CALL YOUR STATE ASSEMBLYMAN AND SENATOR. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD WITH THE DECISION MAKERS. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/memberinfo

San Luis, huh? That seems odd, as the Delta already has mussels. Let's start to peel back the onion a bit with some facts.

1. There is a negative cost associated with zebra mussels.
Water Delivery - municipal, agricultural, sewage treatment, etc. These systems are significantly affected by larvae that is pumped into the facilities. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_mussel
Environmental - in the arid west, the water has a hard time dealing with these filter feeders that disrupt the ecosystem.

OK. The state wants to avoid these costs. Fine. There is SOME VALIDITY to trying to prevent infestation of Tahoe, Clear Lake, and Santa Clara County. This saves taxpayer dollars that would be spent to mitigate the mussel's infestation of water delivery systems.

But San Luis? WTF? What has greater value, taxpayer funds saved by eliminating mussels from pumps, treatment facilities, etc. OR the wholesale DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF FISHERMEN? What if fishermen lost interest in the Delta? What is the last barrier to a peripheral canal? The fragile Delta ecosystem salmon, sturgeon, steelhead, smelt, Sacramento splittail, stripers, largemouth bass, etc. That's what.

What else has been pushed through the state government by billionaire business men and complicit politicians? The wholesale destruction of the Delta ecosystem trough water diversion... slowly at first. But now that the Delta's on its knees, they're going for the death blow. The public is sold "water reliability" and a "conservation plan" these are nothing more than a re-branded water heist known as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. This is a misnomer that has NOTHING to do with conservation and EVERYTHING to do with short term profit at the ecosystem's expense.

This team of business men and politicians have created a dialogue, a drum beat, a march toward the final payoff... a concrete pipeline diverting the Sacramento River water to Tracy (the Bay Delta Conservation Plan); treating the Delta as a water fixture for a few power brokers in the San Joaquin Valley. This project would be a god dam--d orgy of short term economic activity at the expense of the taxpayers and environment. The public would be sold short term benefit with no mention of the long term disaster in the form of ecosystem genocide, decades of problems, taxpayer abuse, and cost overruns.

Who should be disenfranchised first? The fishermen and businesses that depend on the ecosystem for their livelihoods. How is this accomplished? Regulations that favor those businesses that profit at the ecosystem's expense AND regulations that disenfranchise fishermen such as, mussel inspections, closure of state parks, and shortened seasons DUE TO THESE POOR REGULATIONS.

Who's next to be disenfranchised? The Delta communities. Last? Delta Farmers.

An organized trio of fishermen, Delta communities, and Delta farmer with a unified voice would present a formidable opponent to the supporters of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan!!!!!

California's water is a public resource. PLEASE CALL YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVES and tell them how you feel about the Mussel Inspections, State Park Closures, Poor Regulation that Shortens your Salmon Season, and the piss-poor Bay Delta Conservation Plan.

If we don't speak up now, who will defend the Delta?

I've had no time to fish, but needed this rant.

Mike F