I liked it so much, I think I’m gonna break tradition and carry it on into next week. Hey, why not?

So as a final post, I shall include a poem sung by Westian children to remind each other of the days when the sun will come out again to melt away the snow.

The Man of the Wind
Told the green grassy glow,
Get off! Get away!
Give over to the snow!

Fled the sun, fled the birds,
Fled the merivather beast,
Fled the sunlight and the daystars
They all went East.

They all went East,
To Andora and Sheras,
To the faraway places
“To Elsewhere!” said Prince Als!

Someday it will melt,
Yes someday it will go,
All is sun, all is green,
Kiss goodbye the snow.

-Fes Ostonef, Westian Poet, 764.

Clarifiers: A merivather beast could be a mispronunciation of the merry-water beast, which is a sort of sea-horse (literally…people ride them). However, it is most likely an extinct creature, of which there remains little record. Also, a daystar is a star so bright, it can be seen during the day. Prince Als is a shortened version of Prince Alster, a legendary figure who supposedly conquered the Andorans before it became a royal state.

Fes Ostonef was a famous Westian poet who wrote many historical poems. He was around during the great climate-switch and documented many of the changes that took place. He’s regarded as a great historian who did great work for the Westians.

In continuation of my Westlands theme this week, here’s my Author Aerobics exercise. This piece shows how the Westlands is a sort of bottom-rung nation.

* * * * *

THE BLACK SKY was a blanket of cold. Down below, Westians clustered together around a froggish machine, trudging across the dull white landscape slowly. It was the month of Fjerd—what day, nobody could remember. Nobody could ever remember. Sometimes the month had sixteen days, sometimes it had forty. It varied incredibly, and since Fjerd began with the last day, and counted down until it reached the end of the month, 1, it was very confusing.

Peka, standing on the edge of the group, folded her arms more tightly and shot a few searching glances about the horizon.

It was then that she spotted what she was looking out for. “Wolves!” she said loudly, above the low chatter from the group. She darted back to her kinsmen. “Up there on the slope. And they look Nestern!”

The leader of the group, Sebashten, allowed a glimmer of fear to peek out of his weathered eyes. Nestern wolves? She must be kidding; most wolves in this region were the short, wiry, Vestern kind. What would the enormous Nesterns be doing way out here? “Did you say ‘Nester,’ or ‘Western?’”

“Nestern,” said Peka, frustrated. “Four feet tall at the shoulder, I’d guess.” She turned around and pointed a gloved hand at the group of around twelve wolves under moonlight. “Coming this way, and looking hungry.”

“Jak!” Sebashten called up to the top of the machine. A young man, who had fallen asleep while sitting on top, picked up his head and looked around.

“You spotted some?” he asked, not sounding very interested.

“Yes…start the system up.”

Jak popped open a panel and fiddled with some very complicated wires and knobs. How he did it, nobody knew. The machine was old…a leftover gift from the Andorans, who seemed to be “Too good for simple machines,” like this one. Someone had used the instruction manual to start a fire years ago, and Jak was the only one who remembered how to use the fire-shooters in the monstrous structure…

“They’re coming closer, Jak!” Peka barked, picking up a little one that was pulling at her coat. She ran to the machine, climbed the ladder one-handed, and sat up on top next to Jak. She tried to figure out what it was exactly that Jak was doing.

She couldn’t.

“Come on, Jak, there’s not much time left…” Sebashten was getting worried. He took the gun off his back and pointed it at the rapidly-approaching wolves. His trigger finger twitched, as his brain was racked with memories of looking down this same barrel. Once from the wrong end. “Jak!”

BLAAAAAAAZ

An explosion of sparks and embers lit up the area, as a lone rocket streaked out of the machine toward the pack of wolves. It bounced across the frozen ground, until its internal timer went off and it erupted into myriads of sparks and flames. When the explosion had cleared, all that was left of the wolves were slightly-charred dogs running in the opposite direction.

Peka smiled and took her hands from the child’s ears. Goodness, that was loud…it was a wonder that Jak still had his hearing after all those years of fire-shooting.

“Well done, Jak,” said Sebasten. “Now, let’s get going.”

The group slowly began to crawl forward once again, as a blizzard of stray snowflakes whipped through their midst, in what little wind there was.

In happy times, we recall
Emerald fields, and sun on all.
We remember golden days,
Warmth, and happy sunshine rays.

Yet all is gone, except a thread,
A single, wispy tale long dead,
Of days-gone-by, of hearts fed well
With the beauty of Eorth—
Which fell.

On the coldest side of the ring of Eorth,
The wool of mammoths bring us warmth.
The richness of grenjims* adorning our heads,
With seals underfoot, we’re safe from cold dread.

We live to thrive in the frozen day,
We will survive, we will yet stay.

The Westlands.

*It is to be noted that a grenjim is a sort of green gem that was used in the Westlands to attract what little sunlight there was, giving the wearer extra much-needed vitamin D.

It is speculated that someday, the Westlands will be restored to its first state. It is uncertain what caused the cold, and the sudden disappearance of the paradise-like climate. Some scientists had speculated a meteor landed, jolting the planet into an ice age, others said that the Eorth had changed orbits to a different star. While many speculations exist about what caused the cold, most scientists agree that there is evidence that some day, the ice will recede and all will be restored to its first, happy state.

The Westlands’ national poem (reproduced above) depicts the mindset of many Westians (Those from the Westlands). They are a strong, persevering sort, who don’t give up easily. To give up, in most cases, would mean to die. Over time, a strong sense of perseverance was drilled into the Westians, driving them to great scientific accomplishments and advances.

Inventions credited to Westians are: The cortek (A steam ship), grenjim-powder (used to fertilize plants), ice mining, water transformation (Using ice—an abundant source—to generate electricity), and the collapsible war tower.

Westians are definitely more practical than the silly Nortrishes, and humbler than the stuck-up Andorans.

My crew strolled into Gallileos the Friday Ghana lost to Uruguay with our heads hung lowish. We were sad they lost but happy that they could’ve won. So we were there to celebrate and mourn at the same time.

As previously mentioned, I don’t drink and am not a fan of night life either so I’d never been to the aforementioned night club and wasn’t hyped to.

We’d barely made it into the club and found places to stand when my mind stopped drifting and I began to assess all the scantily clad ladies, wondering if they weren’t freezing in their tiny skirts with no undergarments on. Then I noted the foolishly dressed men they were dancing with in overtly sexual manners with additional inappropriate PDA Western influenced intimacy smothered on for taste. In the midst of this recipe of raunch and debauchery, it took me a few seconds of clarity to realize that the song playing was actually some Kikuyu Gospel track.

There’s a light in which the youth looks at the older generation that is really not flattering to their virtues. We look at their strict moral uprightness as overcautious pretension and abhor it; we view their way of doing things as old school, outdated, obsolete. Yet we take all their vices and extol and exponentiate them; we’ve taken every negative stereotype and raised it to the nth power.

Except n is negative.

Sorry for the Math reference. What I mean is….Whereas our fathers and forefathers were proudly polygamous, we’ve just become inordinately promiscuous without standard. Where they were daily drinkers, we’ve become inordinate druggies and alcoholics(DNAs). Where they enjoyed a good time out, we’ve made it our lives to hanye(coin “Hanyeholic”).

And while we’ve been busy doing all that we’ve strayed so far left from our roots we seem to be part of another tree altogether, a Western one, ironically. We, the African urban youth, future of this fair continent, are more likened to the culturally devoid foreigners we idolize and emulate on television than we are heirs to our fathers and fore fathers. All this in the guise of changing with the times and globalizing. So much so that certain people will be more in tune with the fashions, cultures, music and news abroad than what’s going on in their own backyard.

Now to some degree, I can understand appreciating the culture, arts, and all this: Hell, before I knew the National Anthem in Kiswahili, I had most of Rapper’s Delight and various Lionel Richie albums committed to memory. I’ll take it a step further and say that there are times – many of them – when I’d rather be in Brooklyn. And with good reason, I’ve lived abroad for a while. But in spite of all my love for everything great about every foreign city I’ve been to, I still dial +254 when I call home. I’m proud to be Kenyan, proud to be African, and unapologetically so. There’s nothing wrong with changing with the times and being an “International” citizen.

But one must know which is wife and which is mistress; is your mother Africa and your teacher American or vice versa? Because one gives you supplementary knowledge and escape whereas the other gives you your core morals and essential learnings. It’s hard to know which is which watching some of these kids walking around.

I stood in the club that night, postulating this theory – feeling very glum indeed -when the lady on my arm – a good friend and DR reader – made her way to the dance floor. In those few seconds after she left, another random lady walked up and began talking to me. I only showed a passing interest until she said something that I failed to hear when I told her I had to be in work in the morning.

“What did you say?” I hollered over the bumping – now, Hip-Hop – beats.
“I said I have to go home early too.” She said with an inebriated sneer.
“Oh.” I said and turned away disinterested.
“Yeah, I need to get some sleep before my baby wakes up.”

I hoped and prayed to God she was talking about a husband or boyfriend. But she wasn’t. And when I asked who the baby was with she says “Her big sister.”

Not “my big sister” but “her big sister”.

This 20-something lass has 2 kids; both daughters; and this is the example she’s setting for them. Worse still, she felt no shame in admitting it. Now, granted, we all need some time off – parent or not – but I think I have reason to question the parenting skills of an underdressed someone who drunkenly hit on a stranger while her two babies babysat each other.

Then I remembered where I was. For a brief minute, I felt like I was in a ghetto in Atlanta questioning some baby-mama who’d been victim of the disenfranchised naiveté of her people. In reality I was at an upscale club in Kenya talking to someone who had options, had choices and more eerily, had parents. African parents.

I looked around at the what the future holds for this country; promiscuous drunks who spend disgusting amounts of money to fuck-dance to gospel tracks and emulate their American peers in hopes of being cool. Single mothers whose priorities remain themselves and not their children. Men who may be fathers but don’t know and don’t care as they are too busy plotting on the next turkey they’ll be stuffing.

I looked at the future of Africa and saw the present demise of the West. I looked at people who had little pride in their culture and felt ashamed of what I had so avidly defended. I wondered if these were the people I belonged to.

For a few moments there – and everyday since – I felt ashamed to be African.

**Before people get uppity in the comments, I had a lengthy enough conversation with the lady in question to pass the judgment I did. **

It pains me to say all this publicly, but I’ve been told that you’re supposed to “Write toward discomfort.” This certainly fits the bill, because not only am I revealing my writing online (Which sorta scares me in general), I’m revealing some writing that I’m not particularly fond of.

My writing history is full of iffy stories which I’d rather not have published. But the writer’s career is twofold. Sometimes I may get published for what I like, sometimes I may get published for what other people like. It depends on the market I guess.

I’d post a clip of The Last of the Wooly Mammoths, but it was written  years ago and is probably stuck on a backup CD somewhere in my messy world. Yah. It’ll be a little bit till it gets up here.

For now, though, I will leave you with one thought: We write to please the writer. We publish to please the public. Well, I don’t know how true it is, but it’s something to think about at least.

This week, in light of Wanger’s May 27 ruling, the parties to the litigation settled on alternative plan for joint operation of the state and federal projects, which would still provide some protection for delta smelt.  The plan does not cure purported defects of the biological opinion.  Rather, it is a short-term compromise that would be put into effect for the remainder of June.

Component 2 of the RPA, which was at issue in the case, called for the following course of action in order to protect larval and juvenile delta smelt:

• OMR flows may not be more negative than -1,250 to -5,000 cfs, as calculated on a 14-day running average.  The 5-day running average value may not surpass the requisite 14-day average by more than 25%.
• The Smelt Working Group should recommend adjustments to OMR flow as appropriate, subject to approval by USFWS.
• Component 2 terminates on the earlier of these two dates: June 30, or whenever the average three-day temperature of water at Clifton Court Forebay reaches 25°C.

In contrast, the proposed order (PDF) suggests the following alternative regime, to be implemented in lieu of Component 2 of the RPA:

• Exports will be constrained to ensure that OMR flows are no more negative than -5,000 cfs.
• If cumulative take of delta smelt on a particular date exceeds the established precautionary take level, more stringent export limits may be imposed to decrease negative OMR flows to some magnitude less negative than -5,000 cfs.
• Reverse OMR flows less negative than -5,000 cfs may be imposed if there is a “rising daily trend in smelt salvage” or a daily salvage at the Jones pumping plant resulting in an “imminent threat” to the delta smelt.  USFWS would discuss findings with Reclamation, DWR, and DFG before approving such an OMR adjustment.

These operational parameters would be put into effect until the earlier of these two dates is reached: June 30, 2010, or whenever the average three-day temperature of water at Clifton Court Forebay reaches 25°C.  OMR flows are to be calculated as in the biological opinion.

Environmentalists and fishermen are, of course, pleased that some protection for fish will remain, since it first appeared that none would after February 5, when Wanger temporarily lifted the NMFS pumping restrictions for salmon. Contractors, on the other hand, are not pleased: announcing that they will lose at least 90,000 acre-feet of water over the next week.  But looking at the fish salvage counts before and after February 5, one cannot help but notice that the numbers for delta smelt (PDF), winter-run Chinook salmon (PDF), and steelhead (PDF) all show an increase since February 5.  So even though Fish and Wildlife acted to protect the delta smelt, the data suggests that all fish stand to benefit from this action.

The irony is that before the February 5 TRO, Westlands and other contractors enjoyed pumping levels resulting in OMR flows no more negative than -5,000 cfs per the NMFS salmonid biological opinion — but that limit will now be a more restrictive -4,000 cfs.  At the end of January 2010, OMR flows did clock in more negative than -4,000 cfs, with no delta smelt salvaged except on February 3.  That translates into some extra capacity permitted by the NMFS BiOp, actually put to use, but which is unavailable under the USFWS regime that went into effect starting February 10.  That’s not to say there would not be restrictions later, as the RPA certainly provided for that.  But the point is that even after this week’s legal skirmish, water contractors are no better off than they were before, and may indeed have to face even tougher restrictions down the road.

To the extent that anyone has any idea what “co-equal goals” actually means in practice, I’ll go out on a limb to say that this solution appears to strike a better balance than permitting unrestrained “binge pumping” when fish are moving through the Delta — especially since it’s not the case that these restrictions actually shut off the flow of water altogether.

But the broader takeaway here is that there is a threshold amount of water that simply has to remain in the system to prevent environmental collapse.  This has been clear, at the very least, since Audubon. But it’s a lesson that in California we apparently need to keep “learning” again and again, in each new situation that arises.  Or perhaps we never actually learn it.  After all, we have been put on notice: “they’ll be back.”

Then, on February 8, Fish and Wildlife determined that negative OMR flows had to be reduced anyway — but now it was to protect the delta smelt, in accordance with Fish and Wildlife’s own biological opinion.  FWS issued a 48-hour Notice of Implementation that would take effect by 5:00 p.m. on February 10, thereby reducing Delta pumping activity in spite of February 5 TRO.

But of course the story cannot end there.  For unless Wanger also enjoins implementation of the FWS BiOp as he did the NMFS BiOp, Westlands and other contractors will have substantially lost out on the benefit of their favorable February 5 ruling — particularly because SLDMWA has the option of extending the 14-day TRO for an additional 14 days, if it could show that the extension would not jeopardize fish or critical habitat.  And sure enough, SLDMWA has indeed filed a motion for a TRO against the FWS BiOp (PDF), specifically the part of the RPA that Fish and Wildlife plans to implement (Component 1, Action 2).  This is actually the second time the contractors have sought a TRO against this BiOp, but it was denied the first time because Component 1 had not actually been implemented.  Now that FWS has given notice that Component 1 will be implemented after 5:00 p.m. on February 10, the contractors will take another crack at it.

Westlands and other water contractors need to make a showing of irreparable harm in order to win this TRO, so they pull out all the stops with verbiage depicting a valley caught in the throes of crisis:

The past two years of pumping restrictions that are supposed to benefit delta smelt, coming on top of naturally dry hydrological conditions, have produced a crisis on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.  Hundreds of thousands of acres have been fallowed, orchards have been destroyed, thousands of workers have lost their jobs, and communities have been decimated as income levels plummet, people leave, and the tax base disappears.  In this environment, the loss of every additional acre foot of water supply is keenly felt by the farms and communities of the region.

The water contractors also note that implementing Component 1, Action 2 of the RPA will reduce exports by diminishing the capacity of Jones Pumping Plant by about 1,450 cfs.  This will, in turn, result in a loss of 2,900-4,000 acre feet per day, or a total of 115,000-160,000 acre feet of water.  Wanger’s previous TRO against the NMFS biological opinion indicates that he already takes this flavor of argument seriously as a finding of irreparable harm — particularly over a short-term period when there is an opportunity to pump and store storm season flows, and where Wanger has also convinced himself that the harmful effects to fish are so negligible as to barely tip the balance.

When considering whether to grant the temporary restraining order against Fish & Wildlife’s delta smelt BiOp, Judge Wanger would presumably again balance the harms at stake — comparing the harm incurred by the contractors if the TRO is denied, against the harm to the fish if he grants the TRO.  But in the February 5 TRO, Wanger reduced the harm of the winter-run Chinook salmon to a simple division problem: of the maximum of 22,987 juvenile winter-run Chinook salmon that could be “taken” incidentally, merely 1,154 fish, or 5%, were salvaged in January 2010.

He then hastily dismissed the possibility that increased pumping could cause serious harm to the other listed species that NMFS evaluated in its 2009 biological opinion.  For example, Wanger’s order mentions that an estimated 58% of the steelhead population will have moved through the Delta by the end of February, and that about 37% will move through the Delta in February, while the TRO is in effect.  If the TRO is extended, it will be in force for the full month of February and into March.  On its face, that figure looks like it should give cause for concern.  After all, the TRO endorses unrestrained pumping at the exact same time as a substantial portion of the steelhead population is expected to move through the Delta.  Wanger noted that January 2010 salvage of steelhead was minimal; but he provided no further detail to indicate why the same ought to be true in February, which is, after all, the month in question.  Wanger then left the steelhead behind after giving it only a few brief sentences, moving onto the green sturgeon and implicitly casting aside this data, perhaps because it tended to negate his conclusion that the harm to fish is not serious when compared to the contractors’ water losses.

Given this approach Wanger took to scientific concerns in the salmonid BiOp, one wonders if his approach to the delta smelt BiOp will be any more balanced.  He may, for instance, choose to rely entirely on data cited by the water contractors indicating that the distribution of smelt may be mostly oriented away from the South Delta pumps, and that most fish are thus not in danger of entrainment.  However, a more balanced analysis of the delta smelt science must also consider the most recent discussion of the Smelt Working Group.  The Group has been discussing the increase in delta smelt salvage since February 3.  That salvage increase has been even more pronounced since the TRO was granted on February 5.

On February 8, the Smelt Working Group recommended a negative OMR flow limit of -2,000 cfs on a 14-day average (PDF), or a limit of -2,500 cfs on a 5-day average, in order to aggressively protect the smelt and prevent entrainment.  The Group generally agreed that a negative OMR flow of -5,000 cfs would not provide adequate protection for the smelt.  A minority of the Group felt that -4,000 cfs was a reasonable middle ground that would afford the smelt roughly double the protection of -5,000 cfs, when measured at San Joaquin River station 815.  The majority of the Group, however, supported the -2,000 cfs limit.  Fish & Wildlife’s Notice of Implementation (PDF) indicates that it will pursue the -4,000 cfs limit, but it could make that requirement more stringent (PDF) if the number of smelt salvaged approaches the incidental take limit too rapidly.

If -5,000 cfs is too strong a negative OMR flow to ensure survival of smelt, it stands to reason that imposing no pumping restriction at all would result in more powerful reverse flows that could pose a greater danger for fish.  But coming to that conclusion assumes that one has taken into consideration the Working Group’s understanding of the delta smelt science.

Needless to say, we’ll stay tuned.

Fish & Wildlife has announced the need to implement one of these RPA measures, and just issued a 48-hour Notice of Implementation (PDF) to that effect.  In particular, FWS plans to implement Component 1, Action 2 of the RPA after 5:00 p.m. on February 10, 2010.

The trigger for this action is that FWS has observed an uptick in the salvage of delta smelt.  The negative Old & Middle River (OMR) flows may be decreased to protect the fish.  Reduction measures of this sort are generally disliked by Westlands Water District because they restrict pumping and result in decreased exports from the Delta.  But these measures are beneficial for the delta smelt because they diminish the risk that the fish will get entrained and caught in the pumps.  On February 1, the Smelt Working Group did not feel the need (PDF) to recommend that any additional protective measures for smelt be implemented because the triggers for action had not been met.  Now, just one week later, the working group has suggested that because 6 delta smelt have been salvaged, the reverse OMR flows should be reduced to no worse than -2,000 cfs (PDF).  Starting February 10, FWS will insist on the -4,000 cfs minimum announced in the notice, but the agency also plans to impose more stringent restrictions if necessary to protect the smelt.

This announcement comes just three days after Judge Wanger issued a temporary restraining order enjoining a protective measure for fish similar to the one that FWS has announced it will implement on February 10.  The TRO placed a 14-day hold on Action IV.2.3 (set forth in the 2009 NMFS BiOp for salmonids), which called for the reverse OMR flow to be restricted to the -2,500 to -5,000 cfs range.  Although NMFS determined that this restriction would help minimize entrainment of winter-run and spring-run Chinook salmon, the Court nonetheless issued a TRO, so that storm season water could be captured and pumped to San Luis Reservoir.

However, implementing Component 1, Action 2 is an avenue to carry out a pumping restriction of the type that Wanger halted when he issued the TRO.  This action would be carried out as a precaution for the delta smelt, and not explicitly for salmonids.  Notably, protection of the delta smelt is beyond the scope of Wanger’s February 5 TRO.  Perhaps Fish & Wildlife’s decision to act now is premised on a genuinely significant concern that reverse OMR flows (now more powerful since the TRO was issued) have led to increased delta smelt entrainment; or perhaps the goal was to frustrate the TRO, or perhaps some of both.  Further detail on the scientific reasoning should be provided in the February 8, 2010 notes from the Smelt Working Group, but those have not yet been uploaded as of the time of this writing.

Whether the reasoning is fundamentally scientific or strategic, it seems we can at least say that the plan of Westlands and SLDMWA — to eke out 14, or perhaps 28, days of unrestrained pumping to maximize storage of storm flows — has backfired.  Although Judge Wanger put one pumping restriction on hold, another will be implemented in its stead.  The goal of the restriction is to reduce the negative OMR flows and ease the way for the struggling delta smelt; but it couldn’t hurt the Chinook salmon either.  And now, let the next round of “fish vs. people” begin…

NMFS determined that preserving the listed species and their critical habitats would require some limitation on exports from the dying Delta.  Naturally, then, the BiOp is destined to be constantly embroiled in legal disputes.  Leading the charge is named plaintiff San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority (SLDMWA), which includes Westlands Water District and other contractors.  The mess of litigation is neatly summarized under the title Consolidated Salmonid Cases.

So what’s the beef?  The RPA includes a variety of measures to help protect the listed species, but the part of the RPA that SLDMWA and Westlands find most offensive is known as Action IV.2.3.  NMFS recognized that steelhead, and the winter and spring run Chinook salmon have encountered a lot of trouble from the South Delta pumps.  The fish, unable to migrate to Chipps Island and out of the Delta, are instead entrained in the Delta channels, since the project pumps reverse the flow of the channels.  To address this critical issue, Action IV.2.3 calls for strategically-timed reductions of exports from the Delta when salmon are present, to allow the fish safer passage.  In particular, between January 1 and June 15, exports should be reduced to a level such that the reverse flows in the Old and Middle Rivers stays within the range of -2,500 to -5,000 cfs, depending on the extent to which fish are getting caught in the channels.  Alternatively, Action IV.2.3 may end before June 15, if the average water temperature at Mossdale exceeds 22°C for one full week.

The Consolidated Salmonid Cases (as well as a parallel set of cases concerning the delta smelt) have been heard by Judge Oliver Wanger, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.  On February 5, 2010, SLDMWA got the first prize it wanted.  Judge Wanger granted a temporary restraining order (TRO), specifically to put a stop to the export and pumping restrictions called for in Action IV.2.3 of the RPA.  The TRO will last only 14 days, although it could be extended for another 14 days if SLDMWA can prove that doing so would not jeopardize the listed species or their critical habitats.  Those interested in reading the order can find a copy here (PDF).

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires that determinations be made on the basis of best available science.  In its efforts to invalidate the BiOp, SLDMWA has gone to great lengths to illustrate why it believes the BiOp is based on faulty science — suggesting, for instance, that the BiOp basically misrepresents and overstates the impact that the pumps have had on the fish.  But Wanger refused to grant the TRO on that basis.  “Plaintiffs have not yet established a likelihood of success on their ESA claim,” according to the order.

Instead, Wanger granted the TRO on the basis of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires federal agencies to study the significant environmental impacts of their actions and analyze potential alternatives.  Echoing his earlier ruling on the 2008 BiOp for the delta smelt, Wanger found the salmonid BiOp deficient because it lacked NEPA analysis.  It appears that Wanger wanted to see more analysis on the impacts of the RPA on the human environment, including the effects on water supply.  Still, it would be inaccurate to say that the RPA actions were written in a vacuum, since the BiOp explicitly considers water supply issues.

Once NEPA was established as a basis for the TRO, Wanger compared the level of harm suffered by water contractors (if the TRO were to be denied, and pumping restricted) to the level of harm suffered by the listed species (if a TRO were to be granted, and pumping continued).  The figures cited in the decision state that because of pumping restrictions, at least 190,000 acre feet of state and federal water was lost to the ocean, rather than conveyed to San Luis where it could be stored for future release.  Wanger’s decision observes that this loss of water “will contribute to and exacerbate the currently catastrophic situation faced by Plaintiffs, whose farms, businesses, water service areas, and impacted cities and counties, are dependent, some exclusively, upon CVP and/or SWP water deliveries” — in other words, the impacts to the human environment that Wanger presumably wants to see analyzed in a NEPA document.  On the other hand, the fish counts presented in the opinion suggest that 1,154 winter-run Chinook salmon were salvaged in January 2010 — well under the 22,897 juvenile winter-run fish that can be “taken.”  Similarly low impact was expected for the other listed species discussed in the 2009 NMFS BiOp.

In other words, Wanger decided — at least over the short period of time when the TRO is in effect — that the “substantial and irreparable” harm to farmers of allowing water to flow to the ocean was deemed to be more serious than the “minimal” harm to the listed species.  Particularly because winter storms promise to provide a valuable supply of water for this upcoming year, and the contractors want that water to be captured and stored at San Luis.

Wanger’s decision to grant the TRO means that despite the collapse of fish populations in the Delta, pumping will continue, at least for the short period of time that the TRO is in effect.  The court will use that time to evaluate SLDMWA’s request for a preliminary injunction (of longer duration, but also temporary) against the pumping restrictions required by Action IV.2.3.

We hope to continue following future developments in the salmonid and delta smelt cases.  Never a dull day for California water watchers!

National, state and local officials, including Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Congressman George Miller, Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger, and many state legislators are already campaigning for passage of the bill.

All these elected officials, along with national and state media — prominently including Fox News, 60 Minutes, and the Sacramento Bee — have repeatedly made the false claim that San Joaquin Valley agribusiness in the San Joaquin Valley’s Westlands Water District is suffering from a man made drought, and that cuts to its taxpayer-subsidized water supplies will prevent those growers from “feeding the nation.”

US Department of Agriculture statistics demonstrate to the contrary that agricultural production from Westlands Water District is far from significant, and may actually be negative when the level of taxpayer subsidies to those farmers is subtracted from their net profits. In fact, USDA statistics show that Westlands’ contribution to the nation’s food supply (and food exports) is only about a quarter of a percent in gross income. The true net value may be only $30 million to $40 million, once government subsides are taken out.

We, the U.S. taxpayers, paid for the projects that supply Westlands farmers with water, and for the drains that made it possible for them to continue farming in an area that traps highly polluted irrigation water in the soils. Those drains created Kesterson Reservoir, an ostensible wildlife refuge receiving poisoned agricultural water. Taxpayers eventually had to pay to fill in Kesterson’s collection ponds to stop the deforming of bird chicks and outright wildlife kills due to the high concentration of selenium in the drain water.

Recent tests of alternative drainwater disposal projects have shown that all have the same potential to poison and kill wildlife as did Kesterson. This also means that Westlands drain waters should never reach the San Joaquin River.

It’s time to get real about the level of taxpayer subsidies that allow Westlands agribusiness to thrive, when those farms continue to create environmental havoc, which taxpayers then have to pay to clean up. Why should taxpayers continue supporting agriculture that has to be bailed out of its self-made problems?

It’s time to wean Westlands farmers off the public purse, and make them prove that they can prosper in a free market.

Westland demands for taxpayer support — and the environmental destruction — both come from irrigating the land. It’s high time to cut out the irrigation and take Westlands Water District lands out of production.

how the proposed bill will privatize water supplies from the state’s large water projects, built with taxpayer dollars, while further undermining natural food chains.

Last week, in the final days of 2009, it was announced that the long-planned Delta Mendota Canal/California Aqueduct Intertie project finally got its Record of Decision from the U.S. Department of the Interior. The federal government, in its Interim Action Plan for the Bay-Delta (PDF), released on December 22, 2009, also listed the Intertie as a priority project to expedite, aiming to have construction start by June 2010 and completed by October 2011.

The $34 million proposed Intertie, which will be located in Alameda County generally west of Tracy, would connect the Delta-Mendota Canal, a federal facility, to the California Aqueduct, a state facility. The proposed project takes the form of a pipeline connection from milepost 7.2 of the Delta-Mendota to milepost 9 of the Aqueduct, where the state and federal projects are only about 500 feet apart. The Intertie would be owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, but operated by the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority (SLDMWA), which consists of numerous members, mostly federal contractors, including Westlands Water District. The basic goal is to increase the operational flexibility of the state and federal projects. The Intertie project includes a 467 cfs pumping plant on the Delta-Mendota to pump water underground a vertical distance of 50 feet up to the Aqueduct, and it would also permit a 900 cfs reverse flow by gravity from the Aqueduct to the Delta-Mendota.

While the Intertie is largely advertised as a project that would be useful during both emergency outages and rounds of maintenance, it would also serve as a regular supplement to current levels of pumping. Both the federal and state projects have committed themselves to deliver more water to contractors than they can realistically provide most of the time. The situation is amplified by an evolving understanding of how to regulate the flows that are needed in the Delta to protect fisheries and maintain water quality, as captured in subsequent decisions from the State Board. And so, while the Intertie would allow for operational flexibility in an emergency, it also facilitates making the most of the capacity at Jones on a regular basis — increasing at least somewhat the volume of Delta water pumped, and aiding Reclamation in its struggle to more reliably deliver supplies to its south-of-Delta contractors.

The issue is that there is some extra federal project capacity that currently cannot be used. The Jones Pumping Plant is authorized to pump at 4,600 cfs capacity, which is the full design capacity of the Delta-Mendota Canal. However, the O’Neill Pumping Plant, which pumps water into the O’Neill Forebay, has a capacity of 4,200 cfs. Because of this bottleneck, during fall and winter, Jones pumps below its design capacity. That 400 cfs of extra capacity could be captured, however, if the Intertie pumps the remainder to the California Aqueduct, and then to San Luis Reservoir.

The short table below briefly summarizes average pumping activity at Jones and Delta-Mendota deliveries from 2005 to 2007, as reported by the Bureau of Reclamation:

The model considers the annual demand for CVP water flowing through the Delta-Mendota to be 3,332 TAF. But the demand is largely seasonal, peaking between May and August. Especially during those months, demand outpaces capacity, requiring that deliveries be supplemented with 782 TAF of water stored in San Luis. Meanwhile, pumping can increase between October and March, both to deliver supplies and to fill San Luis. In the unrealistic scenario of Jones consistently pumping at maximum capacity with the Intertie, the difference from the status quo is the pumping of an additional 136 TAF per year. Factoring in seasonal restrictions on pumping, there would be an average annual increase of 35 TAF.

The Bureau considered two other substantive alternatives in its NEPA analysis. One alternative is very similar to the proposed project, but is located about four miles to the south — where the two facilities are further apart, but avoids 500-kV transmission lines of the California-Oregon Transmission Project. Another alternative contemplates a temporary intertie about half-mile south of the proposed project, and this alternative takes advantage of the State Water Project’s unused conveyance capacity at the Banks Pumping Plant to convey the additional CVP water to San Luis Reservoir, resulting in an average annual increase in 27 TAF (compared to 35 TAF for the proposed project).

The idea to connect the state and federal projects south of the Delta pumping plants has been lingering for awhile. As early as 1988, the Bureau examined such a project jointly with Westlands to augment supplies conveyed to Westlands or San Luis Reservoir. In 2000, the intertie was a component of the CALFED program Record of Decision. Then, in 2005, Reclamation and the SLDMWA again studied the project. From the environmental assessment Reclamation concluded that the project would not result in significant environmental impact, and the SLDMWA issued a Mitigated Negative Declaration. A lawsuit subsequently challenged the FONSI, and Reclamation then prepared a full EIS for the Intertie, ultimately concluding that the most of the changed conditions were not significant adverse effects, and those that were could be mitigated.

One potential source of concern in the future is the way that the CALSIM II model used in the Bureau’s simulation has shaped our general understanding of the Intertie. The simulation yields outputs on a monthly scale, taking into account many globally relevant operational requirements. These include: water allocated under the CVPIA, Decision 1641 salinity standards, the Vernalis flow requirements, and other operational requirements from throughout the large CVP/SWP geographic area. The model, however, is unable to report on a short-term basis (day-to-day, or week-to-week) the effects of operating the Intertie, and this more fine-tuned analysis would give a better sense of the project’s true impacts on fisheries (which the Bureau has so far claimed will not be adversely affected by the Intertie, and in some cases, may even benefit from it). In addition, CALSIM II employs past conditions from the years 1922-2003 to produce future outputs. Although this is a long span of time that has witnessed a wide variety of hydrologic conditions, these data are not necessarily reliable indicators of the future changes in hydrologic conditions that have been predicted as the result of climate change.

Loot! Bags of Dormans Coffee Beans, originally uploaded by andai.

Although I tried a number of coffeehouses, cafes and hotels, the focus of this five part series was Nairobi Java House, Dormans and Artcaffe. I have to say that out of the three, I really enjoyed my visits to Dormans and to Artcaffè. These are the two places that I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to enjoy a nice espresso. On the other hand, my visit to Nairobi Java House was not special nor memorable, at least in a positive way. The lattes, though not too bad, were not necessarily something that I would look forward to going back to get.

So what was it then that drew me towards Dormans and Artcaffè and gave me a less than positive image of Nairobi Java House? The lattes at both of these places were great but what really left me a with a memorable experience was their great customer service.

I certainly believe that the Kenyan coffeehouse culture is up and coming, and is in the good and capable hands of people like Alex and Steve who are the baristas I meet at Dormans. Kenyan coffee has always been recognized the world over for quality, and now the other part of equation, home grown coffee roasting and coffeehouse culture is beginning to emerge. I think that is remarkable.

Yet there is one major of action the various coffeehouses, especially Nairobi Java House, need to take into consideration if they really want to become a world class coffeehouse.

Coffeehouses have to adopt an ‘intelligent’ customer service model!

For example, the coffee shops (and even the malls in Nairobi or Kenya where they are located) need to toss out the general ban on photography within the premises. I had in interesting but negative experience with this, twice at Nairobi Java House that in many ways colored my impression of that place giving me an overall negative impression of Java House. And yet I also had a pleasant experience with this at Artcaffè and also the Dormans at The Junction which in turn only endeared me more to the two.

Let me narrate two different experiences I had regarding the exact same issue, photography. When I first went to Nairobi Java House, I first asked the supervisor for permission to take a picture in the place. He told me that I couldn’t because there was a ‘no photography’ policy in place. When I pressed him on that, he could not tell me why the policy was originally instituted but after I gave him the reasoning behind why he should let me do so, he relented and allowed me to take a picture. But only if I made sure that the picture did not include the main store, especially the espresso bar, in the background.

But the folks at the Nairobi Java House at the Junction were the worst of all. Not only did they not allow me to take pictures of my coffee cup, but the supervisor told me that if I did, I would be “in trouble” and that I could do so only if I was off the premises. Clearly these people completely missed the point of the reason why I would want to take pictures at all. And little did he know that I had already taken plenty of pictures of the place the whole time I was there!

On the other hand, when I went to Artcaffè, not only did the manager let me take photos of my coffee cup, but he also let me take pictures of the interior of the place and the cool coffee roasting machine they had on display. The people at Artcaffè were very pleasant, welcoming and extremely accommodating!

And here is the difference between Artcaffè and Java House. I think the manager at Artcaffè truly understood that a good restaurant is not just good food, but also great customer service. And in this case, my blogging about my great experience at Artcaffè and posting great pictures of the place can only help promote the place with free word of mouth advertising. He clearly understood that.

My visit to Dormans at the Junction was also similar in that I was able to take really beautiful pictures of Latte art that ultimately will showcase the skills of the baristas at Dormans and acts as a testament for Dormans in general. They certainly go the idea.

On the other hand, the folks at Nairobi Java House have yet to understand this. All they know is that no photography is allowed at the place. Not only can they not tell you why they don’t allow photography, but they also can’t really reasonably think of how they can accommodate reasonable requests from customers. It was because of this lousy customer service I decided that I wasn’t interested in visiting Nairobi Java House any more.

And yet I bet if you were to talk to the Java House folks, they probably do believe their customer service is great. This is why I think Nairobi Java House (and businesses in general) need to adopt what a more intelligent kind of customer service where the employee not only understands why certain rules and policies exist and can then act on those in a more intelligent way. In other words the employee is trained and then empowered to make decisions that make sense and go to the spirit of the rules and regulations rather than the strict wording of the policies.

Now think about this for a moment. Why would a coffeehouse ban customers from taking pictures of themselves within the premises when this is a very common activities at eating places around the world? This policy just does not make sense at all. What is even ironic is even if they wanted to ban photography on the premises; it is very easy to take pictures of the place without the knowledge of the staff. But sometimes I just shake my head at the mentality of some of these Kenyan businesses.

And yet even as I write this I am convinced that over time things will change as these and other business continue to grow and evolve and embrace the fact that organizations today and constantly changing their approach to customer service. This even so in light of the internet and social media.

But despite the little ‘only in Kenya’ type of oddities here and there (which is probably the subject of another blog post), I am pretty happy with what I have seen so far in terms of Kenya’s coffeehouse culture. I think the biggest thing going for the Kenyan coffeehouse culture is the excellent quality of the espresso drinks served at some of the local coffeehouses.

If you who want to enjoy a great cup of espresso in Nairobi, as you would in places like Seattle, Vancouver, San Francisco, Italy, etc., you can make you way to Dormans, Artcaffè and even Nairobi Java House and you’re set!

Now I think I will head into the kitchen, pull out a bag of my Dormans Continental blend coffee beans and my stove top espresso maker, and make myself a cup of espresso …

Dormans Latte Art, originally uploaded by andai.

In my opinion, Dormans, “the coffee experts”, was the icing on the cake of my coffee sampling trip to Kenya.

Like I had mentioned in one of my previous posts, Dormans came highly recommended to me by a couple of people and as a result, this was one place I was really looking forward to trying out. Dormans actually has a number of retail locations in and around Nairobi but the one that I really liked was the Dormans retail location at The Junction. I also checked out the one located at the Yaya Centre mall and visited but did not sample at the one located at the Westgate mall.

The first thing I noticed about Dormans is that they tend not to rent their own dedicated rental shop space. It seems to be that their strategy is to rent ‘courtyard’ space within the various malls and set up an espresso bar and chairs and tables for cafeteria style sitting.

At the Yaya Centre location, the Dormans there has got to be the tiniest espresso stand I have ever seen anywhere. It is tucked under this little nook, and I would dare to say that if you were the typical NFL football player or NBA basketball player, you would not be able to fit behind the stand. There is however, more than ample seating for customers who want to sit and relax there.

At the same time, the Dormans espresso bar at the Westgate mall is the largest stand of the three that I have seen thus far. This particular Dormans has the best and most comfortable seating of the three I have visited thus far. The seating includes almost ‘lounge’ style of seating. And at the time I was there, I did not order any drinks, nor sit and relax there because… I was at Artcaffè downstairs.

The second thing I noticed was the wherever there is a Nairobi Java House, there is a Dormans. Once again without knowing the actual details, I would hazard a guess that their strategy is to appeal to those who want a good cup of espresso but are not looking to eat lunch or dinner. Unless I was pretty hungry and I wanted an actual meal, given the choice between Nairobi Java House and Dormans, I would certainly choose Dormans! I am guessing that they probably do have a symbiotic relationship.

Just like Artcaffè, I had a great customer service experience at the Dormans… well more specifically the Dormans located at The Junction. The two baristas I talked to, Alex and Steven stood out to me in contrast the the baristas at Nairobi Java House, and even the Dormans baristas at Westgate mall. I liked the fact that Alex and Steve were interested in promoting Dormans as a world class coffeehouse and this they did in my opinion. In addition, they were glad to show us their skills in the art of the barista. This is an indication that they are passionate about coffee… a passion that sadly many coffeehouses, even in Seattle, lack.

Without breaking any of the in-house rules and regulations, Alex and Steve were able to accommodate our requests rather than the other places where the baristas and waiters simply repeated the “no photography” policy. As a result, I was able to get a great picture of the beautiful latte art they did for me (as you can see at the top of this posting). It is mainly as a result of these two baristas, that I ended up going back specifically to the other Dormans locations instead of Nairobi Java House.

And Of course in addition to great customer service, the most important aspect of a coffeehouse is the coffee, good coffee. And I have to say that I think Dormans has excellent coffee. Not only did I enjoy an excellent latte that Alex pulled for me, but I the day I was flying back to Seattle I went to Nakumatt and bought bags of Dormans coffee to take back, some for me and some for friends here in Seattle.

Artcaffe at Westgate, originally uploaded by andai.

The second coffeehouse I visited in Nairobi was Artcaffè, which is located at the Westgate mall in the Westlands neighborhood.

Artcaffè was a place I discovered purely by chance. I knew there was a Dormans Coffeehouse at the Westgate mall and so my original intention of going there was to visit Dormans. For those of you have have yet to visit the Westgate mall, you will notice to your left, as you enter the mall through the main entrance, the open patio seating for Artcaffè. There was a sign there that actually peaked my interest because with the name, Artcaffè, the sign had the tagline, “coffeehouse and bakery”.
So rather than going straight up to the 2ndfloor where Dormans is located, we decided to just go and check out the place, simply take a quick peek inside and see if it indeed looked like a coffeehouse or at least served espresso. If so, then we would try the place out and visit Dormans the next day instead since Dormans was in plenty of locations.

After a quick word with the maître d’hôtel, we ended up ordering lattes instead of going to Dormans. Dormans would have to wait for another day. The latte I had there was actually really good… it even came with a heart shaped latte art design. I certainly had a great time there.

Now the one thing about Artcaffè that really stood out for me, besides the fact that my latte was great, was their customer service. Of the three places, Artcaffè clearly had the superior customer service. I really liked the fact that the waiters/waitresses were not only helpful and attentive, but that they were flexible and thinking out of the box. There were three things specifically that I thought were really awesome that they did for me.

1. Even though the was a general policy forbidding photography, the people there were very understanding and accommodating and allowed me to take pictures. They were satisfied that I wasn’t trying to set up my own coffeehouse, though we joked a bit about that, and I think the manager really understood that in the age of the Internet, my blogging about their place is actually free publicity. I didn’t meet the manager in person but the waitress gave me his card just in-case I wanted to contact him in the future.
2. When I asked to borrow an empty paper cup so that I could take a picture of it, the waitress said she’d see what she could do. She came back some minutes later and actually gave me the cup and told me I could keep it. This is in stark contrast to Nairobi Java House who told me that the only way I could get an extra cup was if I was to order another latte… This despite the fact that I had ordered a latte. What was even more bizarre was that when I offered to buy a cup from Java House, since I thought maybe they are really tight on inventory control, the supervisor was not having any of that.
3. Finally, the fact that the maître d’hôtel were really friendly and passionate about the place and they were willing to give us interesting tidbits about the coffeehouse despite the fact that they they were also really busy dealing with other customers, I thought was really incredible. They actually did a great job of answering my questions and tag teaming as they also attended to customers coming in and out of the place.

Once again I have to say that this place had excellent customer service, and that alone, along with their great coffee will certainly drive me to go back to Artcaffè for my latte next time I am ever in the area.

Artcaffè certainly made a great impression on me and this is once of the places that I would highly encourage friends and family to go check out if they happen to be visiting the area.