After last month’s Delta Protection Commission (DPC) meeting ran into the wee hours of the morning, commissioners were forced to table the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) and their differences in opinion on how the final product should be worded. For the past month, internal discussion between commission members and their staff had resolved all but a dozen or so issues of wording left to ironed out at this week’s meeting.
Nevertheless, it was another long night of hard work for the commission members. A spirited debate culminated with Commissioner Mike McGowan announcing his commitment to staying all night if it was necessary to get the ESP done correctly – a sentiment shared by the majority if not all of the commission members present.
After a short recess, the consulting team and county representatives were able to reach consensus, and the ESP was adopted on an 11-0-3 vote. The three abstentions came from the three state agency representatives present: Building, Transportation and Housing; California Department of Food and Agriculture; and the Resources Agency. The representative from the State Lands Commission was not present.
The ESP will be the only substantive input local representatives will have into the Delta Plan being prepared by the Delta Stewardship Council. Therefore, it was critical to get the details correct. However, the findings and recommendations will be incorporated at the discretion of the Stewardship Council. So it remains to be seen if any of the good work done by the consulting team and DPC will be included in the Delta Plan.