ANTIOCH — The overwhelming sentiment at a Wednesday summit was that corporate farming interests and careless federal oversight are threatening the survival of the Delta ecosystem.
A collection of local and congressional representatives along with about 150 residents, gathered in an Antioch community center room decorated with salmon-colored balloons and blowups of Delta photos to bring attention to the threat they say water deliveries to the south bring to Delta-dependent farming and fishing communities.
“People can steal billions of dollars of water and nobody cares,” said water attorney Dante Nomellini, who moderated the event. “You steal a six-pack of beer from 7-Eleven, and you”re allowed to be prosecuted.”
Rep. Mike Thompson, (D-St. Helena), sounded an oft-repeated call to base Delta policy on science, not politics.
“When science goes out the window, everything goes out the window,” said Thompson, co-chairman of the Wild Salmon Caucus. “They”re basically trying to steal water by expunging the need for science in the process,”
Delta activists have held two other summits about San Francisco Bay, but this was the first to bring in farmers as well as fishermen, according to organizers.
“Farmers and fishermen live parallel lives,” said attendee Duncan Maclean, a fisherman in Half Moon Bay. “They”re just as much stewards of the fish as we are.” A field representative for Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, insisted that the Delta holds national significance just like Chesapeake Bay or the Everglades, and should be treated as such.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, noted that 90 percent of Delta wetlands have been lost in the past century, and she called on the federal government to take action, Still, she said, both sides need to work to offer solutions.
