California Coastal Commission Rejects Zany Idea
to Ship Water from North to South in Giant Water Bags

Linda Perkins
Mendocino Wilderness Chair

Ric Davidge, a former Reagan Administration official, thought he had a million dollar idea. He proposed to take "extra" water from the Gualala and Albion Rivers in Mendocino County, put it in huge plastic bags as big as football fields, and tow them via tugboats down to thirsty San Diego for resale. By taking the water for free, he'd make millions. You can view photos of the Gualala and Albion Rivers on www.californiacoastline.org, photos #12104 and #11717, respectively.

On Friday, December 13, the Commission rained on Davidge's parade by voting unanimously to send objection letters to the State Water Board formally opposing the project. Following the vote, Davidge himself wrote to the Water Board to withdraw the project. Davidge claimed that an "emotional mobbing" had overtaken his erstwhile proposal. Commissioners and staff raised numerous and varied environmental concerns including, among others, impacts to salmon and other wildlife species, disturbance to ocean hard bottom and kelp beds, effects on whales and other marine mammals, altered river flows and temperatures, impaired views and compromised recreational resources.

Newly elected Commission Chair Mike Reilly, a Sonoma County Supervisor (the Gualala River straddles the Mendocino-Sonoma County line) said that he had received as many as 400 phone calls from citizens opposing the project. Numerous groups, including Friends of the Gualala River, Public Citizen, Public Trust Alliance, Alliance for Democracy, all opposed the project. In addition, Julie Verran, a longtime leader in Sierra Club's Northcoast Chapter and reporter for the Mendocino County Independent Coast Observer (ICO) continued her dedicated coverage of the issue. Since Verran first uncovered the project, the ICO has led the nation in coverage regarding the project.

(The preceding was written by Sierra Club attorney Mark Massara for CoastWatcher 12-02 and used with permission.)

Thanks to All

Assemblymember Patricia Wiggins who wrote the bill that made studies of fisheries impacts a prerequisite of the project; to Senator Wes Chesbro who continues to work with us on local aspects of water export; to Virginia Strom-Martin and her aide to the Joint Fisheries Committee, Mary Martin, for attending the Eel River Summit and giving keen attention to the issue; to the Sonoma County and Mendocino County Boards of Supervisors for taking immediate steps in opposition; to the Coastal Commission for their 12-0 vote to protest the project- and for their recognition of the danger posed by international trade agreements to their power to decide such matters in the future; to our deeply committed lawyer, Simeon Herskovits, from the Western Environmental Law Center; to Jane Kelly of Public Citizen for her organizational and outreach expertise; to Nancy Price of the Alliance for Democracy for making clear the connection of this project to public trust and international trade law; to Nadananda of Friends of the Eel River for featuring us as an important focus of her work over the last year; to the Friends of the Gualala for their amazing technical and organizational skills; to the Albion River residents for their endless devotion to the care of their community; and double thanks to all the people who took the time to fill out those pesky protest forms...because now that we've figured out how to do that...

It's Back to Work

As we were finishing up this article we learned that Ric Davidge, now operating as Aqueous International, is making a similar grab for water in the Mad River watershed in Humboldt County. Davidge now proposes to buy 20,000 acre feet annually from the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District and WaterBag it to Monterey or...San Diego!