EDF Joins Governor Schwarzenegger for Historic Water Legislation Bill Signing

For Immediate Release

Contacts:

Laura Harnish, EDF California Regional Director, lharnish@edf.org, (510) 290-5794
Cynthia Koehler, EDF Senior Consulting Attorney, ckoehler@edf.org, (415) 515-0511
Jennifer Witherspoon, EDF California Communications Director, jwitherspoon@edf.org,
(415) 378-1985

EDF Joins Governor Schwarzenegger for Historic Water Legislation Bill Signing

Group calls the ‘Delta Governance’ bill vital for path forward for ecosystem recovery

(Sacramento, CA – November 12, 2009) Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) joined Governor Schwarzenegger today as he signed SB x 1 (Simitian, Palo Alto), the “Delta governance” bill, into law. “This is a really proud moment for the Environmental Defense Fund,” said EDF Regional Director Laura Harnish. “For over a year we have worked closely with legislative leaders, such as Darrell Steinberg, Jared Huffman, Fran Pavley and Joe Simitian, and with the Governor’s office and numerous stakeholders, to secure assurances for ecosystem protections through this legislation.”

“This bill represents a path forward for our endangered salmon and beleaguered Delta Estuary,” said Cynthia Koehler, EDF’s senior consulting attorney, who helped to negotiate the environmental safeguards in the legislation. “The State Water Resources Control Board is now required to determine the freshwater flow needs of salmon and all of the other public trust resources of the Bay-Delta; this is no longer a determination that will be left primarily in the hands of those who export water from the estuary.”

The new law has something that environmentalists have sought for decades: requiring the State Water Resources Control Board to do a public trust analysis, within nine months, of how much water is required to restore the Delta, a mandate the State Board has never had before. This will be an important data set for the upcoming Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The legislation does not authorize a peripheral canal, as some have suggested, but instead requires new oversight of the BDCP process to ensure that it complies with highest recovery standards for species by restoring the ecosystems they depend upon as required by the Natural Communities Conservation Act.

“It should be made crystal clear to everyone that this bill does not authorize a canal or any other facility,” said Laura Harnish. “Any new water infrastructure must now be tied to guarantees of ecosystem recovery and long-term sustainability.”

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Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org or blogs.edf.org/waterfront/.