Dear Editor,

On March 10, 2010 I wrote a Letter to the Editor disagreeing with Mr. Allen Short’s views on the effects striped bass have on the salmon population in Northern California. In this letter I included facts that I obtained from the Department of Fish and Game’s web site. Last week the DFG did not bend under the pressure from large agribusiness groups and the irrigation districts that supply them to essentially wipe out the striper population. Commissioners voted last Thursday not to increase daily quotas or decrease size limits for striped bass in the Delta. It appears the DFG did not accept the lack of scientific evidence and untruths that were supplied by the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta. This is not just a victory for the businesses, family farmers, and fishermen all around the delta. It is also a victory for every Californian who cares about the life of the delta.

We now must all work together to stop the construction of the peripheral canal, or water conveyance system as they like to call it now. This system is again backed by the very large agribusinesses from southern California and will cost us taxpayers thirteen billion dollars. The plan is to build a canal or tunnel that will divert massive amounts of water around the delta from north of Sacramento, to the pumps, then down to cotton fields, citrus orchards, and swimming pools in the south. They want to do this without allowing the people of California to vote on it as well, thirty years after the people voted down the first peripheral canal. It is estimated that this system will send thirteen times as much water south as the pumps send now.

We can’t let this happen. Please help us stop this by contacting your Representatives and letting them know you are against this killing of our delta.

Bill Golden