2011-02-10 "EPA Launches Investigation into Toxins Impacting Bay-Delta Fish" by Dan Bacher from "Indy Bay" newswire [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/02/10/18671744.php]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on February 10 took action on an "Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR)" seeking public input on the effectiveness of current water quality programs influencing the health of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary.
Three things stand out in the agency's announcement, in consonance with the Obama's administration's support of a peripheral canal/tunnel, an environmentally destructive project that even the Bush administration didn't officially endorse.
First, rather than looking at the Delta primarily as an estuary that has traditionally supported salmon, Delta smelt and dozens of other fish populations, as well as farms and local economies, the EPA looks at the Delta as primarily a source of tap and irrigation water that just happens to be an estuary.
“The Bay Delta is a major source of our tap water and the water used to grow our food,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest.
Second, the EPA refuses to discuss the primary role that water exports from the Delta through state and federal pumps have played in the ecosystem's precipitous decline in recent years.
"No single factor is responsible for the decline of the Bay Delta’s health," the EPA claims. "The present condition of the estuary reflects the cumulative and interactive effects of multiple factors, including water pollution, invasive species, water diversion and habitat degradation. Impacts associated with these stressors include toxicity to fish, invertebrates and their food sources, developmental deformities, and reproductive problems."
Of course, there are many factors that impact fish in the Delta. Water pollution by municipal, industrial and agricultural users and land developers in Central Valley rivers is an enormous issue that the state and federal governments have failed to properly address. In fact, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board, at the direction of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, gave agribusiness virtual permits to pollute by granting irrigators waivers to state water pollution laws in 2006.
However, the EPA only mentions the generic term "water diversions," never pinpointing the major role that the operation of state and federal Delta pumping operations in the collapse of Delta fish and Central Valley salmon populations, as documented by Frank Fisher, former DFG biologist, and numerous other scientists over the decades.
Exports from the Delta increase the peril to Central Valley salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other collapsing fish populations posed by other factors, including toxins, invasive species, water pollution and upstream diversions. For example, when more water is exported, the concentrations of pollutants are increased in water entering the estuary and increasingly saline conditions cause a boom in invasive clams and other invasive species.
Third, Deputy Secretary of the Interior, David J. Hayes, in welcoming the EPA’s action, reiterated the committment of the Obama administration to move forward with the widely-contested Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build a peripheral canal/tunnel under the false "co-equal goals" of water supply and ecosystem restoration.
“EPA’s attention to a variety of water quality stressors and the role they play is an important complement to the science-based analysis that is going into the Bay Delta Conservation Plan effort," claimed Hayes. “The Administration is committed to working together across our agencies to use the best science to meet the twin goals that California has adopted for the Bay Delta in its comprehensive new water legislation: a more reliable water supply and a restored and enhanced ecosystem – including improved water quality."
What Hayes failed to mention is that it was precisely the "co-equal goals" of water supply and ecosystem restoration that guided the failed Cal-Fed process, a joint state-federal government boondoggle that wasted hundreds of millions of dollars while driving Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations to the brink of extinction.
The state and federal agency leaders fail to recognize that California water resources are already overallocated - and that to restore Sacramento River salmon and Delta pelagic (open water) fish species, increasing water conservation must be practiced, drainage impaired land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley must be taken out of production and environmentally sustainable water desalinization facilities must be developed to supply coastal cities with their water needs.
In addition, fish passage must be provided over Central Valley dams. The federal government must support the plan by the Winnemem Wintu Tribe to reintroduce winter run chinook salmon to the McCloud River above Shasta Dam, using the eggs of winter run chinook salmon from the McCloud now thriving in the Rakaira and other rivers in New Zealand.
The ANPR will be published to the Federal Register within one week. The EPA encourages interested parties to read the ANPR and provide additional information and suggestions for actions to improve Bay Delta Estuary water quality and aquatic resource protection. I urge everybody concerned about the fate of the Bay-Delta Estuary and its collapsing fish populations to make their voices heard!
Comments can be submitted electronically at the Federal Rulemaking Portal (http://www.regulations.gov/) identified by docket EPA-R09-OW-210-0976 or in hardcopy addressed to Erin Foresman, US Environmental Protection Agency, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.
For more information, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/watershed/sfbay-delta or http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/watershed/sfbay-delta/anpr.html
Below is the full EPA news release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 10, 2011
Media Contacts: See below
U.S. EPA Launches Investigation into Toxins and Stressors Impacting Fish in the Bay Delta
SAN FRANCISCO –The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will today take action on an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) seeking public input on the effectiveness of current water quality programs influencing the health of the San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary.
The ANPR identifies pivotal water quality issues affecting Bay Delta fisheries, describes regulatory measures currently underway, and initiates an information-gathering process on how the EPA and the State of California can achieve water quality and aquatic resource protection goals in one of the West Coast’s most ecologically diverse and important aquatic habitats.
The Bay Delta is the hub of California’s water distribution system, providing drinking water to 25 million people, sustaining irrigation for 4 million acres of farmland, and supporting 750 different species of plants, fish, and wildlife, several of which are endangered or threatened. The water quality of the Bay Delta Estuary and many of its tributaries is impaired, the estuarine habitat is shrinking and many fish populations are at all-time lows.
“The Bay Delta is a major source of our tap water and the water used to grow our food,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “EPA is committed to tackling the pollution degrading the Delta, which is threatened by contaminants from sewage, pesticides, and a host of other chemicals.”
No single factor is responsible for the decline of the Bay Delta’s health. The present condition of the estuary reflects the cumulative and interactive effects of multiple factors, including water pollution, invasive species, water diversion and habitat degradation. Impacts associated with these stressors include toxicity to fish, invertebrates and their food sources, developmental deformities, and reproductive problems.
This ANPR is part of a comprehensive set of commitments made by the Obama Administration to address California water issues under the Interim Federal Action Plan released in December 2009. Through this plan, the Administration has promoted water conservation and efficiency improvements throughout California, dedicated more than $40 million to drought relief projects, and made historic investments in modernizing California’s water infrastructure.
“Communities rely on their water resources to supply clean water, sustain their environment, and support vital economic activities,” said Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “Identifying the water quality challenges in the Bay Delta is key to addressing the delta’s complex and long-standing water problems and ensuring healthy communities and economies in California.”
In its ANPR, EPA notes that it will be coordinating its review of water quality issues with the on-going development of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, which currently is being developed through a collaboration of federal, state and local agencies, environmental organizations, and other interested parties.
Deputy Secretary of the Interior, David J. Hayes, who has been helping to lead the BDCP effort for the federal agencies, welcomed EPA’s action, noting that “EPA’s attention to a variety of water quality stressors and the role they play is an important complement to the science-based analysis that is going into the Bay Delta Conservation Plan effort.”
He continued: “The Administration is committed to working together across our agencies to use the best science to meet the twin goals that California has adopted for the Bay Delta in its comprehensive new water legislation: a more reliable water supply and a restored and enhanced ecosystem – including improved water quality.”
In addition to protecting aquatic species’ habitat, the federal Clean Water Act charges EPA with protecting water quality for a variety of uses that are not addressed in this ANPR, including water for drinking and agriculture. Water quality standards are established under the Clean Water Act to protect public health, welfare, and the protection and propagation of fish, shell fish, and wildlife.
The ANPR identifies specific issues for which the EPA has regulatory responsibility and solicits comment on topics, such as potential site-specific water quality standards and site-specific changes to pesticide regulation. Summaries describing environmental stressors and the regulatory framework necessary to address them are also included in the ANPR.
California’s State and Regional Water Boards have the lead role under the federal Clean Water Act to protect water quality; they are actively engaged in multiple efforts, including establishing numeric water quality criteria and developing and implementing watershed improvement plans. The recovery of the Bay Delta reflects national efforts to ensure higher water quality, protect public health, and support essential fish, shell fish, and wildlife populations.
The EPA, in collaboration with the State Water Resource Control Board and the Regional Water Quality Control Board, seeks to protect the biological, physical, and chemical integrity of the Bay Delta and its aquatic resources. Public input and scientific findings obtained from the ANPR will be reviewed and used to develop a strategic proposal for future EPA efforts toward protecting the Bay Delta and other important waterways.
The ANPR solicits public input on how EPA and the State of California can achieve water quality and aquatic resource protection goals in the Bay Delta Estuary and how to best use Clean Water Act programs to improve Delta water quality. No new rules are proposed in the ANPR and the ANPR has no regulatory effect.
The ANPR will be published to the Federal Register within one week. EPA encourages interested parties to read the ANPR and provide additional information and suggestions for actions to improve Bay Delta Estuary water quality and aquatic resource protection. Comments can be submitted electronically at the Federal Rulemaking Portal (http://www.regulations.gov/) identified by docket EPA-R09-OW-210-0976 or in hardcopy addressed to Erin Foresman, US Environmental Protection Agency, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.
For more information, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/watershed/sfbay-delta or http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/watershed/sfbay-delta/anpr.html

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Mary Simms, Press Officer, U.S. EPA, (415) 947-4270, simms.mary [at] epa.gov
Yoshiko Hill, Public Affairs Intern, U.S. EPA, (415) 947-4308, hill.yoshiko [at] epa.gov