For Immediate Release: 6/14/22
Contact:
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, 209-479-2053, barbara@restorethedelta.org
Stockton, CA – A coalition of social, economic, and environmental justice groups have sent a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board in support of a recent petition filed by Stanford Law on behalf of California Tribes and environmental justice groups.
The petition asks the State Water Board to update the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary (“Bay-Delta Plan”). A duty of the board now 16 years overdue.
From the coalition letter:
“The State Water Board has failed to conduct a comprehensive review of Bay-Delta water quality standards for sixteen years; it has failed to increase instream flow requirements to anywhere near the levels that the Board has determined are necessary to protect public trust resources; and it has prioritized closed-door negotiation of instream flow commitments with water diverters and exporters over consultation with tribes and affected communities and over the participatory and science-based update process that the law requires.
“The Petition for Rulemaking is an opportunity for the State Water Board to fulfill its legal duties to responsibly manage Bay-Delta waters and reverse the pattern of putting water exporters before the needs of tribes, Delta communities, and the health of the ecosystem. We respectfully urge the State Water Board to schedule this matter for public hearing and to move forward with the open, participatory, and comprehensive review and update of the Bay-Delta Plan sought in the Petition.”
The Stockton coalition includes:
Councilmember Kimberly Warmsley, District 6, City of Stockton
Dr. Nancy Huante-Tzintzun, Executive Director, Nopal: Community Cultura Activism Educación
Tama Brisbane Executive Director, With Our Words
Phillip Merlo, Executive Director, San Joaquin County Historical Museum
Bobby Bivens, President, NAACP Stockton Chapter
Ector Olivares, Environmental Justice Program Director, Catholic Charities Diocese of Stockton
Harold Goldstein, Executive Director, Public Health Advocates
Taylor Williams, Workforce & Economy Program Manager, Edge Collaborative
Kenda Templeton, Executive Director, P.U.E.N.T.E.S.
Mary Elizabeth, M.S., R.E.H.S. Conservation Chair, Sierra Club, Delta-Sierra Group
Darryl Rutherford, Executive Director, Reinvent South Stockton Coalition