This Wednesday, July 17, from noon to 6 p.m., the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) will hold a public meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel and Conference Center, 2001 Point West Way in Sacramento. Parking lots are gated, but parking will be validated.
The topic is Chapters 8-12 of the BDCP Administrative Draft. This includes
Chapter 8 – Implementation Costs and Funding Sources
Chapter 9 – Alternatives to Take
Chapter 10 – Integration of Independent Science into BDCP
If you are available to attend the meeting, we encourage you to do so. A busload of Delta advocates from Discovery Bay-based Save the California Delta Alliance will be attending this session. Otherwise, a Restore the Delta staff representative will be focusing on making some comments and documenting this public session, as a number of our staff are preparing for statewide Restore the Delta events coming up over the next two months.
In particular, it might be worth asking Dr. Jerry Meral how does he explain Chapters 8 and 9 substituting for a real cost-benefit analysis as described in DWR’s guidelines:http://www.water.ca.gov/pubs/planning/economic_analysis_guidebook/econguidebook.pdf).
With respect to financial feasibility, it is worth asking Dr. Meral how chapters 8 & 9 address financial feasibility? According to DWR’s guidebook (page 46): ” The test of financial feasibility is passed if (a) beneficiaries are willing and able to pay their allocated costs for project outputs over the life of the project. BDCP can’t evaluate financial feasibility without a cost allocation.” They don’t have a final cost allocation, and the planning assumption to date for cost allocation has been proportional to water received – not hard costs.
And it might be worth asking how can we count on Westlands to pay its fair share, when it still hasn’t paid back the Federal Government for the Central Valley Project.