For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 25, 2017
Contact:
Nora Kovaleski, 408-806-6470, nora@kovaleskipr.com
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053, Barbara@restorethedelta.org
Delta Stewardship Council Stalls Vote on Delta Plan Amendments
Sacramento, CA – Despite public outcry, the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) continues moving forward with amendments to the Delta Plan. The DSC decided, in response to the Delta community’s comments, to postpone the vote until June and to instead use the 5/25/17 meeting to further consider revisions to the amendment.
Delta activists and lawyers find the revisions even worse.
On April 28, 2017 more than 200 Delta residents voiced their opposition to the proposed Delta Plan amendments for making dual conveyance (also known as the Delta Tunnels proposal) the preferred alternative for moving water through the Delta. The Delta Stewardship Council claimed the revision to the proposed plan amendment that promoted dual conveyance—rather than promoting the CA WaterFix project verbatim—somehow made the amendment less controversial.
Representatives from Restore the Delta and other Delta groups said the proposed amendments lack basic analytical documentation, such as a needs assessment of dual conveyance, a water supply analysis, and a cost-benefit analysis. The proposed amendments to the Delta Plan also fail to consider environmental justice, anti-discrimination, and human right to water issues in their planning and scientific documentation.
The DSC panel scheduled for Thursday May 25 at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel in the Magnolia Banquet Room, 1230 J St, Sacramento, CA 95814 will include San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority General Manager Jason Peltier—former Deputy General Manager of Westlands Water District during its period of “a little Enron accounting.” While Peltier will voice support for the amendment, Discovery Bay attorney Michael Brodsky, and LAND attorney Osha Meserve will argue against it.
Recently, the Delta Independent Science Board, critiqued the DSC’s Delta Science program for failing to define, measure, and articulate how to protect the Delta as a place, under the co-equal goals of restoring the Delta’s ecosystem and water supply reliability.
Restore the Delta executive Director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla said:
“The Delta Stewardship Council claims to be looking at the science as it makes its evaluation; however, the members never seem to consider science that clearly shows that the Delta tunnels will further harm fisheries, and ignores lawyers and Delta water policy experts when they bring this oversight to the Council’s attention. We also just learned that the DSC are seeking to pass the amendment and then have it evaluated by the Independent Science Board, putting the cart before the horse. Plus, the decision before the DSC cannot be addressed by measurable biological scientific data alone; the Council must also prioritize the consideration of ethical, legal, economic and cultural ramifications before approving any dual conveyance proposals, including the Delta Tunnels.”