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John Scott was recently appointed to the nine-member Butte County Water Commission. He'll take the seat of Mark Kimmelshue, who served on the commission for the past 16 years, including serving as commission chair. The decision was made at the most recent meeting of the Board of Supervisors, with supervisors Doug Teeter, Maureen Kirk and Bill Connelly voting for the change.

Scott has been a regular attendee of the meetings of the Water Commission and has championed the cause of groundwater protection for Butte Valley, near Butte College. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Butte Environmental Council since 2009: www.becnet.org/board-directors. Of the nine seats on the Water Commission, five are appointed by members of the Board of Supervisors. Four seats are "at large," including two that are filled by people who use groundwater. Scott will take over a four-year term for an "at large" groundwater position.

There’s an easier, cheaper, less destructive way to meet the state’s water needs This article was published on 02.07.13.

Most of the proposals Gov. Jerry Brown put forth in his State of the State speech Jan. 24 were welcomed by most of the lawmakers in his audience. Only one item ran into serious opposition in the hours and days following the speech: the proposal to construct two huge—and hugely expensive—35-mile-long “peripheral tunnels” under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to ship Northern California water south. Different entities—Bay Area water districts, environmentalists, Delta counties, fishing groups—have different reasons for opposing the tunnels. Residents of Northern California, those of us who live where the water is generated, fear that it will divert so much Sacramento River water south that farmers will be forced to use more and more groundwater for irrigation, sucking dry the Tuscan aquifer.

the cost-to-benefit ratio of the proposed tunnels makes no sense.

AquAlliance

The Butte Environmental Council of Chico has joined other groups to call for more science-based "policy before plumbing," explained Carol Perkins, BEC water policy advocate. More water conservation should take place, and better policies to put "beneficial use for people, farmers, fish and aquatic habitat before the economic benefits of the 1 percent," Perkins said.

North State water supplies under pressure as drought parches California

This article was published on 02.13.14.

A thousand feet beneath the city of Chico, in the pitch-black waters of the Tuscan Aquifer, time has proceeded for ages without sound or sunlight, mostly unaffected by the world above. But in recent years, an increasing tug of upward force has been moving the Tuscan Aquifer’s water toward the surface of the Earth—drawn, ultimately, by the thirst of fruit trees and vegetable fields hundreds of miles away.

OROVILLE >> No new oil or gas wells have been drilled in Butte County in more than two decades, and nobody has ever sought permission to conduct a "fracking" operation, but if anybody ever does ask it looks like the answer will be "no." Tuesday the Board of Supervisors voted to have county staff prepare an ordinance that bans fracking.

Documents prepared by county staff for Tuesday's meeting described fracking as "a common term for hydraulic fracturing that is a technique of well stimulation used to increase petroleum production,"

At request from the county's Water Commission, the supervisors were asked to adopt and ordinance that would require a conditional use permit before a fracking operation could take place within county jurisdiction. In introducing the proposal, Paul Gosselin, director of the county Department of Water and Resource Conservation, said the procedure "has raised controversy and concern about environmental impacts, water, and seismic activity."

A discussion about water issues, including statewide plans for groundwater sustainability, will be presented by the Butte Environmental Council tonight, 6-7:30 p.m. at the Chico Grange.The grange is located at 2775 Old Nord Ave. To get there, take East Avenue west toward the railroad tracks. Before crossing the tracks, take a right at Old Nord Avenue. Speakers include Debbie Davis, community and rural affairs adviser from Gov. Jerry Brown’s Office of Planning and Research. Marty Dunlap is local attorney and water issues mediator. Paul Gosselin in the executive director of the Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation.

CHICO, Calif. -

The Butte Environmental Council is giving away a couple small items to help easily tweak water conservation inside your home.First, they are offering a shower hourglass timer that you can suction cup to the side of your bathroom wall.

This times your shower to five minutes. The council said by shaving just four minutes off your shower, you save more than 3,500 gallons of water per year.They are also giving out a sink aerator. This reduces the flow of water, reducing the number of gallons per minute.

CHICO — Code Blue will be taking a road trip to the delta. People who follow water issues will meet at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Park and Ride on Highway 32 to carpool to the estuary. The trip is hosted by the Butte Environmental Council. For more information: http://www.becnet.org/code-blue-2013-water-outreach-campaign The trip is free, but the organizers would like people to sign up for planning purposes, nanibay@hotmail.com or (530) 891-6424.

Posted:   12/09/2013

SACRAMENTO -- The environmental reports for plans for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan were released Monday, beginning a new flurry of debate.

Locally, Barbara Vlamis of AquAlliance said her group and a coalition of environmental organizations have been watching the BDCP process closely. "One of the biggest things I have been hearing over and over again is that this thing doesn't look like it can fly," Vlamis said. She said it won't protect the species as indicated, the funding is uncertain and the source for the water is unknown.

Volunteer tree watering in Upper Bidwell Park: 8:15-11 a.m. Resources, including buckets, hose and water provided. Meet at North Rim Trail parking lot. Wear sturdy shoes and be able to carry a gallon of water from a truck to seedlings (5-10 yards). Butte Environmental Council planted 100 blue oak acorns last fall, and help watering is needed to assure their survival. For information or to schedule a group, Becky Holden, beckyh@becnet.org. Weekly through August.

“A spokesman for the Environmental Water Caucus took a few verbal swipes at the Bay Delta Conservation Project (BDCP) during a November 29 Public Meeting in Sacramento. Nick Di Croce, one of the facilitators for the Caucus, indicated that most of the environmental organizations that make up the Caucus are opposed to the proposed tunnels or any other peripheral conveyance intended to divert Sacramento River water under or around the Delta. He characterized BDCP as an “impending environmental and financial disaster whose costs and unsettled financing are going to bury the tunnel-oriented project.” He indicated that his organization has questioned the Interior Department and the California Resources Department on what the real costs of fixing the Delta are, who is really going to pay for the project, and where the water is going to come from. Their questions have not been answered. … “

The Butte Environmental Council has submitted comments on the California Department of Conservation’s proposed regulations for statewide hydraulic fracturing. BEC’s letter cites 10 points of concern with the presented regulations.More commonly referred to as “fracking,” hydraulic fracturing is an oil recovery process in which large amounts of water treated with chemicals are blasted deep into the ground, shattering shale rock and releasing oil and gas trapped underneath.

Fracking, used for decades around the country, has come under scrutiny from numerous environmental groups, including BEC, concerned with water supply and contamination.

BEC Executive Director Robyn DiFalco urges the public to get informed about fracking.“Many people don’t realize that fracking is taking place across California and even as close to home as the Sutter Buttes and Glenn County,” she said. “Those fracking wells are tapping oil below the Tuscan Aquifer, which could contaminate our primary source of drinking water.” 

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan backed by Gov. Jerry Brown’s office is almost too enormous to comprehend. But it’s far and away the most significant infrastructure project going, so we have to try.

Robyn DiFalco, executive director of the Butte Environmental Council, expressed a sentiment echoed by many water-conscious North State organizations and residents—that diverting water south through the proposed tunnels for mostly agricultural purposes in the San Joaquin Valley is in the best interest of that area’s farmers, but not for the rest of California.

“It’s just not good policy for the state to invest so much money on behalf of watering farms in a desert,” she said.

Carter, executive director of the Butte Environmental Council, and Cecil, executive director of the Butte County Farm Bureau, had asked the commission to allow their respective constituents a greater voice in governing local water resources.

BEC took the lead in a coalition of 15 groups and individuals seeking a water advisory committee representing environmentalists and private pumpers.

“I think we’re coming closer to having common ground on this issue and coming together as a county to defend groundwater users that aren’t represented by [an agency] and also those environmental concerns, those beneficial uses of our water in our county,” Carter said after the meeting.

Opponents react to Bay Delta Conservation Plan report

This article was published on 12.12.13.

Opponents of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, Gov. Jerry Brown’s push for two tunnels to funnel North State water south, were quick to react to the release of the plan’s environmental reports this week. A statewide group called Californians for a Fair Water Policy, whose membership includes the local water watchdogs AquAlliance and the Butte Environmental Council, has launched a statewide campaign opposing the plan.

CHICO — Music and nationally known speakers will kick off a west coast tour of California Community Rising Against Fracking during a free event Sunday at Arc Pavilion, 2040 Park Ave. Put on by Chico Community Rising Against Fracking and Butte Environmental Council, the event 2-6 p.m., is the start of a state tour that will end up in San Diego on Earth Day, according to Dave Garcia, a member of BEC. Tour locations are communities that are near the largest shale oil regions in the state, including San Francisco, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, he said.

Speakers will include: Doug Shields, former member of Pittsburgh, Penn., city council, featured in the film, "The Sky is Pink"; Shannon Biggs, director of Community Rights with Global Exchange, who will talk about community rights initiatives; Andrew Grinberg, Oil and Gas Program Coordinator of Clean Water Action, who will talk about water issues and new proposed state fracking regulations; Speakers from Chico Community Rising Against Fracking and BEC, on concerns of what local fracking for oil operations may cause to the surrounding agricultural economy. Also, there will be a showing of "The Sky is Pink," a film by Josh Fox as a follow-up to his Oscar-nominated "Gasland," about misinformation from the hydralic fracking industry.

Music by local band, Los Cabillitos de la Cancion, will start at 5 p.m. Robyn DiFalco, BEC's executive director, said the

Chico >> Butte Environmental Council will kick off its three-part Citizen Science Series Saturday with an On-Water Citizen Science Adventure. The council’s Watershed Program is partnering with the Forebay Aquatic Center and Outdoor Education for All to give a tour of the fall-run Chinook salmon in the Lower Feather River Watershed.

Last spring the Citizen Science Series highlighted the Big Chico Creek from the confluence of the Sacramento River to the forested spring headwaters. This fall series will feature other watersheds of Butte County, including an upcoming tour of Butte Creek Canyon.

The council’s Watershed Program seeks to protect and enhance the ecological integrity of watersheds throughout Butte County. The council is working on projects in the Big Chico Creek, Little Chico Creek, Butte Creek and Feather River Watersheds to foster watershed education, restore habitat, and advocate for responsible water management.

A public forum about where our water comes from and where it goes during — H20 Origins — is planned 6-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, in Room 111 of the new Arts and Humanities building at Chico State University.

Becky Holden, assistant director of the Butte Environmental Council, will lead the forum, part of a larger monthly education series