Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA)

An open letter to the Delta Protection Commission(*):

Thank you DPC for your loud and strong statement that the California WaterFix (CWF) is inconsistent with the Delta as a Place. Finally a government group is standing up for Delta communities!

As you know, Delta communities and organizations have been arguing against the CWF for years. More recently, at the SWRCB hearings, Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA) brought in expert witnesses focusing on the construction phase of the project: the impact of 24×7 construction traffic on all of our Delta highways (rural, mostly 2-lane roads), the impact of the barge docks and barge traffic on boating and recreation (boating in the Delta will become a thing of the past), the impact on the small legacy towns of Locke, Hood, etc. that are of historical significance, and the impact on all of the communities in the Delta that rely on tourists and boaters to come to the Delta (but won’t be able to when all the highways are gridlocked with construction traffic). For people living in the Delta communities, their lives will be significantly impacted for many years. Your letter highlighted the “blight” this project will bring to our communities. Thank you.

My favorite paragraph from the DPC Letter:

Our review of the record suggests that CWF does not “avoid or reduce conflicts . . . when feasible”, as required by [the Delta Plan]. DWR’s supporting findings identify numerous impacts to Delta communities associated with the CWF project. Included among these impacts are disclosures of the impacts on community character of the CWF project’s construction activities, including declining property values, blight and abandonment. It is not hyperbole to suggest that the CWF project presents an existential crisis for the small Delta communities that would be most affected by the protracted, intensive construction period, the permanent infrastructure, and the radical – not evolutionary – effects on the Delta economic drivers of agriculture, recreation, and emerging heritage tourism. DWR has failed to grapple with the reality, demonstrated through evidence in the record, that CWF puts the long-term sustainability of small Delta communities in serious jeopardy; it also thoroughly fails to offer any meaningful mitigation for such impacts.

Again, thank you soooo much for DPC’s bold stand against the Delta Tunnels. The Delta “Stewardship” Council members are not being stewards of the Delta. Thankfully now the Delta “Protection” Committee is stepping forward and protecting us. Good job !!!

Note: (*) The Delta Protection Commission is a state-appointed commission with responsibility to:

• Provide oversight of Delta land use and resource management
• Promote the protection of life and property through the maintenance and improvement of Delta levees, and by facilitating coordinated emergency preparedness and response
• Promote a robust regional economy – one that protects agriculture, natural resources, recreation and the cultural and historic values of the Delta

The fifteen-member Delta Protection Commission was created under the Delta Protection Act. Its diverse composition provides for stakeholder representation in the areas of agriculture, habitat, and recreation.

Members of the Commission include: One member of the Board of Supervisors of each of the five counties within the Delta (Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, and Yolo); an elected city council members representing the Delta counties; landowners from north, south, and central Delta reclamation districts; and high-level leaders from Business, Transportation and Housing, the Natural Resources Agency, Food and Agriculture, and the State Lands Commission. The two ex-officio members of the Commission are representatives of the Senate and Assembly.

The DPC has the responsibility to provide comment and input on projects that would affect the Delta.

Website: delta.ca.gov