Two important BDCP meetings are coming up in July that we encourage Restore the Delta supporters to attend/monitor if they have time. (Remember, we are not yet reviewing the public draft of the EIR. That is due to begin in October, so if your time to participate is limited, save it up for commenting during the public review period starting at the end of the year.)
A Finance Working Group Meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, July 10, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. The meeting will be held to review the draft Statewide Economic Impact Study. The meeting will be held at the Natural Resources Agency Building, 1416 Ninth Street, Room 1131, Sacramento, CA, and will be accessible by conference call at 916-651-3086 (no access code needed). Visit the Finance Working Group page for additional information.
A BDCP Public Meeting is scheduled for July 17 at the DoubleTree Hotel and Conference Center, 2001 Point West Way, Sacramento. The meeting will provide an update on BDCP Administrative Draft Chapters 8-12. Project staff will be available to review Administrative Draft BDCP materials and discuss comments and questions beginning at 12 p.m. and continuing until 6 p.m. The presentation portion of the meeting will run from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
The meeting will be available by live video webcast here and by conference call at 1-888-369-1427, Access Code: 8278112.
At both meetings, we think that it is important to ask BDCP officials what happened to the Cost Benefit Analysis that was promised at the beginning of the year and to tell them that substituting an economic impact report in its place is simply dishonest economic planning for the state.
At the meeting on July 17th, it’s worth pointing out that West Delta salinity standards are being violated presently, and that DWR and the Bureau of Reclamation have asked the State Board to change this year’s classification from dry to critical because they expect to violate Delta outflow standard and salinity standards at Jersey Point, Terminous, and San Andreas in the near future. And to make matters worse, we have heard that the State Water Resources Control Board will not enforce water quality and outflow standards.
In the second year of a dry period, not even a drought, our oversubscribed water system is broken because we are pushing up against the hard limits of our limited water resource. And yet, magical thinking is what is shaping the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, which will miracoulosly have enough water to protect the Delta and meet the needs of water exporters through the mystical process of adaptive management.
Never mind that DWR cannot manage the system adaptively now without the tunnels. Never mind that science shows again and again that in dry periods water exports must be reduced to allow adequate flow through the Delta. Never mind that the State Water Resources Control Board has promised five times more water than is available in the Delta watershed.
Why would anyone believe that the tunnels would be operated in a manner that would protect Delta fisheries or Delta communities? And why would anyone believe that there would be an economic benefit for the majority of Californians, from residents in the North through the Delta and Bay Area down to San Diego, from building a $54 billion project that will end up a dry and stranded asset? And why would anyone believe that figuring out the science later will net an improved result when it’s clear that water is managed by State and Federal Agencies to benefit three special interest water districts: Westlands, Kern County Water Agency, and the Metropolitan Water District.