Following news that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not issue 50-year environmental permits for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) an epidemic of comprehension has spread, resulting in an outbreak of articles on the break-up of BDCP.
On April 11, 2015 the San Jose Mercury News published Delta tunnels: Major changes to environmental restoration could endanger Brown’s water plan. In the article the Mercury News announced new information that “the Brown administration is proposing a major and politically risky change: dropping a 50-year guarantee to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta’s environment.” Brown is quoted in the article saying the change is “kind of a technical point,” a sentiment not shared by others affected by the plan including an environmental group, farmers, and water agencies.
Published on April 17, 2015 the San Jose Mercury News editorial: Jerry Brown needs new water strategy — no tunnels acknowledges that without any conservation claim in the BDCP the project is… “Dead in the murky, barely habitable water.” Mercury staff urges Brown to use his leadership in ways other than promoting the tunnels.
Adding to the growing chorus the The San Francisco Chronicle Editorials wrote The end of the delta tunnels plan? We should hope so on April 21, 2015. In the editorial the Chronicle states “What we want to hear is how the state is prioritizing water for the environment and the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary, not building tunnels to divert more of it to the south.”
Also on April 21 the Modesto Bee Editorial Board wrote Our View: Now we see real goal of Delta plan. Responding to the news that the BDCP is dropping the 50-year environmental permits the article points out that the co-equal goals of a reliable water source and environmental protections for the Delta “don’t mesh; they never have.”