McNerney opposes peripheral canal by any other name

Central Valley congressman Jerry McNerney is urging one of President-elect Obama’s appointees to oppose a new attempt at a peripheral canal to siphon freshwater from the Delta to Southern California.

He makes his plea in a letter to Nancy Sutley, who has been picked to head the powerful Council on Environmental Quality.

The letter encourages Ms. Sutley to advocate for returning the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to health without the establishment of what is now being dubbed an “alternative conveyance.”

Ms. Sutley has served on the board of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District, one of the biggest users of Delta water.

The congressman says such an “alternative conveyance” would destroy the largest estuary on the West Coast.

“I am concerned that a conveyance system to divert water around the estuary, in any form, will destroy the Delta ecosystem and with it the agriculture and commerce, including the nation’s second largest inland port [Stockton], the region supports,” Mr. McNerney’s letter says.

In earlier roles, Ms. Sutley has been critical of Central Valley irrigation projects as well as the federal Bureau of Reclamation that runs the massive Central Valley Project.

She was a member of the California Water Resources Control Board between 2003 and 2005, which wrestles with ongoing Central Valley water disputes.