Sacramento - Assemblywoman Alyson Huber delivered an estimated 2,000 postcards to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office last week in order to highlight opposition to a peripheral canal from the San Joaquin Delta to serve Southern California. The postcards were originally attached to a district-wide mailer in which she urged her constituents to oppose the governor’s plan to build a “peripheral canal” around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta without a full fiscal analysis and a vote of the state legislature. Huber, whose district includes Amador County and portions of the Delta, joined State Senator Lois Wolk in co-authoring legislation to put any new canal construction up to a statewide vote. Lawmakers passed legislation earlier this month that delegates the canal decision to a new 17 member council, including four members appointed by the governor. Huber has said she is “very concerned that the current water policy bill provides a clear path to building a canal and this (bill) ensures we get answers to some very important questions, and give the Delta a voice in the process.” Huber said California needs more storage, and the state has “8 times more water rights holders than we actually have water.” She said the water bill talks “about exporting water when we don’t have enough to meet needs here.” The bill defines the peripheral canal as one “that conveys water from a diversion point in the Sacramento River to a location south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.” Several heavy boxes of postcards were accepted on the governor’s behalf by Aaron McLear, his press secretary. McLear said the “governor is very proud of our historic accomplishment last week.” Soon after Huber’s special delivery, Schwarzenegger signed a five-bill, $11 billion water package that would pay for new dams, restoration and groundwater banking if approved by voters next year. Schwarzenegger described the bills as “an historic legislative package to reform and rebuild California’s water system.” The bill was pushed through the legislature with the support of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who claims the legislation will “ensure the restoration of the Delta’s fragile ecosystem while enhancing water reliability for all Californians.” Huber said she will continue to oppose the water package because it “creates a new layer of bureaucrats who will make decisions on water that will impact the communities I represent, without allowing us to have a voice.” Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.