FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 11, 2025
Contact:
Alexandra Nagy, alexandra@sunstonestrategies.org
SACRAMENTO, CA – The Delta Tribal Environmental Coalition (DTEC), consisting of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Little Manila Rising, and Restore the Delta, has urged the State Water Resources Control Board to grant a 90-day extension of the public comment period and to defer or add hearing dates for the Bay-Delta Plan draft update.
In a letter submitted on August 7 through the Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School, DTEC underscores that the Board’s current 48-day timeline and hearing dates silences Tribes and communities most affected by the Bay-Delta Plan. The current timeline overlaps with sacred Tribal ceremonies and the ongoing case-in-chief hearings for the Delta Conveyance Project, a proceeding closely tied to the Bay-Delta Plan.
The coalition also points to the ongoing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigation into potential civil rights violations in the Water Board’s Bay-Delta policymaking process. The EPA accepted the Title VI complaint in 2023, and a settlement agreement has been pending with the Board for close to a year. DTEC stresses that finalizing the settlement with the EPA prior to closing the public comment is essential to ensuring meaningful participation and compliance with civil rights laws.
Read the letter in full here.
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