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I would ask the delegates from Santa Clara County to vote in favor of
this plank. It is the first step we have taken to move beyond
knee-jerk environmental protest and to start working on policy that
makes sense in the political arena. <br>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">Subject: </th>
<td>FW: [gpca-ptf] Presentation to the Plenary on the Water Plank
Proposal of the Platform</td>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">Date: </th>
<td>Wed, 7 Oct 2009 20:07:46 -0700</td>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">From: </th>
<td>Martin Zehr <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:m_zehr@hotmail.com"><m_zehr@hotmail.com></a></td>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">To: </th>
<td>Wes Rolley <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:wrolley@charter.net"><wrolley@charter.net></a></td>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">References: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:BAY131-W207D5740911CE20C6DCE1FF8CC0@phx.gbl"><BAY131-W207D5740911CE20C6DCE1FF8CC0@phx.gbl></a></td>
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<hr id="stopSpelling">From: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:m_zehr@hotmail.com">m_zehr@hotmail.com</a><br>
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gpca-ptf@cagreens.org">gpca-ptf@cagreens.org</a><br>
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 19:58:00 -0700<br>
Subject: [gpca-ptf] Presentation to the Plenary on the Water Plank
Proposal of the Platform<br>
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<p class="ecxMsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The
language of this Water Plank being presented to the plenary is not
simply a compilation of issues, demands and policies. This Plank
proposal seeks to establish the underlying political processes in the
state of California that will move us beyond the patchwork of actions
by the state of California through diversions, aqueducts, dams and
transfers. We seek to build an environmentally based system for
political representation. We seek to focus on the active engagement of
local stakeholders, the science and the environment in the decisions of
water. We seek to link the diverse concerns that involve water into
common processes of decision-making where those who are impacted the
most by decisions have the most say in making the decisions.</font></p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The state
of California and the people of California need to make many difficult
choices in the years ahead, more difficult then ever before in the
context of the impact of climate change on water supply.<span> </span>Decisions
need to be made; priorities do need to be established. Consensus does
need to be reached in regards to numerous aspects of water that range
from monitoring and measurement to urban and rural conservation to
efficient uses and re-uses of water to new sources for supply to
reduction of evaporation losses to water quality concerns to ecological
restoration. Parceling these issues into separate bureaucracies leads
to bureaucracies that are removed from those impacted by the decisions.
It dissects regional matters and apportions them to a multitude of
agencies and obscures the “how” and the “why” of decisions. And it
removes those impacted the most from the decision-making processes.</font></p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">In the
context of a political party, it is right and appropriate that the
Green Party of California begins to mold its Platform Plank on water
around regional planning processes. For too long state legislators and
powerful interests, have been making the decisions. State
administration of water is simply to move it through massive public
expenditures to cities and agribusinesses without regional users having
any say. We’ve seen it in the past: Owens Lake and the Hetch-Hetchy
were tapped for Los Angeles and San Francisco. And soon the Delta may
be subjected to massive transfers for the Central Valley. </font></p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Past
practices are poor models for future allocations for water. We know
already the impact of subsidence when groundwater is pumped for
agricultural use with no monitoring in the San Joaquin Valley. This
agricultural water use resulted in one of the largest human alterations
of the Earth's surface. We know that lakes and reservoirs run dry in
droughts and when their waters are diverted. Owens Lake is our own
version of the Aral Sea. The upstream waters of the Colorado continue
to evaporate in Lake Mead and Lake Powell and the in-stream flows from
the snow packs diminish. Our Platform needs to focus on political
alternatives to address new conditions. The old ones simply don’t work.</font></p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">A Green
Water Plank for California needs, on the one hand, to promote a sound
decision-making process that assures grassroots democracy while
representing the needs and concerns of our voters and supporters in
defining and supporting legislation to implement our state Green Party
Platform. Structural reforms in our political entities are a
fundamental focus in accomplishing both goals. Population increases,
increased agricultural land use, dedicated surface water inflow
increases, aquifer depletions and salt water intrusions in our
estuaries pose challenges that simply cannot be addressed through
political machinations in the State Legislature. </font></p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">A Water
Plank for the Green Party of California needs to create a vision for
reform. It needs to include the concerns of state residents. It needs
to advocate for real solutions. Our candidates, voters and supporters
need to see a clear blueprint from which the ideas can become the
reality. We need to reach out to urban users, farmers, urban planners,
rural communities, students and youth in a way that they can find their
own role. Leadership will come from those whom we are able to motivate
through our work and the alternative that is the Green Party. <span> </span>The
Earth is the model for the Green Party. The water is its life force.
Its people are its creative force. </font></p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I ask for
this Plenary to support this Plank and approve it. I ask for county
representatives to take it back and use it in their campaigns and
issues work. It is not its words that will decide what happens. It will
be our willingness to grasp the lessons of the past and our willingness
to move forward to the future. </font></p>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="80">--
"Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better and you don't, then you are wasting your time on this Earth" Roberto Clemente
Wes Rolley
17211 Quail Court, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.refpub.com/">http://www.refpub.com/</a> -- Tel: 408.778.3024</pre>
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