Dear Interested Parties and Members of the Media:

Thank you, Senator Dianne Feinstein, for releasing a damning report of selenium treatment technology strategies, and for your leadership on the difficult drainage issues in the San Joaquin Valley, but we want you to ask tougher questions of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation about recent secret proposals for new selenium treatment technologies.

That is the message from Carolee Krieger, president of the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN), and Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), in a letter to the senior U.S. senator from California.

“Senator Feinstein had the foresight to request this important study by the USGS,” Krieger said, “and now that it’s public, it says the selenium treatment technologies are unproven and dangerous for aquatic birds that would be drawn to contaminated ponds and sprayers. We think this means these treatment technologies are dead on arrival.”

On June 5, 2008, Senator Feinstein released to the public a report on selenium treatment technology strategies she requested from the U.S. Geological Survey and five days later wrote to Donald Glaser, regional director of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Sacramento to express concerns that important technical problems remain, and requested that the Bureau respond directly to the USGS critique.

Our joint media release and a copy of our letter to Senator Feinstein are attached. For further information, please contact:

Carolee Krieger, President, California Water Impact Network, (805) 969-0824, mailto:caroleeekrieger@cox.net

Bill Jennings, Chairman, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, (209) 464-5067, mailto:deltakeep@aol.com

Click Here for the Press Release.

Click Here for the Letter.