[env-trinity] Governor's Bay Delta Conservation Plan Point Man Resigns

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/17/1263376/-Governor-Brown-s- 
Bay-Delta-Conservation-Plan-Point-Man-Resigns

Governor's Bay Delta Conservation Plan Point Man Resigns

by Dan Bacher

Jerry Meral, Deputy Secretary of the California Natural Resources  
Agency and Jerry Brown's point man for the Bay Delta Conservation  
Plan to build the peripheral tunnels, announced his retirement from  
"state service," effective December 31.

The resignation was announced the day after over 400 people,  
including fishermen, Tribal leaders, farmers, Southern California  
water ratepayers, and environmentalists rallied at the state capitol  
against the proposed water export tunnels.

In spite of a rapidly accumulating pile of evidence against the  
project, including the $54.1 billion estimated total cost and the  
scathing criticism of the plan's "science" by federal scientists,  
Meral forecasted that the plan's implementation is "virtually  
certain." (http://mavensnotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Meral- 
letter-to-Governor-Brown.pdf)

"With the publication of the BDCP and the EIR/S in the federal  
register on December 13, the Plan should be completed and approved in  
2014. While additional permits will be required, it is virtually  
certain that the plan will be implemented," Meral said in his letter  
to Brown.

“I look forward to doing whatever I can in the future to support  
completion and implementation of a Bay Delta Conservation Plan which  
will achieve the co-equal goals of ecosystem restoration and water  
supply reliability, while fully respecting the values treasured by  
those who live, work, and recreate in the Delta," Meral concluded.

Jane Wagner-Tyack of Restore the Delta noted that the Brown  
administration won't have any difficulty in finding somebody to  
replace Meral.

“Of course, we are speculating about whom Governor Brown will find to  
replace Dr. Meral," said Wagner-Tyack. "But what we know for sure is  
that the Governor will not have any difficulty finding someone else  
willing to push his Peripheral Tunnels agenda. After all, we’re  
talking here about the heady cocktail of California water and  
political power.”

“It is also worth remembering that Governor Brown is responsible  
ultimately for pushing the BDCP boondoggle onto Californians, as part  
of the special 50 year relationship between each and every California  
Governor and specific moneyed water interests in California,” she  
said. “ It’s a shame that Governor Brown cannot help himself, but  
instead continues operating within this less than honest status quo.”

Deputy Director Meral became the focus of a huge controversy this  
spring when he acknowledged on April 15 that 'BDCP is not about, and  
has never been about saving the Delta. The Delta cannot be saved.'"

He made his controversial comments while speaking with Tom Stokely of  
the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) in a private conversation  
after a meeting with Northern California Indian Tribes, according to  
Restore the Delta's "Delta Flows" newsletter (http:// 
www.restorethedelta.org/or-is-it-the-point/)

After Meral made the revealing, candid comment, five Congressional  
Democrats - George Miller, Mike Thompson, Jerry McNerney, Doris  
Matsui and Anna Eshoo - called for Meral's immediate resignation.  
(http://www.fishsniffer.com/blogs/details/congressional-democrats- 
call-for-brown-administration-officials-resignation/)

"Meral’s statement, if accurately reported, suggests the Brown  
Administration intends to explicitly violate the established  
statutory co-equal goals of ecosystem restoration in the Bay-Delta  
and water reliability throughout the state," according to the  
Representatives' statement. "This fuels speculation that the  
Administration’s plan, if unchanged, will devastate the Sacramento- 
San Joaquin River Delta and the communities that rely on it, a  
concern that Northern California Lawmakers and other stakeholders  
have voiced throughout the process."

The widely-criticized plan proposes to construct three new intakes in  
the north Delta along the Sacramento River about 35 miles north of  
the existing South Delta pumping plants. Two 35-mile long twin  
tunnels would carry the water underground to the existing pumping  
plants that feed canals sttetching hundreds of miles to the south and  
west.

The release of the public review draft of the Bay Delta Conservation  
Plan and its corresponding Draft Environmental Impact Report/ 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) triggers a 120-day period  
for the gathering of public comments, from Dec. 13, 2013 through  
April 14, 2014.

The construction of the twin tunnels will likely hasten the  
extinction of Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley  
steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish  
species, as well as threaten the steelhead and salmon populations on  
the Trinity and Klamath rivers.

For more information, go to: www.restorethedelta.org
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