Thanks to those of you who trekked up to the Delta Stewardship Council Meeting in Sacramento last week. I’m sorry we didn’t have enough to fill a bus but lots of you came anyway. Between all of the organizations who put out the call, the room was full.
Bill Wells (top left), Jan McCleery and Jamie Bolt (right). At the bottom, Skip Thomson, Solano County Supervisor (pro Delta) and Randy Florin, DSC Chair with Turlock tree/wine farm background (pro Tunnel). Photos by Tony Kukulich, Brentwood Press
Michael Brodsky, STCDA Legal Council, made an excellent appeal to the DSC on Wednesday, highlighting the impacts the horrible construction project will have throughout the Delta – from the north to the south. (See the full text of his Appeal and his slides).
Comments started on Thursday afternoon. Thanks to you who went to Sacramento and delivered comments including our members and California Assemblyman Jim Frazier. Here’s Jim’s Comments.
On Friday, the comment period started with folks representing the exporters making their plea for why they need clean water in LA and for Central Valley farming. They were good and valid comments, but they ignored that this plan will destroy the Delta as a Place including the communities and people who live here.
Then Pro Delta speakers took their turn at commenting. Those included yours truly, STCDA Board Members Bill Wells and Jan McCleery. Jan’s comments focused on the construction impacts to Delta communities, highways, and boating waterways and raised the question about why the destructive through-Delta route was chosen instead of the around-the-Delta Eastern Route. Jamie Bolt, the owner of Bethel Harbor, represented the many, numerous establishments on Bethel Island and throughout the Delta that will be devastated with this project. Contra Costa Supervisor Diane Burgis gave a strong rebuttal to the exporters comments and advocated the need to balance concerns for the Delta with the water exporter’s needs. Cecily Tippery from Discovery Bay read the comments from Jerry McNerney (very good – read them including the updated W.E.S.T Bill he’s introducing to the US Congress for a better solution to California’s water), Barbara Barrigan-Parrada from Restore the Delta complained about the lack of communications and outreach to the impacted groups, Deirdre Des Jardin from California Water Research raised very interesting technical questions pointing out concerns about if the plan will protect salinity control in the Delta.
There were a host of folks who showed up to comment. Particularly moving was a gentleman from Locke who showed pictures of that legacy town built in 1915 by Chinese immigrants and considered an important historical site. The second picture showed a grim depiction of how the fragile town would look after only a few years of construction trucks rumbling 24×7 down the narrow main street – shaking the town structures down. Another man from Hood described the historical farmhouse he purchased and has been preserving for decades. Like Locke, his home is on the CA historical registry. The tunnel construction plan is to put a construction road right down the middle of his front yard and going through groves of 100 year old cypress trees.
The damage throughout the Delta from this ill-thought-out plan will be immense. Wouldn’t you go around a treasure like the Delta if you were trying to protect it? Not through the middle, tearing everything up? See more here:
DSC Meeting References:
- Michael A. Brodsky Save the California Delta Alliance’s slides
- Michael Brodsky’s appeal on behalf of STCDA and the Northern Delta legacy communities.
- U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney’s Comments: Public Hearing Letter_10.25.18
- CA Rep Jim Frazier’s Comments
- Jan McCleery, Discovery Bay/STCDA Comments to the DSC
- Deirdre Des Jardins, CWR comments WaterFix consistency certification
Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA) 
0 Responses to “Thank you for making comments at the DSC Meeting last week!”