26 May 12-26, 2017 VOL. 36 • ISS. 11

( RTD) and the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water( EJCW), in April sent a joint letter opposing the Delta Stewardship Council’ s proposed amendments to the Delta Plan that marginalize environmental environmental justice communities and Tribes. The amendments regarding surface storage, conveyance( the Delta Tunnels) and performance measures“ lack a true needs assessment for CA WaterFix, a water supply analysis, a cost-benefits analysis, and fails to consider environmental justice, anti-discrimination, and human right to water issues in their planning and scientific documents within the Delta Plan,” according to the groups.

The letter was sent at time a time when Governor Jerry Brown continues to push for the construction of the two massive twin tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas, to export water to agribusiness interests on the west side of

April 13, U. S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke issued a statement saying he“ appreciated the positive and productive conversation” with Brown.

The Trump administration official said he and the governor discussed“ public lands, water infrastructure and projects throughout California” that are managed by the Department of Interior.

One of the topics they talked about was Governor Brown’ s controversial plan to build the Delta Tunnels. Zinke has not yet taken a formal position on the California WaterFix project, but you can bet that Brown was doing everything he could to convince him to officially support it.

Secretary Zinke noted that the Bureau of Reclamation spends more than a third of its budget in the state and“ close coordination is essential to ensure reliable water supplies to communities, farmers, and businesses.”

“ I shared my intent to work with the Governor to help prevent and reduce risks that wildland fires can pose to homeowners, watersheds, and businesses in California communities. This includes strong management of federal land holdings. We also discussed ensuring a first-rate experience for the more than 40 million visitors expected to visit national parks in the state this year,” said Zinke.

“ With more than 23 million acres of federally managed land in the state and Bureau of Reclamation projects that supply water and electricity to cities, farmers, and businesses, it is clear that we will be talking often,” said Zinke.

Neither Zinke or Brown’ s Office indicated whether the Governor or Interior Secretary had initiated the meeting.

“ Governor Brown and Secretary Zinke had a very cordial conversation today and there was a real recognition that California and the federal government are deeply interconnected when it comes to land and water management,” said Evan Westrup, Brown’ s press secretary, in an email to the LA Times.

Delta and public trust advocates fear that Brown will try to make a deal with Zinke and other Trump administration officials to expedite the construction of the tunnels. As soon as the November election results came in, I predicted that Brown would try to

the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California water agencies.

Randy Reck, EJCW Staff Attorney, said,“ The proposed Delta Plan amendments are the latest iteration of a Delta planning process that continues to marginalize the very environmental justice and Tribal communities who bear a disproportionate burden— both environmental and financial— of over-reliance on the Delta. EJCW formed eighteen years ago in response to similar exclusionary tactics employed in the CALFED process.”

“ While significant advances have been made in state policy on environmental justice since then, including the Human Right to Water policy, Delta communities continue to be overlooked by a process that doesn’ t even pretend to include them. EJCW calls on the DSC to abide by existing environmental justice policies and the values that underlie them, including transparency, collaboration, equity, and opportunity,” he noted.

The letter points out that the terms make a deal with the Trump administration to build the Delta Tunnels.

The Delta Tunnels project has come under increasing fire from scientists, economists and public trust advocates over the past few years. In December, Brown told the Sacramento Bee that the California WaterFix, the plan to divert Sacramento River water to agribusiness and Southern California water agencies through two 35-mile long tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, is based on“ the best scientific thinking.”

Federal scientists strongly disagree with Brown’ s claim that“ best scientific thinking” supports the construction of the tunnels. In fact, the National Marine Fisheries Service( NMFS) has released a draft biological opinion documenting the harm the tunnels would cause to Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, other fish and wildlife species, and water quality.

An independent peer review panel found the NMFS findings are backed by“ comprehensive analyses, new data, and modeling.” The panel further found NMFS used the“ best available

“ environmental justice,”“ human right to water, and“ anti-discrimination” cannot be found in the reviewed Delta Stewardship Council documents:

“ State of California environmental justice, human right to water, and anti-discrimination policy requirements apply to planning activities and decisions by all state agencies. We searched planning and scientific documents prepared by the Delta Stewardship Council( DSC) concerning Delta Plan amendments( DPAs) for performance measures andconveyance, storage and operations. We used the terms 1‘ environmental justice,’‘ human right to water,’ and various permutations of‘ anti-discrimination.” None of these terms are found in the DSC planning and scientific documents reviewed for this letter.”

The groups said the language of these documents becomes even“ more problematic” via the use of the word“ promote” in reference to the California WaterFix.

“ The Council puts the cart before science” and produced evidence of“ significant adverse impacts” to species and critical habitat, including unacceptable harm to salmon.

The draft biological opinion is available at http:// www. westcoast. fisheries. noaa. gov / central _ valley / WaterFix / WaterFixPeerReview2BMaterials. html

After meeting with Brown, Secretary Zinke met with employees at Yosemite National Park on Thursday. On the following day, Zinke kicked off National Park Week early at Sequoia National Park— America’ s second national park-“ known for its sky-scraping giant redwood trees,“ according to a U. S. Department of Interior( DOI) news release.

The U. S. Senate on March 1, 2017 confirmed then U. S. Representative Ryan Zinke( R-MT) as the nation’ s 52nd Secretary of the Interior by a 68-31 vote. Zinke came to Congress in January 2014 after a 23-year career with the U. S. Navy.

In 2008, he was elected as a state senator, where he led the chamber’ s Education and Cultural Resources Committee. During his tenure in Congress he served as a member of the House Natural Resources Committee.

the horse with its proposed Delta Plan language promoting the Delta Tunnels project,” said Restore the Delta’ s Policy Analyst, Tim Stroshane.“ They will become both promoter and regulator of the Tunnels and other dam projects if they approve this amendment. It is farcical.”

“ The Delta Plan Amendments, as proposed by the Delta Stewardship Council, ignore large portions of the Delta Reform Act that deal with Delta stewardship and promote the construction of the Delta Tunnels,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta.“ In addition, these revised amendments and the Delta Plan in its entirety fail to identify and evaluate the impacts of new conveyance on the Delta environmental justice community. The Council, unfortunately, is continuing to push through boondoggle tunnels that will benefit special interest water districts at the expense of the Delta-- the ecosystem and communities that they are to protect, restore and enhance.”