The California Peripheral Canal
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The California Peripheral Canal: who backed it, who fought it Powerful pro- and anti- Douglas Gwynn 0 Orville E.Thompson 0 Kathleen L‘Ecluse canal alliances formed in this battle over water Thebattle over Proposition 9, the Pe- water and uses 85 percent of all water accounted for the majority of funds ripheral Canal referendum, is over. But supplies in the state. Both the Central spent in the battle over Proposition 9. who actually won and lost the fight is Valley Project and the State Water Pro- The dissention within agriculture re- not so clear. ject were developed to transport water sulted from a multiplicity of causes, all Proposition 9 on the June 8, 1982, south and ease this dependence. The interrelated and interactive. But five ballot would have allowed the construc- San Joaquin Valley region of Kern issues emerge as the major reasons for tion of a canal and other water facilities County is particularly dependent on im- these splits. to divert water from northern California ported state water. Increased overdraft Propostion 9 included provisions for rivers around the Sacramento-San Joa- of groundwater in recent years has led the protection of water quality in the quin Delta into the California State Wa- to this need. Delta and prevention of further state ter Project feeding southern California. Farmers in the San Joaquin Valley as a development of North Coast rivers. Ac- Numerous interest groups were in- whole mine nearly 1.5 million acre-feet cording to statements reported by the volved in financing the campaigns on (489 billion gallons) each year. Ground- press, some large agricultural interests, both sides of the issue. water accounts for 40 percent of the such as the J. G. Boswell Company and The major participants included large water used by agriculture during dry the Salyer Land Company, felt that farming interests and multinational oil years in this area. In the drought of these provisions were too restrictive. corporations a well as large southern- 1977, it accounted for up to 80 percent of They donated large amounts of money based industrial firms, utility com- the water used (according to California to the anti-canal campaign, not because panies, financial institutions, retail Water Atlas, California State Office of they were anti-canal but because they businesses, and food processing organi- Planning and Research, Sacramento, were against these environmental con- zations. Even recreation-based enter- 1978). Since the 1920s, land has sunk as trols. prises such as Walt Disney, Sea World, much as 28 feet in selected places, al- Some farmers in the Sacramento/San Pacific Drive-In Theaters, TraveLodge, though this, as an extreme example, Joaquin Delta benefit from the cost-free, Atlas Hotels, and Vagabond Hotels took would not be typical (California’s fresh water that now flows by their part. Groundwater, Bulletin 118, State De- land. A Peripheral Canal would have Analysis of the contributions that partment of Water Resources, Sacra- removed most of this water, which also these and other groups made suggests mento, 1975). would have been controlled by a state not only what interests are presently In 1981, 62.4 percent of State Water agency. Delta farmers feared that this strong enough to influence public deci- Project deliveries were made to San would increase salinity problems, sion-making, but also what new inter- Joaquin water districts. The Peripheral should a disproportionate amount of ests are emerging that may determine Canal, a 43-mile, 500-foot-wide unlined water be shipped south instead of being the direction of the future develop- channel, would have increased the ca- used to flush the Delta. Proponents of ments of California water resources. We pacity of the water project system and the canal, such as the California Depart- believe that research of this sort is es- improved the quality of the water deliv- ment of Water Resources, claimed that sential for public understanding and in- ered. It is not surprising, therefore, that the canal would allow for a more effi- formal participation in trends affecting most Kern County farmers supported cient flushing action through controlled their lives. A primary source of data for development of such a canal. outlets. this study was reports filed within spe- Other agricultural interests, such as Some landowners opposed the Pe- cific time intervals with the Division of the J. G. Boswell Company and the Sal- ripheral Canal because the planned Political Reform Office of the Secretary yer Land Company, two of California’s route divided their land. The canal of State of California. Key-informant in- largest farming corporations, opposed would have crossed secondary high- terviews, an examination of major the canal. Major farm organizations, ways at five points and light-duty or newspaper clipping files, and a review such as the Farm Bureau Federation, unimproved roads at approximately 35 of over 700 publications related to the the Grange, and the Cattlemen’s Associ- points. Farmers would have had some social aspects of this issue were also ation, also declared publicly that they difficulty in transporting large equip- made. opposed the canal early in the cam- ment to points of crossing, which were The groups involved in the battle can paign. These actions created dissention tentatively placed at five-mile intervals. be divided into two general interest within these organizations and within Much of the disagreement became a areas, agricultural and nonagricultural. agriculture in general, and raised ques- tug-of-war between Kern County and Even this distinction has its grey areas, tions about the real interests of agricul- northern California farming interests since many large companies own both ture. for future water supplies. Kern County farms and housing developments and The disagreement did not prevent an farmers wanted water both to supple- industries. opening of pocketbooks, however. Half ment their decreasing groundwater sup- of the 17 largest California farm opera- ply and to develop new farmlands. Agricultural interests tors contributed from $5,000 to approxi- Some northern agricultural interests not The number one industry in Califor- mately $I,OOO,OOO to the Peripheral Ca- only did not want this water taken away nia - agriculture - is dependent on nal campaign. These donations from them, but also did not like the 22 CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE, JANUARY-FEBRUARY I983 TABLE 1. Contributions of $1,000 or more for or against the Peripheral TABLE 2. Donors by size of contribution for and against the Peripheral Canal by economic sector’ Canal’ Fort Againstt Percentaae land number) of donors Percent Percent Percent Percent Size of contributionst For Against Sector donors donated donors donated $ Manufacturing/industrial 41.1% 14.9% 4.1% 0.5% 100-500 67.5% 80.9% (492) (1,014) (74) (374) (3) (14) Farming 17.4 58.9 94.3 501 -1,000 (436) (43) (2.686) Land development/ 1,001 -5,000 real estate 19.7 19.2 2.4 (493) (14) (67) 5,001-10,000 Utilities 5.2 2.7 0.1 (131) (2) (3) 10,001-20,000 Oil/natural resources 35.6 0 0 (891) 20,001 -30,000 Banks/financial institutions 2.7 12.3 2.7 (67) (9) (77) 30,001 -40,000 0.7 Food processing 1.8 0 0 (5) (46) 40,001 -50,000 0.4 Retail 1.6 2.7 0.1 (3) (40) (2) (2) Over 50,000 1.o Entertainment 1.o 0 0 (7) (25) TOTAL 100.1 0% 100.1% (729) (1,254) TOTAL 99.9% (73) ‘Information was taken from records on political action committees and major donors by the Division of Political Reform in the Office of the Secretary of State. State of California. ~~ ‘Compiled from reports filed with the Division of Political Reform. Office of the Secretary Figures were corrected for inflation due to cross contributions between political action of State of the State of California. Contributions of $1.000 or more were counted to committees. Nonmonetarv contributionswere also added accordina to their estimated estimate the relative importance of each sector in this campaign. Total percentages do value in dollars. not always equal exactly 100 percent because of founding. tOnly contributionsover $100 are reported, since the Political Reform Act of 1974 does tThe number of donors and amount of money spent (in thousands of dollars) are given in not require smaller amounts to be itemized. raw numbers as shown within the brackets. provision that prohibited development cording to these groups, adding environ- Company, and Fluor, Inc. (according to of North Coast rivers as suppliers of mental safeguards to a project that is G. Baker, “Powerful Groups Battle Over water. itself environmentally unsound is a Peripheral Canal Bill,” Sacramento Bee, The division in agriculture exempli- mistake. A minority of the environmen- March 18,1981). These companies make fied the north/south division in the talists supported the proposition, be- up a large proportion of the major do- state. This can be illustrated by the split cause they assumed it was the best nors who supported the Peripheral Ca- within farming organizations, such as environmental deal they were going to nal campaign. the Farm Bureau Federation and the get. The California Department of Water Grange. The small amount of money Over 1,000 public and private agen- Resources and the California Depart- these groups donated to either side may cies administer the water resources of ment of Fish and Game were other gov- be attributed to this split. A 1982 poll by California. These include both federal ernment agencies active in supporting the Field Institute also showed that the and state agencies and also municipal the canal. In contrast, the U.S Fish and public tended to perceive this issue de- water departments operated by such Wildlife Service, the federal counter- pending on where they lived.