From the Ledger-Dispatch Newspaper of Amador County.
Please write your Congressman to vote for the wild and scenic designation, stopping EBMUD from stealing more water from the Delta! EBMUD pipes water out of the Moke in the foothills [Comanche Lake] and transfer it directly to EBMUD..........
"Friday, April 17, 2009
By Roger Phelps (rphelps at ledger-dispatch.com)
A Pardee Dam conflict has raised anew the question of a federal wild-and-scenic designation for a stretch of the Mokelumne River.
More than a year has passed since the federal Bureau of Land Management found the river suitable for protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. The act prohibits dam construction that would alter a protected stretch. East Bay Municipal Utility District proposes to flood nearly three extra river miles on the Mokelumne with a new, taller Pardee Dam.
It falls to a vote of the U.S. Congress to make the designation. In the House of Representatives, it would fall to Congressman Dan Lungren. Lungren has been approached in the past on the subject, and was again April 8 when he stumped around Amador and Calaveras counties.
"We've talked a couple of times," said Chris Wright, executive director of the nonprofit Foothills Conservancy. "He was in town last week, and (still says) unless there's local support, he's not for it. We're hoping he will come around."
Lungren spokesman Brian Kaveney said the congressman is unavailable for comment until later in the month.
EBMUD's Pardee proposal so far is widely opposed in Amador and Calaveras counties, through which the river runs. Despite an evident logic, it's unclear the extent to which anti-dam sentiment would translate to support for a wild-and-scenic designation.
"Everybody is real concerned about raising Pardee," Wright said. "If they realize designation is the only tool we have to once and for all protect the river, they may be more open to it. It's the only logical solution. We're working on getting local officials behind it."
Public protests to EBMUD officials by hundreds of residents in the two counties got attention to the degree that the agency extended a public-comment period on the proposal, until May 4.
However, Sutter Creek City Council members recently backed off a proposed resolution calling on EBMUD to increase research into water-conservation methods in place of a new Pardee Dam. Councilman Pat Crosby advised caution and keeping an eye cocked toward the water future of western Amador County.
Amador Board of Supervisors Chairman and District 3 Supervisor Ted Novelli has a cautious approach toward wild-and-scenic.
"The river is 90 percent in my district," Novelli said. "I've been saying for two years that when people on both sides of the river come together and agree, I'll sign. We have private properties on the river. When those who own those lands say, 'Ted, this looks good,' I'll do it. Until then, I'm against it."
EBMUD proposes use of eminent domain to acquire private land that would be flooded.
District 5 Supervisor Brian Oneto has said riverbank landowners generally have no interest in supporting a wild-and-scenic designation. In a protected stretch, ranchers' grazing leases on adjacent BLM lands can be subject to more stringent monitoring. Easements can be required for public river access.
However, EBMUD proposes to acquire by condemnation if necessary all private land that would be flooded.
"In either scenario, you could see condemnation," Oneto said. "Is wild-and-scenic a tool here? A hammer, possibly."
In Calaveras, supervisors Merita Calloway and Steve Wilensky support federal protection for the Mokelumne, Wright noted, as does California's Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, various Amador Water Agency officials and scores of business people in the two counties.
"It's a river for everybody," Wright said. "It's not just the landowners' river."
He said he has counted a total of just five private owners on the Amador side of the disputed stretch. Wright said one of them spoke to Lungren April 8 seeking help against the EBMUD proposal.
The conservancy is seeking the designation for the north fork of the Mokelumne from Salt Springs Reservoir to Tiger Creek, and for the main stem between Tiger Creek and Highway 49.
EBMUD's proposal would flood the river some distance upstream of Highway 49, taking out a couple of popular public-access stretches well known to whitewater paddlers."
Please write your Congressman to vote for the wild and scenic designation, stopping EBMUD from stealing more water from the Delta! EBMUD pipes water out of the Moke in the foothills [Comanche Lake] and transfer it directly to EBMUD..........
"Friday, April 17, 2009
By Roger Phelps (rphelps at ledger-dispatch.com)
A Pardee Dam conflict has raised anew the question of a federal wild-and-scenic designation for a stretch of the Mokelumne River.
More than a year has passed since the federal Bureau of Land Management found the river suitable for protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. The act prohibits dam construction that would alter a protected stretch. East Bay Municipal Utility District proposes to flood nearly three extra river miles on the Mokelumne with a new, taller Pardee Dam.
It falls to a vote of the U.S. Congress to make the designation. In the House of Representatives, it would fall to Congressman Dan Lungren. Lungren has been approached in the past on the subject, and was again April 8 when he stumped around Amador and Calaveras counties.
"We've talked a couple of times," said Chris Wright, executive director of the nonprofit Foothills Conservancy. "He was in town last week, and (still says) unless there's local support, he's not for it. We're hoping he will come around."
Lungren spokesman Brian Kaveney said the congressman is unavailable for comment until later in the month.
EBMUD's Pardee proposal so far is widely opposed in Amador and Calaveras counties, through which the river runs. Despite an evident logic, it's unclear the extent to which anti-dam sentiment would translate to support for a wild-and-scenic designation.
"Everybody is real concerned about raising Pardee," Wright said. "If they realize designation is the only tool we have to once and for all protect the river, they may be more open to it. It's the only logical solution. We're working on getting local officials behind it."
Public protests to EBMUD officials by hundreds of residents in the two counties got attention to the degree that the agency extended a public-comment period on the proposal, until May 4.
However, Sutter Creek City Council members recently backed off a proposed resolution calling on EBMUD to increase research into water-conservation methods in place of a new Pardee Dam. Councilman Pat Crosby advised caution and keeping an eye cocked toward the water future of western Amador County.
Amador Board of Supervisors Chairman and District 3 Supervisor Ted Novelli has a cautious approach toward wild-and-scenic.
"The river is 90 percent in my district," Novelli said. "I've been saying for two years that when people on both sides of the river come together and agree, I'll sign. We have private properties on the river. When those who own those lands say, 'Ted, this looks good,' I'll do it. Until then, I'm against it."
EBMUD proposes use of eminent domain to acquire private land that would be flooded.
District 5 Supervisor Brian Oneto has said riverbank landowners generally have no interest in supporting a wild-and-scenic designation. In a protected stretch, ranchers' grazing leases on adjacent BLM lands can be subject to more stringent monitoring. Easements can be required for public river access.
However, EBMUD proposes to acquire by condemnation if necessary all private land that would be flooded.
"In either scenario, you could see condemnation," Oneto said. "Is wild-and-scenic a tool here? A hammer, possibly."
In Calaveras, supervisors Merita Calloway and Steve Wilensky support federal protection for the Mokelumne, Wright noted, as does California's Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, various Amador Water Agency officials and scores of business people in the two counties.
"It's a river for everybody," Wright said. "It's not just the landowners' river."
He said he has counted a total of just five private owners on the Amador side of the disputed stretch. Wright said one of them spoke to Lungren April 8 seeking help against the EBMUD proposal.
The conservancy is seeking the designation for the north fork of the Mokelumne from Salt Springs Reservoir to Tiger Creek, and for the main stem between Tiger Creek and Highway 49.
EBMUD's proposal would flood the river some distance upstream of Highway 49, taking out a couple of popular public-access stretches well known to whitewater paddlers."