BREAKING: Joint Legislative Budget Committee Hearing for the Tunnels has been POSTPONED Indefinitely; Our Next Step to Defeating the Tunnels!
We have a win to celebrate today! Your calls, tweets, and emails have successfully POSTPONED the Joint Legislative Budget Committee hearing indefinitely! This small victory is a testament of what we can achieve when we work together for a common goal (and the power of an impending deadline). Our coalition of NGOS, activists, and supporters demanded that key legislators involved in this hearing do not proceed until AFTER the tunnels financial plan is available to the public. You can count on us to hold them accountable.
Though we may have won this battle, it’s on to the next. So take a victory lap, maybe take a nap, and buckle up for our last big effort to fight for the Delta during the month of August.
On August 21, the State Water Board will hold a public meeting for their Bay-Delta Plan updates in Sacramento. Unfortunately, the period to receive written comments via email, snail mail, or over the phone is over—this means that we need as many activists as possible to deliver public comments in-person on August 21. Depending on the volume of comments, this meeting is anticipated to continue on Wednesday August 22, but it is of the utmost importance that we have a large turnout on the first day of the meeting (August 21).
MEETING DETAILS:
WHO: State Water Resources Control Board, Bay-Delta advocates, environmental and public trust NGO’s
WHAT: A public meeting to consider the adoption of proposed amendments to the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary
The meeting notice can be viewed here.
WHEN: Tuesday, August 21, 2018, 9:30 a.m; Wednesday, August 22, 2018, 9:30 a.m.
WHERE: Joe Serna Jr. / CalEPA Headquarters Building, Coastal Hearing Room (Second Floor); 1001 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
PRO-TIPS FOR THE SWRCB BAY-DELTA PLAN UPDATES MEETING
- VERY IMPORTANT: Your comment CANNOT mention the Delta tunnels due to ex parte communications related to the SWRCB change petition hearing. Though the Bay-Delta Plan updates and the tunnels are undeniably interconnected, if your comment includes concerns about the tunnels, you run the risk of being interrupted by the board, and told that your comment is irrelevant. The purpose of this meeting is to determine flow criteria the San Joaquin River and its tributaries. Please keep your comments focused on San Joaquin River flows and Delta water quality WITHOUT discussing the tunnels. An example of an acceptable comment would be:
“In order to restore declining salmon and steelhead populations, and to preserve south Delta water quality, the best available science shows that between 50-60% of the San Joaquin River’s winter-spring runoff must flow to the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary. Ensuring adequate flows is the best way to protect the Delta, its peoples’ basic public health needs, and its economies.”
*More talking points for the meeting will become available in the days ahead. Until then, you can get more ideas for you comment from a coalition letter RTD signed on to at the end of July: https://bit.ly/2OlZmvk
- These meetings are LONG. We advise activists to pack a lunch and snacks, bring plenty of water, bring a book, bring knitting, or bring your smart devices to keep you occupied until it is your turn to speak.
- Please arrive at the meeting 40 minutes early so that you can fill out a speaker card in time.
We thank you for your relentless efforts to protect the Delta and water quality for all Californians. Your continued vigilance and activism will carry us through the final months of Brown’s last term. Now is the time to make moves that will render Brown’s beloved tunnels as a pipedream deferred.
Let’s do this.
Yours in Service,
Restore the Delta