VOL. 36 • ISS. 12

By Dan Bacher

During the public comment period, every speaker except one slammed the Delta Tunnels project for its multitude of flaws. The only person who spoke in support of the current Delta Plan amendments was a representative of of the California Department of Water Resources( DWR).

The Delta Reform Act of 2009 created the controversial Delta Stewardship Council( DSC) with the mandate of implementing the“ co-equal goals” of providing a more reliable water supply for California AND protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem.

Formerly chaired by Capitol political insider Phil Isenberg, who also chaired the Marine Life Protection Act( MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task For3c for the Central Coast and the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force, the Council is currently chaired by Randy Fiorini, who presided over the meeting.

Members of the Restore the Delta, the Save the California Delta Alliance( ST- CDA) out of Discovery Bay, North Delta Cares and other Delta and environmental groups said the proposed amendments“ lack basic analytical documentation,” such as a needs assessment for the California WaterFix, a water supply analysis, and cost-benefits analysis.

They also criticized the proposed amendments for failing to consider environmental justice, anti-discrimination, and human right to water issues in their planning and scientific documentation.

Bob Wright, counsel for Friends of the River, criticized the Council for putting the proverbial cart before the horse by including the Delta Tunnels as the“ preferred alternative” in the Delta Plan.

“ The Delta Plan should be done as a whole. Conveyance is the last piece of puzzle not first,” he emphasized.

“ We have heard today it is complicated problem. The DSC scientists said there is much uncertainty and controversy about the project among the scientists. So, it should not go forward given this uncertainty, on conveyance at this time,” he said.

Retired sportfishing boat Captain Jim Cox, President of the California Striped Bass Association, discussed how the Delta

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Tunnels would destroy the sensitive Delta ecosystem, along with salmon, steelhead, striped bass and other fisheries that use the estuary as a nursery.

“ Delta water exports have compromised the entire delta ecosystem by effecting the lowest species on the food chain,” he said.“ A once-thriving delta system now has adult fish at half the size they were, even just a decade ago. The tunnels plan will increase this effect to the point where no fish local or migratory will be able to exist.”

On a similar note, Janet McCleery, President of the Save the California Delta Alliance( STCDA), pointed out how 3.5 million acre feet of water is the maximum amount of water that can be removed from the Delta system“ before it breaks.”“ The current system isn’ t working because the exporters continue to export too much water and the only way to stop them is to slap them with an injunction,” she said.“ The‘ fix’ is reducing exports, reducing reliance on the Delta, and managing exports based on the flow requirements. I see in the amendment wording about adopting the flow recommendation, but you talk about weighing in favor of the exporters?”

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, called on the Council to eliminate the proposed Delta Plan amendment that promotes the California WaterFix, the most recent name for the Delta Tunnels Project, as the“ preferred alternative” for new Delta Conveyance.

“ The Council needs to follow the legislative mandate that grants it, its authority, and the recent court order to revise the Delta Plan to include measurable targets to achieve reduced Delta reliance before approving the Delta tunnels,” said Barrigan-Parrilla.

Along with creating a plethora of environmental problems for the San Francisco Bay-Delta, she said“ disenfranchised communities in San Joaquin County and the other four Delta counties will also suffer the impacts of the Delta Tunnels.”

“ Communities are never rebuilt, regardless of the promises made by officials, and the people left behind are the ones who get to deal with negative environmental impacts,” said Community educator Nikki Chan, with Stockton’ s Little Manila Foundation.“ In the case of the Delta tunnels, our community members will lose access to fishing areas, marinas, and boating ramps. After construction we learned from the environmental

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May 26- June 9, 2017

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documents that our community members will be left with degraded water quality and contaminated fisheries.”

Delta advocates and the co-authors of a joint letter sent to the DSC on April 18 asked the DSC to consider other alternatives for improving surface storage, performance measures, and conveyance without increasing

environmental degradation to the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, as well as including environmental justice and public health chapters in the Delta Plan’ s Environmental Impacts Report.

In fact, the letter points out that the terms“ environmental justice,”“ human right to water, and“ anti-discrimination” cannot event be found in the reviewed DSC documents:

The groups also requested that the DSC pursue a“ reduced exports alternative” to comply with the Delta Plan’ s primary goal of reduced reliance on water exports from the ecologically impaired Bay-Delta estuary.

Speakers emphasized how the Delta Tunnels would be very lucrative for contractors and consultants, but would be of no benefit to Delta communities.

“ For consultants and contractors there is a lot of money to be made here,” said Bob Wright.“ But this is not a game for the people of the Delta. This is their lives, their homes, their businesses, their farms. They deserve you taking the time to do the work— the necessary analyses before deciding to choose dual conveyance over through-Delta conveyance.”

” I am confused about the Council’ s interpretation of the co-equal goals,” summed up Roger Mammon, Secretary of Restore the Delta.“ I cannot find one positive aspect for the Delta. It appears co-equal means we get a double shaft and the people south of the Delta get our water.”

A bus chartered by the Save The Delta Alliance brought 50 members from Discovery Bay to the meeting and as many more STC- DA members drove from Discovery Bay, other South Delta communities( Bethel Island, Antioch, Oakley, etc.) and some from as far away as San Jose and San Francisco to show their opposition to the tunnels. Many of the STCDA

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Michael Brodsky, lawyer for the STC- DA, said,“ Since 2010, the Delta Stewardship Council has refused to do their job. Their job is to find solutions to the problem that the way we now export water from the Delta to supply California cities and farms harms the Delta and makes our state’ s water supply unreliable.”

The public comment period followed over 1-½ hours of presentations on the amendments by DSC staff and discussion of the amendments by the Council members. After hearing the public comment, the Delta Stewardship Council members briefly discussed the amendments, but made no decision on the agenda item. They will review the amendments at their next meeting.

The Delta Tunnels would divert Sacramento River water through two massive 35-mile long tunnels under the Delta for use by agribusiness interests on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California water agencies. They would not only hasten the extinction of Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species, but they would also imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers, according to scientists and fish advocates.”

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