Nature Conservancy revises answer on Delta water exports

In a post from January, I pointed out that the Nature Conservancy was making the absurd claim that ending Delta water exports would be bad for the environment as part of their justification for endorsing a peripheral canal. This quote was on their website.

Nature.org: Why not just stop exporting water from the Delta?
Anthony Saracino: Completely eliminating water exports from the Delta would force millions of people to draw their water from other sources, and that could cause even greater harm to the natural environment that Californians treasure

If you click the link in this old post, you will see that TNC has changed their answer. I have no idea when they made the change or why, but it now says.

Nature.org: Why not just stop exporting water from the Delta?
Anthony Saracino: Completely eliminating water exports from the Delta will hurt California. Farming plays an integral $3.6B role in California’s economy. And, even with better water conservation and efficiency, southern California is decades away from deriving sufficient water from other sources.

At least this response is more honest, it is a pure economic argument for building a peripheral canal. Of course, that is a strange argument for an environmental group. Unless you are TNC and have already received state grants for conserving land in the Delta and a peripheral canal project would likely generate a lot more of these public environmental mitigation funds.

[Update 11/3: I should point out making an economic argument isn't the same as making a good economi argument. I used to support TNC back when they were apolitical and just conserved land, now they seem to have gotten themselves caught up in conflicts of interest.]