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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Panel calls Delta recovery plan woefully incomplete</span></b><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Contra Costa Times-12/8/10<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>By Mike Taugher<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>A national panel of experts appeared frustrated Wednesday by gaping holes in a developing master plan for the Delta despite four years and $140 million in studies.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The report provided the committee no straightforward description of the recovery goals for the Delta ecosystem, no analysis of water demands compared to available supplies and, perhaps most troubling, portions of an ongoing study on the environmental effects of the proposal were described as woefully incomplete.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>How can the panel review the science behind the plan, asked Denise Reed of the University of New Orleans, when the analysis provided contains "no depth, frankly?"<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The National Academy of Sciences panel has been reviewing new environmental regulations, water supply and ecosystem problems in the Delta for about a year.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Next fall, the group is set to release its final report that will analyze the Delta's environmental problems and provide recommendations for moving toward solutions.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The reviews were triggered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, acting at the request of Kern County water and farming magnate Stewart Resnick, to review new restrictions on Delta pumping.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But a public session Wednesday focused largely on a more recent assignment, scheduled to be done in April, that involves evaluating the science used in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The plan would move Sacramento River water by canal or tunnels to the south as part of a sweeping strategy to restore the West Coast's largest estuary. Its cost would exceed $11 billion.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Supporters hope it will lead to the recovery of declining fish species and stable water supplies. But it is facing growing questions about its viability. Can the conservation plan provide enough water to make it financially worthwhile for water districts, or does significantly more water need to flow into San Francisco Bay to help fish?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Despite the lack of answers to basic questions the panel had, Jason Peltier, Assistant General Manager of Westlands Water District, said that after more than 100 meetings and $140 million, it was time to make decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"We have to make decisions with the science we have," Peltier said.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But Reed, echoing a number of colleagues who expressed dismay at the lack of answers to basic questions, asked how the committee could meet its charge to evaluate science when, "frankly, it hasn't been provided."<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 land</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810 mobile</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a> </span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a> </span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>