Friends of Gualala River Protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species living within it
the waterbag scheme
The three main categories of protest described below are:
Background:
- The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) must ensure that the appropriation serves a beneficial purpose that will best develop, conserve, and utilize the public interest.
- The SWRCB must consider any plan looking toward the control, protection, utilization, and conservation of the water resources of the State, specifically the California Water Plan, law, or legislative resolution.
- Additionally, the SWRCB must consider the relative benefit to be derived from all beneficial uses of the water, such as the use for domestic, irrigation, municipal, industrial, preservation and enhancement of fish and wildlife, recreational, mining and power purposes.
Examples of Grounds for Protests:
- Reduction of the tourism industry, the major economic activity in the region
- Degradation of the attractiveness of the region for new residents who can bring economic growth
- Negative impact on property values
- Reduced recreational fishing
- Further threats to commercial fishing
- Reinforces cumulative effects of prior impacts
- Visual impact of tug-and-bag operations
- Loss of recreation value while works are under construction
- Loss of recreation value while works are being maintained
- Potential loss of recreation value if the works are abandoned
- Conservation
- Recycling of treated wastewater
- Desalination
b. Environmental protest should identify specific impacts and provide supporting recitals on issues such as: plants, animals or fish affected, erosion, pollution, aesthetics, etc.
The following have been identified as rare plants. If you have knowledge of one or more of these species, and believe that the water bag scheme would affect it, please consider preparing a protest specific to that species.
- Bolander’s reed grass (Calamagrostis bolanderi)
- Swamp harebell (Campanula californica)
- Sedge (Carex mendocinensis)
- White sedge (Carex albida)
- Mendocino coast Indian paintbrush (Castilleja mendocinensis)
- Supple daisy (Erigeron supplex)
- Point Reyes horkelia (Horkelia marinensis)
- Thin-lobed horkelia (Horkelia tenuiloba)
- Baker’s goldfields (Lasthenia macrantha ssp. bakeri)
- Perennial goldfields (Lasthenia macrantha ssp. macrantha)
- Coast lily (Lilium maritimum)
- Sonoma alopecurus (Alopecurus aequalis var. sonomensis)
- Humboldt milkvetch (Astragalus agnicidus)
- Baker’s larkspur (Delphinium bakeri)
- Kellogg’s buckwheat (Eriogonum kellogii)
- Roderick’s Fritillary (Fritillaria roderickii)
- Calystegia purpurata ssp. saxicola
- Purple-stemmed checkerbloom (Sidalcea malviflora ssp. purpurea)
The following have been identified as endangered or threatened species. If you have knowledge of one or more of these species, and believe that the water bag scheme would affect it, please consider preparing a protest specific to that species.
Birds
- marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus)
- northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina)
- Vaux’s swift (Chaetura vauxi)
- acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)
- purple martin (Progne subis)
Mammals
- Rodents
- Point Arena mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa nigra)
- California red tree vole (Arborimus pomo)
- Cetaceans
- Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus)
- Minke whale (Balenoptera acutorostrata)
- Blue whale (Balenoptera musculus)
- Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
- Carnivores
- Mustelids
- Pacific fisher (Martes pennanti pacifica)
- Pinnipeds
- Northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus)
- California sea lion (Zalophus californianus)
- Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina)
- Northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris)
[Note: all cetaceans and pinnipeds are federally protected marine mammals.]
- Mustelids
Amphibians
- Southern torrent salamander (Rhyacotriton variegates)
- Northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora)
- California red-legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii)
- Foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii)
- Tailed frog (Ascaphus truei)
Fish
- Tidewater goby (Eucylogobius newberryi)
- Steelhead: central California coast and northern California steelhead trout Evolutionarily Significant Unit (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
- Coho: central California coast and southern Oregon/northern California coasts coho salmon ESU (Oncorhynchus kisutch)
- Chinook: California coastal chinook salmon ESU (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
Crustaceans
- California freshwater shrimp (Syncaris pacifica)
The following marine scenarios would be disastrous:
- A tug going on the rocks along the bluff in winter conditions could spill massive amounts of diesel fuel and other pollutants that would foul the coast for many miles.
- A bag that broke loose (as one did in the eastern Mediterranean) and washed ashore might have disastrous effects on, for example, tide pools and their life forms. This is a threat along the coast from Albion to San Diego’s Point Loma.
- Increased turbidity and sedimentation due to construction and maintenance of the engineering works.
- The bed of the lower Gualala is too unstable to support a fixed-position intake structure, which would be alternately excavated or buried, depending on the variable positions and sizes of gravel / sand / silt bars and scour pools.
- The timing, size, and location of the tidal inlet is also too unstable to allow reliable water exports without fundamentally altering the salinity and water levels of the estuary.
- Change in beach aggradation due to construction and placement of pipeline.
- Earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault and other fault lines may lead to erosion because of frequent repairs of pipeline and intake structures (the North and South Forks of the Gualala River are directly in the San Andreas Fault).
- Sedimentation in the rivers
- Corrosion-induced pollution from the engineering works
- Visual pollution, including water bags, tugs, mooring stations with working and warning lights, and installation and maintenance of the embedded infrastructure
- Noise pollution from pumps, tugs and warning bells
- Leaks and spills from tugs and tenders
- Potential massive spills in case of an accident on a tug (e.g., if a tug runs aground)
- Bags clearly visible from Sonoma County Bluff Trail and northern bluff of Gualala.
- Tugs clearly visible from the bluffs and most of coastal Gualala
- Safety devices – lights, foghorns, etc. will be clearly visible / audible to many.
c. Public trust protests must identify the navigable waters to be affected and how the project will impact public trust values.
Background
- Under Public Trust Doctrine (see Toni Rizzo’s Article), navigable waterways are of high public value and private right of ownership of these properties should be limited. The Federal Supreme Court has said that Doctrine imposes specific obligations on the states.
- The State holds Public Trust properties as sovereign for the benefit of all citizens and limits the creation of private rights in public trust properties.
- The Albion and Gualala rivers are certified as navigable waterways subject to Public Trust Doctrine.
- International trade agreements under the World Trade Organization (WTO) will institutionalize privatization and remove regulation that protects our common resources and our health by means of supra-national regulations that are enforceable by secret trade tribunal.
- This is a precedent-setting application. The public could lose control of its water resources if the State grants Alaska Water Exports applications.
- The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), could affect this water if bulk water becomes a service under the GATS. If Alaska Water Exports gains title to the water, the State might be required to allow a corporation from another WTO member country access to an equal amount of water from the State or be fined for expropriating future profits.
- If Alaska Water Exports acquires the right to this water, it would only require an administrative change to transfer title to one of it’s partners. If this is done, the water then would fall under WTO provisions.
- WTO rules that could potentially apply include those under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) treaties. Under these rules, once the water is taken, local governments lose the right to restrict the taking of the water, regardless of environmental or social consequences if such a restriction could be deemed to deprive a company of its future profits.
- Conclusion: Giving Alaska Water Exports title to Albion and Gualala River water would violate the public trust by allowing the water to potentially fall under these WTO rules. Should this happen the state of California, local governments, and the public could lose control of this and other water sources in California. Once this happens, a precedent would be set and we would not be able to restrict the taking and selling of other waters in our State.
Protest Points
- The State Water Code designates the Albion and Gualala Rivers as “Protected.” Giving control of it to a corporation prevents local governments from protecting the rivers and their ecosystems.
- Giving Alaska Water Exports rights to Albion River and Gualala River water would violate the Public Trust by allowing the water to potentially fall under WTO rules.
- Under WTO rules, the State of California, local governments, and the public could lose control of this and other water sources in California.
- Once WTO rules apply to this case, a precedent would be set and the State would not be able to restrict the taking and selling of other waters in our State.
- If Alaska Water Exports acquires the right to this water, it would only require an administrative change to transfer title to one of its non-U.S. partners. If this were done, the water then would fall under World Trade Organization (WTO) provisions. It could be subject to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) treaties of the WTO. Under these rules, once the water is taken, local governments lose the right to restrict the taking of the water, regardless of environmental or social consequences if such a restriction could be deemed to deprive a company of its future profits.
Tips for Effective Protests:
- If you are not an expert, do not pretend to be one – but do not let that stop you from protesting AWE’s applications. Express your personal concerns and be specific. Your concerns may be the ones that tip the scales against the applications.
- Protest based on your personal experience – focus on the aspect of the AWE project that most disturbs you personally.
- Keep your protest simple and clear, so that your concerns come booming through.
