May 19, 2011

To Bryan McFadin, staff of North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board:

Thanks for the notice of the extended deadline on the Waste Discharge Waiver granting an extra 6 months through March 2012.  Humm, what to do?

Just to remind you -- we do NOT discharge "sludge," which was stated in one of the news articles published after your workshops here in April.  I think it was the Capital Press. 

Dylan Darling and the Redding Record Searchlight was just as enlightening as to which side it and he is serving. 

Where in the world would a news reporter get the word SLUDGE from, when referring to Scott River?

I still maintain that we do NOT discharge ANY waste.  Irrigation water is NOT waste in Scott Valley!

Any cow poop in the river is extremely minimal.  More than 90 percent of the ranchers have fenced the cattle out of the river or only grow alfalfa. You must quantify “harm” and your agency has refused in the last 10 years to do that kind of a TRUE scientific study.  Looks like there are some answers you just don’t want to know.

Before cows were here, there were a significant amount of large wild animals drinking and pooping in the streams, including a many beavers.  Juvenile fish even obtain nutrients from cow or other animal poop in the river.  It is part of the natural cycle. 

Intolerance of what is natural is illiterate.

Scott River is clear and clean.

We checked with the Siskiyou County Public Health Dept and in the last 50 years, there has NEVER been a case reported by a doctor of someone getting sick from swimming in Scott, Shasta or Klamath Rivers. 

Insinuations are misleading and false.  They also destroy trust.

We don’t catch any fish in the river, because it is against DFG regulation as we might catch a coho.  The fish that are there -- are healthy and you know it.  Felice knows it too, but would rather suggest they are not.

We will NOT obtain a Permit to Farm under any kind of name.

Yes, I may seem naïve on this issue, but your agency is stepping way over its bounds as is the DFG.

Under the Constitution, government is established to serve the people NOT destroy their lives and livelihoods.  We stand resolute.

Felice’s recent rhetoric is nothing but outrageous lies.  And he is certainly NO expert only a rabble rouser. I can almost hear him chuckling, enjoying his latest foray.

I certainly hope you are not believing any of his despicable statements!

Liz Bowen, president

Scott Valley Protect Our Water