Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
Gov. Jerry Brown's administration
released two massive documents Monday, detailing its plans to build twin
tunnels beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and complete the last link of
the water system his father began more than a half-century ago.
Minutes later, opponents of the
Bay Delta Conservation Plan declared that they will use every available legal
and political process to kill it.
Coalition response... It is interesting to note that opponents of the plan were condemning it
only minutes after the release of the document that took many years worth of
scientific research, engineering investigation, and conservation expertise to
create. In their haste to maintain the precarious status quo, opponents of the
BDCP are willing to sacrifice the opportunity to provide reliable water
supplies while improving the sustainability of the Bay-Delta.
From: Andrew Creasey,
Marysville Appeal-Democrat
Local elected officials and
legislators unanimously disapprove of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and its
proposal to construct two massive tunnels to divert water from the north toward
the south.
The public draft of the Bay Delta
Conservation Plan and environmental impacts reports and statements were
released on Monday - about 34,000 pages of studies seven years in the making.
Coalition response... The California Farm Water Coalition is a statewide organization with
members from Redding to the Imperial Valley. While many Northern Californians
believe that the BDCP will be harmful to the region, ecosystem improvements in
the Delta will help improve the survivability of salmon that return to the
Sacramento River and its tributaries to spawn. Fixing long-standing problems in
the Delta will have benefits for Northern California fisheries while
modernizing and improving the efficiency of our aging infrastructure.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
Ever since he took office three
years ago, Gov. Jerry Brown has been trying to build two landmark public works
projects to reshape California: a $68 billion high-speed rail system and a $25
billion overhaul of the state's water system, including two massive tunnels
under the Delta.
Both have been debated separately
so far, with most public attention going to the bullet train plan.
From: Heather Hacking, Chico
Enterprise-Record
The environmental reports for
plans for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan were released Monday, beginning a new
flurry of debate.
The $24.7 billion plan, seven
years in the making, includes Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal for 35 miles of
tunnels that would move water under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, rather
than through a system of pumps in the south Delta that are known to harm fish.
Seven years and tens of thousands
of pages in the making, state officials have submitted their full proposal for
a Delta water system that seeks compromise on what may be California's most
long-running and heated battle.
"It's a complicated
picture," said Paul Helliker, deputy director of the state Department of
Water Resources.
From: Bettina Boxall, L.A.
Times
A $25-billion proposal to
re-engineer the hub of California's sprawling water system may not yield all
the water that San Joaquin Valley farmers and Southland cities want, leaving
open the question of whether the massive project will be built.
The delivery estimates are
included in draft plans and environmental impact documents released Monday.
Totaling more than 30,000 pages, the drafts underscore the many uncertainties
about a project that has been in the planning stages for years and is a
centerpiece of Gov. Jerry Brown's water policy.
From: Melody Gutierrez, San
Francisco Chronicle
After seven years in the making,
the $25 billion plan to build two massive tunnels diverting water out of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is up for public review. And one thing is
clear: You better grab your reading glasses.
A new future for the troubled
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta was laid out for public review Monday in 34,000
pages of analysis associated with two giant water diversion tunnels proposed by
Gov. Jerry Brown. The question now for the public and policy makers: Is this
the future they want?
California water officials have
released a draft copy of a $24.7 billion plan to restore the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta, in part by building two 30-mile tunnels to ensure stable water
delivery to millions of Californians.
The joint federal and state Bay
Delta Conservation Plan and environmental impact analysis released Monday
includes plans for building the tunnels and completing significant habitat
restoration work to improve the delivery of mountain snowmelt to Central Valley
farms and cities throughout the state.
California water officials on
Monday released a draft of a $24.7 billion plan to restore the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta, in part by building two 30-mile underground tunnels to ensure
stable water delivery to millions of Californians.
The joint federal and state Bay
Delta Conservation Plan, or BDCP, and environmental impact analysis comes after
seven years of study, and includes plans for building the tunnels and
completing significant habitat restoration work to improve the delivery of
mountain snowmelt to Central Valley farms and cities throughout the state.
At the heart of the 50-year plan
unveiled last summer by Gov. Jerry Brown are the twin tunnels with a
9,000-cubic-feet-per-second capacity that would replace the delta's current
pumping system that endangers fish and other wildlife.
From: Jim Carlton, Wall Street
Journal (subscription required)
A contentious project to divert
water supplied to Southern California past an ecologically sensitive river
delta moved a step closer to fruition Monday, as state and federal officials
unveiled a draft final environmental analysis.
Under the $25 billion plan, which
is backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, two 30-mile-long tunnels would bypass the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in Northern California. The area often serves as a
choke point for water destined for more than 20 million people and farmland in
semiarid parts of Southern California and the Central Valley because of pumping
restrictions to protect endangered smelt and other fish.
From: Lauren Sommer, KQED
Science Blog
Seven years in the making, state
officials on Monday unveiled the latest version of their ambitious plan for
revitalizing the heart of California's embattled water system and securing
supplies for decades to come.
The Bay Delta Conservation Plan
and its environmental review weigh in at 34,000 pages - that's before public
comments start pouring in next week for a 120-day feedback period.
From: Staff, State Water
Contractors
Note: A summary of public
statements and comments on the BDCP compiled by the State Water Contractors.
Monday, a statewide coalition and
a few lawmakers presented a united front against Gov. Brown's proposed tunnel
water project. Their protest comes as the EPA just released environmental
impact documents on the nearly $25 billion project.
The proposal calls for building
tunnels to divert water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the Central
Valley to benefit farmers. It's called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, but
opponents say the project could threaten habitats for wildlife such as fish
populations and sandhill cranes which rely on the water from the delta to
thrive.
Levees
From: Dennis Taylor, The
Salinas Californian
With rain on the horizon, growers
in the Salinas Valley are hoping for two things: A wet winter and a not-so-wet
winter.
With regulators having put the
kibosh on allowing farmers to cut trees and brush and remove debris and
sediment, the Salinas River channel is estimated to accommodate only half the
water volume of recent years, a situation farmers underscore by recalling the
disastrous flood of 1995.
