For Immediate Release: Thursday, 12/22/16
Contact:
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053, barbara@restorethedelta.org
EIR for Delta Tunnels Released Today
Restore the Delta Response
Stockton, CA – Today, the Delta Tunnels Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) was released online.
As we mentioned yesterday, this document is not a green light for the Delta Tunnels but rather should be understood as the submission of homework by sponsoring agencies (California Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) to be evaluated by state and federal regulators who will determine if proposal can meet environmental and water quality standards under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A feat no previous version of the proposal has achieved.
Whenever Governor Brown wants to make a bold pronouncement on the Delta Tunnels proposal, he turns to his loyal stenographer Dan Morain, editorial page editor at the Sacramento Bee. As he does again today in this story, “Jerry Brown plunges ahead on twin tunnels.”
Here is the reaction to this story by Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta:
“Governor Jerry Brown told the Sacramento Bee that Delta Tunnels proposal is based on the best scientific thinking. That is simply not true. He left out that fish do worse with the tunnels, and that millions of Delta residents will be left with degraded water that will not meet Clean Water Act standards.
“The Governor failed to remember the dangers for Delta residents associated with the project, from toxic algal blooms, to increased boron and selenium in drinking water, to greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 600,000 new cars on the road each year from construction.
“This forgetting on Governor Brown's part is reckless and dangerous as he makes his appeal to President-elect Trump to support the project. Governor Brown is supporting a project that will leave Stockton, California, a majority-minority city, and other Delta environmental justice communities with degraded water — all for the benefit of rich water exporters in the San Joaquin Valley, Southern California, and Silicon Valley. Shame on Governor Brown. What dishonest pandering!”
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For Immediate Release: Wednesday, 12/21/16
Contact:
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053 barbara@restorethedelta.org
DELTA TUNNELS
EIR To Be Released Thursday Is No Green Light
The lead agencies behind the proposed Delta Tunnels (California Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) have announced they will release their Environmental Impact Report/ Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/ EIS) on Thursday, December 22, 2016.
The document will be available at www.BayDeltaConservationPlan.com and is expected to be approximately 80,000 pages long.
This document represents the agencies’ final attempt to convince state and federal regulators that their proposal for twin 40-foot, 30-mile long water tunnels to transfer Sacramento River water beneath the San Francisco Bay-Delta can meet environmental and water quality standards under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A feat no previous version of the proposal has achieved.
Despite any claims by project supporters, this document is by no means an approval of the proposal. It is akin to the submission of homework to be graded.
The approval process still has a long way to go.
As the Department and the Bureau jointly told the State Water Board at the end of November 2016, the environmental report cannot be finalized until a biological opinion is completed in March or April 2017. They told the Board they would finalize the report “at approximately the same time” as when the biological opinion is released.
“How thoughtful of Delta Tunnel lead agencies to dump this document on defenders of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary just before the holidays. For comparison, an 80,000-page document is roughly 66 Bibles long,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. “We will begin digging through the information, evaluating agency replies to public comments included in this document, engage in the process moving forward, and prepare for litigation if required.”