Friday, February 14 will be a busy day for opponents of the peripheral tunnels when they will go to Fresno to call on President Barack Obama to withdraw support for Governor Jerry Brown's Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build the peripheral tunnels.
Restore the Delta (RTD), a coalition opposing the fish-killing peripheral tunnels, announced today they will hold a Fresno news conference on Friday, Feb. 14, as President Obama arrives, to call upon him to not support the tunnels, to let federal scientists do their job without political interference, and to offer better policies for a sustainable water future. The conference will take place at 9:30 am on Friday, at the Holiday Inn Fresno Airport, 5090 E. Clinton Way, Fresno - Kings Canyon Room.
Then at 1:30 pm Delta residents will line the streets at Peach & McKinley across from the airport for a rally. Speakers will feature Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, Delta farmer Lynn Miller, and Rogene Reynolds.
“President Obama should not be misled that the peripheral tunnels are of any value in meeting California’s water challenges, and we implore him not to support this boondoggle that benefits mainly a handful of unsustainable mega-growers,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla.
“The President needs to know where our water is going in order to decide whether to spend billions to continue feeding water buffaloes, or to change direction. Some use the current water scarcity to push the Peripheral Tunnels, but that is the wrong answer. We ask the president to meet not just with Westlands Water District, but to meet with Delta farmers and community leaders as well,” she stated.
California is an unprecedented drought - and the massive tunnels would not yield one single drop of new water. The construction of the tunnels would hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other species, as well as imperil salmon and steelhead on the Trinity River, the largest tributary of the Klamath.
For more information, contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; cell 916/956-4592; steve@hopcraft.com; Twitter: @shopcraft; @MrSandHillCrane; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 barbara@restorethedelta.org; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta
Restore the Delta is a 15,000-member grassroots organization committed to making the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta fishable, swimmable, drinkable, and farmable to benefit all of California. Restore the Delta works to improve water quality so that fisheries and farming can thrive together again in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
www.restorethedelta.org