This time for sure

The California state senate voted yesterday to disband the California Bay-Delta Authority, according to the SF Chronicle.

The [California Bay-Delta Authority] includes representatives from six state and six federal agencies and had been charged with implementing the California-Federal Bay-Delta Program to repair the delta.

The authority was created by a joint agreement between the state and federal governments in 2000 as the governing body for Cal-Fed as part of an effort that began several years before to end infighting between government agencies and interest groups representing farmers, fishermen, cities and environmentalists. It has been plagued ever since by bureaucratic disagreements over funding and priorities.

An investigation last year by the Associated Press found that most of the almost $5 billion that has been spent on the Cal-Fed program has gone to projects hundreds of miles from the delta.

The vote evidently caught Dianne Feinstein off guard:

“I’m surprised by this,” Feinstein said. “I do not understand the rationale.”

Although legislators are looking now to the Delta Vision task force, it’s hard to remember the hope and hoopla that accompanied Cal-Fed way back when and not feel a bit hopeless. Of course, the alternative is a much deeper hopelessness, I guess.