[env-trinity] Bay Delta Conservation Plan is not the 'most realistic plan'

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.calitics.com/diary/15340/dwr-biologist-greenwashes-bay- 
delta-conservation-plan

Bay Delta Conservation Plan is not the 'most realistic plan'

by Dan Bacher

Dennis McEwan's opinion piece in the Sacramento Bee (http:// 
www.sacbee.com/2013/12/01/5957581/the-delta-the-plumbing-and- 
rectifying.html) glorifying the Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build  
the peripheral tunnels is a classic example of the triumph of  
political science over natural science that characterizes the agency  
that he works for, the Department of Water Resources (DWR).

Nowhere in this piece does the DWR biologist mention that federal  
agency scientists skewered the BDCP's draft environmental documents -  
and have repeatedly said that the plan's implementation may hasten  
the extinction of Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Delta  
smelt, longfin smelt and other species.

McEwan states, "Will the Bay Delta Conservation Plan be the savior of  
the Delta? That remains to be seen. But I believe it is the most  
realistic plan yet conceived to right the tremendous injuries we’ve  
inflicted upon the Delta’s natural environment over the last 150 years."

However, on July 18, scientists from federal lead agencies for the  
BDCP EIR/EIS - the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife  
Service, and National Marine Fisheries Service - exposed the  
hollowness of Brown administration claims that the BDCP is based on  
"science" and McEwan's claim that the twin tunnels plan is "the most  
realistic plan yet conceived to right the tremendous injuries we’ve  
inflicted upon the Delta’s natural environment over the last 150 years."

The federal scientists provided the California Department of Water  
Resources and the environmental consultants with 44 pages of comments  
highly critical of the Consultant Second Administrative Draft EIR/ 
EISDraft), released on May 10. The agencies found, among other  
things, that the draft environmental documents were “biased,”  
“insufficient," "confusing," and "very subjective." (http:// 
baydeltaconservationplan.com/Libraries/Dynamic_Document_Library/ 
Federal_Agency_Comments_on_Consultant_Administrative_Draft_EIR- 
EIS_7-18-13.sflb.ashx)

The National Marine Fisheries Service said the environmental draft is  
"currently insufficient" and "will need to be revised." The agency  
also criticized some sections of the document for arriving at  
"seemingly illogical conclusions."

The Bureau of Reclamation criticized the language and content of the  
draft for "advocating for the project." They also said the  
"identification of adverse and beneficial impacts is very subjective  
and appears to be based on a misreading of NEPA regulations."

In addition, "The document is vague about the relationship between  
the various agency actions that compose or relate to the BDCP,  
including how these actions will be sequenced and the time/manner of  
environmental analysis for each," Reclamation stated.

Based on the scientists' assessment of these draft documents, the  
BDCP is hardly the "most realistic plan yet conceived" to address the  
"coequal goals" of ecosystem restoration and water supply reliability.

McEwan also claims "These facilities cannot be modernized; the  
location of the pumps at the end of dead-end channels means that fish  
collection and trucking will always be necessary. My first three  
years at Fish and Wildlife were spent overseeing this operation, and  
I was constantly amazed at the limitations of these facilities."

Yet McEwan then states that these "new facilities will not completely  
replace the existing facilities, but will greatly reduce their  
frequency of use."

How will the tunnels benefit salmon, steelhead and other species when  
they are in fact only spreading the fish carnage from the South Delta  
to the Sacramento River also? The massacre of Central Valley salmon,  
steelhead, Sacramento splittail, American shad, striped bass and  
other species will continue when the South Delta pumps are operating  
- while the new intake facilities on the Sacramento River will  
imperil migrating salmon, steelhead and other fish in their major  
migratory corridor.

How can we possibly trust the state and federal agencies to come up  
with new "Magic Screens" to protect fish at the new intakes when they  
never installed new state-of-the-art screens in the existing Delta  
pumps as they were supposed to do under the CalFed process?

The problems of fish population crashes and water supply won't be  
provided by "re-plumbing" the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.  
They can be only solved by reducing water exports from the Delta.

The  Environmental Water Caucus' Responsible Exports Plan, not the  
BDCP, is the "most realistic plan yet conceived" to restore the Delta  
while providing for that state's water supply needs.

This plan reduces water exports to no more than 3 million acre feet  
of water in all years, in keeping with the SWRCB Flows Criteria. The  
plan employs a number of creative solutions to addressing  
California's water problems, including retirement of drainage  
impaired land, increased water recycling and expanded water  
conservation.

The updated plan is available at: http://www.aqualliance.net/wp- 
content/uploads/2013/08/RESPONSIBLE-EXPORTS-PLAN-MAY-2013-update.pdf
  
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