The Delta Stewardship Council is in the process of revising the Delta Plan and related environmental documents following the successful litigation by CSPA and others in vacating the previous Plan. Unfortunately, the Council is again ignoring the strict requirements for a Delta Plan mandated by the State Legislature in the 2009 Delta Reform Act. For example, the Council is proposing to adopt an isolated dual conveyance system to transport Sacramento River water under the Delta through twin tunnels to ensure water supply reliability. They propose to do so without serious consideration of alternatives and before determining how much water is necessary to restore and maintain the Delta’s degraded ecosystem and public trust resources and before project-level environmental review has occurred.
In a series of comment letters and appearances in public meetings, a coalition of environmental and fishing organization, including CSPA, have informed the Council that planning must occur before plumbing and that a reasonable range of alternatives to tunnels must be fully evaluated before any final decision is made. Failure to do so will inevitably lead to another round of litigation.
20 March Letter 13 April Letter 24 April Letter 24 May Letter 5 June Letter