the law, 3) direct the defendants to remedy their violations of law within a reasonable time and 4) retain jurisdiction until the defendants have complied with the law.

"This action is a companion or bookend to our 'Chinatown II' lawsuits over the Monterey Plus Agreement, which facilitated dramatically increased exports from the Delta, and the illegal transfer of the Kern Water Bank from public to private hands," said Bill Jennings, Chairman and Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA).

Jennings said this lawsuit is another element in the long-term CSPA/CWIN/AquAlliance strategy for protecting the Delta estuary and reversing the "illegal and corrupt subversion" of California water rights and theft of public trust resources by corporate land barons and low priority water rights holders.

"These illegal actions have resulted in vast profits, secured by greed and corruption, and brought one of the great estuaries in the world to the brink of destruction," emphasized Jennings.

The Schwarzenegger administration has presided over the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, young striped bass, green sturgeon and other species. Record water exports out of the Delta to corporate agribusiness and southern California from 2004 to 2006, combined with declining water quality under the Schwarzenegger administration, spurred the species decline.

Rather than working to restore these species as required under state and federal laws, Schwarzenegger has declared war on salmon and salmon fishermen. He has repeatedly attacked the federal biological opinions protecting Central Valley salmon and steelhead and Delta smelt while campaigning for a peripheral canal and new dams to facilitate water exports to junior water rights holders and southern California.

“Our state government continues to turn a blind eye to the public trust and the State constitution,” said Carolee Krieger, president and executive director of C-WIN. “We have no choice but to petition the court to force the State Water Board and DWR to comply with State water laws and the State constitution.”

“We must stop the carnage in the Delta now,” added Krieger. “Our state government has utterly failed to enforce the public trust and follow the California constitution. It will take lots of people all over California to protect the Delta’s public trust resources as was done for Mono Lake."

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) and AquAlliance are three great organizations that are battling to restore our fisheries and defend the public trust. Everybody who cares about the future of the Delta and California's fish populations should support their lawsuit.

Below is their joint press release:


Press Release: September 7, 2010

Contacts: Michael Jackson, Attorney for Plaintiffs (530) 283-0712, (530) 927-7387 (cell)
Carolee Krieger, C-WIN (805) 969-0824
Bill Jennings, CSPA (209) 464-5067, (209) 938-9053 (cell)
Barbara Vlamis, AquAlliance (530) 895-9420, (530) 519-7468 (cell)

C-WIN, CSPA & AquAlliance File Comprehensive Lawsuit to
Protect Delta Public Trust Fisheries by Enforcing State Water Laws

The California Water Impact Network (C-WIN), the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA)
and AquAlliance filed a public trust lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court to protect Delta
fisheries and water quality from excessive Delta pumping.

“The voters of California passed a constitutional amendment in 1928 to ban wasteful water use and
harmful diversions from streams,” said attorney Michael Jackson of Quincy who represents C-WIN,
CSPA and AquAlliance in this case. “We intend to show the court how DWR and the State Water Board
have not complied time and time again, and to persuade the court to end DWR’s illegal and excessive
water exports from the Delta.”

“We can no longer stand by while the State Water Board gives a wink and a nod to DWR’s illegal Delta
pumping,” added Jackson. “If we don’t act immediately, our historic salmon runs will be lost forever.”
The lawsuit charges that the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and the California
Department of Water Resources (DWR):

• Fail to protect public trust fishery resources
• Divert water from the Delta wastefully and unreasonably
• Use water from the Delta wastefully and unreasonably
• Fail to enforce and comply with the State’s water quality laws
• Fail to enforce and comply with the flow and water quality requirements of SWRCB’s water rights
decision 1641, adopted 10 years ago
• Fail to comply with the narrative fish doubling standard in the SWRCB’s 1995 Water Quality
Control Plan

Specifically, the six-count lawsuit charges that the huge state export pumps near Tracy in the south Delta
kill thousands upon thousands of Delta smelt, young salmon and other species every year, at different
times of year, and are the main threats to public trust resources in the Delta. Even a recent Delta flow
report adopted by the State Water Board acknowledged that more fresh water flows into and out of the
Delta to the Bay are needed for fish and other species to recover.

“California’s regulation of its public trust resources and water quality is remarkably similar to federal
regulation of the financial and real estate markets. Regulators in both cases went AWOL. The public is
left with collapsed fisheries, bankrupt aquatic ecosystems and toxic waters for the taxpayers to clean up”
said CSPA Chairman and Director Bill Jennings. “The complete failure of the State Water Resources
Control Board to enforce its own laws, regulations and decisions has left us with no alternative but to turn
to the courts to prevent the total loss of our historic fisheries.”

“The State Water Board consistently submits to political pressure to avoid enforcing the law” added
Jennings. “They make their decisions based on politics, not science and law.”

“This is the Delta watershed’s version of the Mono Lake case of the 1970s and 1980s,” said Barbara
Vlamis, Executive Director of AquAlliance in Chico. “These two state agencies charged with protecting
California’s public trust resources must be forced to comply with the law. They have consistently
demonstrated that they are incapable of enforcing existing law and protecting the public trust.”

DWR increased its water exports since 2000 by 53% over the average of 2.1 million acre-feet it exported
in the decade of the 1990s. Meanwhile, Delta fish populations of salmon, striped bass, Delta smelt, and
other listed and unlisted species collapsed, despite runoff in 2006 reaching 173% of normal.

Much of the increase in exported water is labeled as “excess” by DWR and exported from the Delta as
“surplus” under Article 21 of the amended State Water Project contracts, and is largely used to further
development, water banking, and water transfers. The plaintiffs recently filed a separate lawsuit
challenging the State Water Project contracts known as “Monterey Plus Agreements.”

“Our state government continues to turn a blind eye to the public trust and the State constitution,” said
Carolee Krieger, president and executive director of C-WIN. “We have no choice but to petition the court
to force the State Water Board and DWR to comply with State water laws and the State constitution.”

“We must stop the carnage in the Delta now,” added Krieger. “Our state government has utterly failed to
enforce the public trust and follow the California constitution. It will take lots of people all over California
to protect the Delta’s public trust resources as was done for Mono Lake."

###
For more information on the lawsuit, see
http://www.c-win.org/press-room-delt...t-lawsuit.html and
http://www.aqualliance.net/pressroom.html

The California Water Impact Network promotes the equitable and environmental use of California's
water, including instream uses, through research, planning, public education, and litigation.
http://www.c-win.org

California Sportfishing Protection Alliance is a nonprofit conservation and research organization
established in 1983 for the purpose of conserving, restoring, and enhancing the state's water quality and
fishery resources and their aquatic and riparian ecosystems. http://www.calsport.org

AquAlliance was founded in 2010 to protect waters in the northern Sacramento River’s watershed to
sustain family farms, communities, creeks and river, native flora and fauna, vernal pools, and recreation.
http://www.aqualliance.net.

COUNTY OF MARIN FAILS TO PROTECT CRITICAL HABITAT FOR ENDANGERED COHO SALMON

Leading Aquatic Scientists Call on Supervisors to End Delays for Coho Stream Protections

For Immediate Release: September 7, 2010

For more information, please contact:
-Paola Bouley, SPAWN Conservation Director, 415.663.8590 ext 111, Paola@Tirn.Net
-Dr. Peter Moyle, Professor of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at U.C. Davis and Associate Director for the Center for Watershed Sciences, Phone: (530) 752-6355, Email: pbmoyle@ucdavis.edu

Olema, CA- Leading aquatic scientists are publicly calling on Marin County Supervisors, for the 2nd time in 3 years, to take immediate action to protect critical habitat for the Bay Area’s last-remaining wild run of endangered coho salmon habitat, and end their delay tactics.

The letter to Marin's Supervisors signed by over 150 scientists, including two of the world's most prominent salmon and aquatic scientists, Dr. Peter Moyle, Professor of Fisheries Biology at U.C. Davis, and California Academy of Sciences Senior Scientist and Chair of Aquatic Biology, Dr. John Mc Cosker, calls for immediate enforcement of existing rules and the implementation of new protective measures to support salmon recovery. For the letter and more background info see http://spawnusa.org/pages/page-324.

The County of Marin has continued delaying implementation of necessary protective measures for important spawning and nursery habitat areas in headwater reaches of the Lagunitas Creek Watershed in West Marin County, despite the species being on the verge of extinction. Earlier this year the Federal government declared an “extinction crisis” for Central California coho salmon and called for urgent watershed protections.

Dr. Peter Moyle, Professor of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at U.C. Davis and Associate Director for the Center for Watershed Sciences, stated “The lack of habitat protections in the headwaters of the Lagunitas Watershed for this wild run of salmon could impact the recovery status of extirpated populations along the entire central California coast. We are asking that the County stop stalling and implement strong, enforceable habitat protections for endangered Lagunitas coho.” Dr. Moyle is one of the lead authors of the recent report called “SOS: California’s Native Fish Crisis” which determined that coho salmon are the most endangered salmon species in California and face sure extinction if current habitat degradation trends persist. Lagunitas coho salmon, despite their low numbers, are currently represent the largest-remaining wild run of this species along the entire Central California coast

Among the key recommendations supported in the scientist letter is the thorough and full enforcement of all existing habitat protection laws and regulations and the enactment of a native riparian forest management ordinance that protects the core streamside habitat salmon rely on for survival. Currently, Marin County allows landowners along streams to cut down up to 5 trees along streams every year without any permits, mitigations or accountability. Scientists are also calling on Marin to close loopholes in the Stream Conservation Area ordinance for new construction directly along streams resulting in the net loss of critical riparian habitat. The County continues to publicly acknowledge that they are aware regulations are inadequate but have failed to act for over 3 years.

“What little, if any, progress the county is currently making is occurring at such a glacial pace that the fish are headed for extinction, not recovery, said Paola Bouley, SPAWN’s Conservation Director. She added, “For the past 3 years the County has promised reforms of habitat protections they fully know are inadequate, yet to date and after countless meetings and delays, we have yet to see any protections manifest for these public trust resources.”

Deborah Sivas, Luke W. Cole Professor of Environmental Law and Director of the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic Stanford Law School, concluded "Wild populations of coho are hanging on by a thread across California, while the County allows ongoing destruction of habitat and continues to approve developments that compromise the species’s future in the most important watershed we have left.” She continued, "The coho salmon is an indicator species, the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Without meaningful regulations to protect habitat and balance restoration efforts, and without the political will to enforce such protections, we will lose this treasured California species and the ecosystem which it defines.”

For more background information visit http://spawnusa.org/pages/page-324

In the most absurd episode yet in the bad action flick that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has starred in since being elected Governor in 2003, the "Fish Terminator" on Saturday morning spouted off about the need for "transparent" government in his weekly radio address.

"Ever since I became Governor, I have pushed to make California government more transparent," Schwarzenegger claimed. "Now, I don’t have to tell you that this is a time of deep recession, all around the world."

"It is more critical than ever that government be held accountable for every dollar it spends, that it live within its means, and that it show total transparency at all levels: at the local level, the state level and the federal level," said Schwarzenegger.

This is coming from the guy who has demonstrated more of a penchant for secrecy than any other Governor in California history. This is coming from the corporate-controlled political hack that was a keynote speaker on July 30, 2010 at the highly secretive Bohemian Grove near Monte Rio on the Russian River (http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...CLES/100729459).

The Bohemian Grove is an exclusive, men's only club where the heads of global corporations, select politicians, bankers and the elite members of the ruling class from throughout the globe "relax" and network to devise their schemes to pillage the world's resources, launch wars and control the population while making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

On the first night of the annual encampment, the members of the club perform a bizarre ritual called the "Cremation of Care." "This ceremony involves the poling across a lake of a small boat containing an effigy of Care (called 'Dull Care'). Dark, hooded figures receive from the ferryman the effigy which is placed on an altar, and, at the end of the ceremony, set on fire," according to wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremation_of_Care). "This 'cremation' symbolizes that members are banishing the 'dull cares' of conscience."

Many believe that the elite, meeting at Bohemian Grove, picked Schwarzenegger to run for Governor in order to plunder the California economy and resources through increased privatization of public trust resources to benefit the super-rich.

On July 21, 2003, Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, "From what we've heard, the Republican hierarchy -- especially those close to former Gov. Pete Wilson -- would favor Schwarzenegger. At least that's the word that came out of the Bohemian Grove this past weekend, where a number of state and national GOPers, including presidential adviser Karl Rove, happened to have gathered at a club getaway."

However, we'll never know exactly what transpired in Schwarzenegger's annual appearances at the Grove because all proceedings, events and speeches are kept secret, even though the lives of billions of people throughout the world are greatly impacted what is discussed behind close doors at the annual event.

Schwarzenegger's speech on “transparent” government then devolved into an attack on the Senate for refusing to pass a bill that would require them to post their salaries and expenditures online, followed by a shameless rant praising all of his alleged initiatives for “transparency” in Government.

“I opened my own calendar to the public,” Schwarzenegger gushed. “No other sitting Governor has ever done that.”

Schwarzenegger sure didn't open his calendar to the public on July 30, when he spoke along with Rupert Murdoch, media magnate and owner of Fox News, to the gathered elite at the Bohemian Grove! In fact, he didn't even disclose what topic he was speaking about.

According to Mary Moore, an organizer of yearly protests in front of the Grove's gates, Schwarzenegger's appearance was described as follows on the Grove's program: "Friday, July 30: Topic undisclosed: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger" ( http://dailycensored.com/2010/08/06/...chwarzenegger/).

My experience with covering water and environmental politics under Schwarzenegger administration is the exact opposite of his claims that he is the “Transparent Governor.”

In contrast with the Governor's claims of "transparency" in government, Schwarzenegger’s Delta Vision and Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) officials went out of their way to exclude the input of California Indian Tribes, anglers and environmentalist justice communities, the groups most impacted by the Governor’s plan for a peripheral canal and new dams, from these rigged fiascos. Only after an action alert went out complaining about the lack of tribal and recreational fishing representation was one lone tribal representative and one lone recreational fishing representative appointed to Delta Vision Stakeholders Group.

Likewise, the Governor, the Legislative leaders, Westlands Water District, the Metropolitan Water Agency and corporate environmental NGOs met in secret, back door negotiations last year to craft the water policy/water bond package that creates a clear path to a peripheral canal and new, unneeded dams. The Governor and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg did everything they could to ram this package through the Capitol without input from California Indian Tribes, fishermen, Delta farmers and residents, and environmental justice communities.

Fortunately, the massive opposition by the public to the water bond forced the Governor to go to the Legislature and get the bond delayed until November 2012. However, the Governor is still pushing his plans to build the canal and new dams through the BDCP process and the Delta Stewardship Council created by last year’s legislation.

Another process that the Governor and his collaborators claim is “open, inclusive and transparent,” the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, is anything but. It was only after outrage by First Amendment advocates and the Newspapers Publishers Association over the arrest of David Gurney at an MLPA “working session" in April that MLPA Executive Director Ken Wiseman was forced to allow the sessions to be photographed and filmed, as is required by the Bagley-Keene Public Meetings Act.

The Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, a shadowy organization that is totally unaccountable to the public, has funded this illegitimate process since Schwarzenegger launched the MLPA Initiative in 2004. Schwarzenegger has appointed oil industry, real estate, marina development and other private operatives with conflicts of interest to the MLPA's Blue Ribbon Task Forces that choose the marine reserve proposals that are submitted for approval by the Fish and Game Commission.

If the MLPA is such an “open, transparent and inclusive” process, why did 300 Tribal members, fishermen, immigrant workers and environmentalists feel so left out of the process that they had to organize a march and direct action to take over a MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in Fort Bragg on July 21 so their voices would be finally heard?

Schwarzenegger’s regular appearances at the Bohemian Grove and his pushing of rigged processes including the Delta Vision, BDCP, MLPA and the water policy/water bond fiascos show that his call for “transparency” in government is a hypocritical lie. His claim that he is the "Transparent Governor" rings just as hollow as his claim that he is the "Green Governor" when he has presided over the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other California Delta fish populations.

Schwarzenegger’s 2-minute, 52-second radio address is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fb0yv_5rS8.

From Mike McKenzie, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance:

As most people in this bulletin board community know, there has been a lawsuit filed by "The Citizens for a Sustainable Delta" to force the Department of Fish and Game to remove all regulation and control of Striped Bass populations in the San Francisco Bay, the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and all its tributary rivers. CSPA, CSBA and the NCC/FFF and a lot of the people here have been at the forefront of this battle. Right now we need to ask a little more of you striper fishers out there.

The lawyers for Department of Fish and Game are the lead team for the Defendant (DFG). They have been doing Yeoman's work thus far in the lawsuit, however we need the angling community to take the time to write (or e-mail, Fax) John McCamman the Director of DFG and "encourage" him to maintain the Department's full support and dedication to winning this thinly veiled attack, by special interests, on our iconic Striped Bass, one of the premier fisheries in California.

Please, each and every one of you that appreciate this Striped Bass fishery, take the time to write the Director and let him know you want to keep our Striped Bass protected.

Here's the contact info:

John McCamman, Director
1416 Ninth Street, 12th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 653-7667
(916) 653-7387 fax
E-mail: Director@dfg.ca.gov

Write, e-mail, Fax get the message to him and each of you get 10 others to do the same.
May the Fish Gods smile on Ya'

Mike

An outstanding Eureka Times-Standard editorial this morning, “Don’t Tread on Me,” exposes the key problem with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fast-track Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative – the privatization of resource management that has taken place under the widely-criticized process.

“How did the state get to the point where a well-endowed private foundation — the Resources Legacy Foundation — came to play such a vital role in taking away people’s ability to harvest seafood?” the editorial states.

The privatization of ocean conservation management under the shadowy and unaccountable Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, led by executive director Michael Eaton, is at the core of everything that is wrong with the MLPA process. In my 27 years of covering water and environmental issues in California and the West, I have never witnessed an environmental fiasco that is as corrupt and ridden with conflicts of interest as the MLPA Initiative.

Oil industry, real estate, marina development and other corporate operatives that have conflicts of interest in the outcome of the process dominate the Blue Ribbon Task Forces (BRTF) that lead the MLPA Initiative.

In fact, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the chair of the South Coast task force who now serves on the North Coast BRTF, is the president of the Western States Petroleum Association. Reheis-Boyd has repeatedly called for new oil drilling off the California coast in recent months in spite of the environmental and economic devastation in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil gusher.

I applaud the perseverance and hard work by the Tribal, fishing, environmental and business community stakeholders in developing one single proposal for the North Coast under the MLPA process. By sending a unified proposal to the Blue Ribbon Task Force, they refused to be "divided and conquered" by the Schwarzenegger administration. This contrasts with the Central Coast, North Central Coast and South Coast processes where different stakeholder groups submitted separate proposals.

“For now, we congratulate the regional representatives in the process for participating and taking some of the sting out of the Marine Life Protection Act,” the editorial says. “And we send the same message upstream to the Blue Ribbon Task Force and the California Fish and Game Commission: ‘Don’t tread on me.’”

I completely agree with the Times-Standard that by agreeing to a single proposal, the stakeholders helped minimize the economic costs to local communities and did the best to protect Tribal fishing and gathering rights.

However, the question needs to be asked: what does the Initiative really protect the oceans against? The MLPA process has completely taken oil drilling, water pollution, corporate aquaculture, wave energy development, habitat destruction and all other uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table.

The so-called “marine protected areas” would do nothing to stop a disaster like the Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon oil spills from taking place off the California coast. Schwarzenegger has effectively eviscerated the Marine Life Protection Act in a cynical attempt to greenwash his abysmal environmental legacy.

“Unfortunately, these marine protected areas, as currently designed, don’t protect against oil spills,” said Sara Randall, program director at the Commercial Fishermen of America. “What’s the point of developing marine protected areas if they don’t protect the resources?”

The MLPA process is not only a parody of marine protection, but it has violated numerous state, federal and national laws, as documented by reporters from the Eureka Times-Standard, Fort Bragg Advocate News, San Diego Union-Tribune, indybay.org, alternet.org, the Fish Sniffer magazine and numerous other publications. The Bagley-Keene Public Meetings Act, California Public Records Act, American Indian Religious Freedom Act and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are among the many laws the process has violated.

“The people of California should think long and hard about how private money is used to prop up law created by elected officials who are at least accountable at the ballot box,” the editorial says. “Should lawmakers ever pass legislation they can’t afford? Or should they open the door to private interests to direct the process in the direction they want it to go?”

These are very legitimate questions about whether private interests should fund public resource management. My answer is a resounding “No!”

The privatization of the MPLA process by Schwarzenegger in 2004 was a very bad idea then and is a very bad idea now. The time has come for a suspension of the privately-funded initiative and for state and federal investigations of the conflicts of interests and violations of laws that have proliferated under the MLPA process.

Here is the link to the editorial: http://www.times-standard.com/editorials/ci_15982241