Coverage on the Bay-Delta plan hearings last week continues to highlight Restore the Delta and our partners’ opposition to the Voluntary Agreements, including coverage from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee.
The article published by the San Francisco Chronicle details the widespread criticism California’s updated Bay-Delta Plan faced during recent public hearings. At packed sessions, hundreds of members of the public, including Tribes, fishermen, conservationists, and Delta residents, testified that the sweeping water policy falls dangerously short of protecting the state’s waterways.
Overwhelming public testimony warned that the plan relies too heavily on “voluntary agreements”, deals that allow water agencies looser regulations in exchange for restoration projects. Critics argue the agreements weaken ecological protections and will fail to halt the decline of fish populations and water quality.
As Jon Rosenfield, senior scientist at San Francisco Baykeeperstated, “There is no evidence in the record that the voluntary agreements will move the needle on the status quo, which is decline. The voluntary agreements are an extinction plan.”
Coverage from the Sacramento Bee further underscores the broad opposition to the updated Bay-Delta Plan, with tribal members warning that it would effectively privatize water and prioritize corporate profit over people. The article highlights advocate’s sentiment towards the plan.
“In a news release on Tuesday, Gary Mulcahy of the Winnemem Wintu called the California State Water Board ‘clueless,’ and Regina Chichizola, executive director of Save California Salmon, blasted state officials’ move to ‘advocate for an eight-year experiment that fails to meet water, environmental and aquatic species needs on so many levels as the VAs currently stand’.”
Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle here and the Sacramento Bee here.
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