Steady flow of conflicting views marks Delta debate in Davis.

Sacramento Bee-1/27/10

By Matt Weiser

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is a complex, bewildering place.

It's even more vexing if you're trying to figure out how the Delta environment works.

A federal science panel continued to wrestle with that Tuesday, its third and final day of public meetings in Davis. Its task was complicated by conflicting information received from a roster of participants.

Greg Gartrell, assistant general manager of the Contra Costa Water District, joked at the start of his presentation about those conflicts.

"I'm the only one in this lineup who isn't suing or being sued by someone else in the room," he said.

Such conflicts emphasize the high stakes that mark the protracted debate over the Delta's future.

Whatever this panel decides in two reports - one in March and a second 18 months later - is likely to become fodder for more conflict.

The 15-member panel appointed by the National Academy of Sciences must analyze federal rules protecting imperiled fish, including Delta smelt and two species of salmon.

Water agencies in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California don't like current rules because they focus largely on reducing Delta water diversions.

Peter Moyle, a fisheries biologist at the University of California, Davis, told the panel that diversions are the primary threat.

 
"Other stressors" that water agencies often complain about, he said, are caused by water diversions, including invasive species and poor water quality.

"Unfortunately the bottom line is, we've got to reduce the amount of water we export from the system," Moyle said.

The decline in Delta fish began in about 2001. Scientists fear it marks a collapse of the whole ecosystem that may ultimately affect human health.

Pinpointing the cause has been difficult, despite a huge effort by hundreds of scientists, because of the Delta's size and complexity.

Scott Hamilton, an economist, focused his presentation to the panel on fall freshwater flows to the ocean.

Wildlife agencies ordered fall outflows increased to improve fish habitat. This has the side effect of reducing Delta water exports.

Hamilton presented data that suggested more fall flows would harm smelt.

He spoke on behalf of the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, where most of the officers work for Paramount Farms, the San Joaquin Valley farming enterprise owned by billionaire Stewart Resnick.

It was Resnick who asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein to request the Academy review.

Hamilton also works for Resnick as resource manager at Paramount Farms.

"We are not advocating or recommending any set of measures that are presented here," Hamilton said.

Another presenter, Richard Deriso, analyzed Delta smelt population and survival data and told the panel that methods used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are "flawed."

Deriso is chief scientist at the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. He didn't say his analysis was done for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Chris Carr, a partner at the law firm Morrison & Foerster, said his firm asked Deriso to do the analysis. Carr is chief counsel for Metropolitan in a lawsuit against the federal smelt protections.

Bill Bennett, a UC Davis fisheries ecologist and a leading expert on the smelt, shook his head as he sat in the audience during Deriso's presentation.

"Some of them really believe what they find, but they don't know the ecological processes," Bennett said after the meeting. "All they're really doing is just trying to obsfuscate the issue."#

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