We expect Governor Brown, in company with federal officials, to announce shortly a plan to get started with the peripheral canal/tunnel in the Delta, or possibly to announce a plan to plan it, whatever exactly “it” is. Apparently, it is something smaller than exporters originally wanted. But it’s still too big. And it will still...Read More

It is always interesting to glimpse the Metropolitan Water District’s (MWD’s) internal communications about Delta processes. The MWD general manager’s Bay-Delta Management Report to a board committee this week manages not to mention that the planned “decision tree” for operation of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) includes a possible reduction of exports to 4.5...Read More

This backup plan to get freshwater to urban areas in the unlikely event of levee failure should relieve the minds of the Latino Water Coalition, which has teamed up with the California Conference of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) to write to Interior Secretary Salazar and Natural Resources Secretary John...Read More

The Delta Independent Science Board met this week to discuss its reviews of science programs in the Delta, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan Draft Environmental Impact Report/Statement (BDCP DEIR/EIS), the Delta Science Program, and the Delta ISB workplan. Board members Judy Meyer and John Wiens provided written comments on a report by the Independent Scientific...Read More

When economist David Sunding reported to the BDCP recently, his analysis showed that the tunnel project would provide a net benefit to beneficiaries (water contractors). That isn’t because tunnels would provide more water, better quality water, or reduced seismic risk. It was because tunnels built as part of the BDCP would provide “regulatory assurance” against...Read More