FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 19, 2025
Contact:
Ashley Castaneda, ashley@restorethedelta.org
Sacramento, Calif. — Today, 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, formally requested that the State Water Resources Control Board grant a 60-day extension of the public comment period for the draft update to the San Francisco Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan (“Bay-Delta Plan”).
The public comment period for the updated Bay-Delta Plan is currently scheduled to close on February 2, but advocates are urging the Board to allow additional time to review the extensive materials, which include 3,322 pages of draft regulatory text and updated environmental analysis across 13 separate documents. In its letter, the Coalition emphasizes that the Board’s current timeline does not provide Tribes and communities most affected by the Bay-Delta Plan with a meaningful opportunity to review and respond.
The updated plan was released just one week before the holidays, an inequitable approach that effectively shortens the review period for advocates with limited staff and resources, while advantaging well-resourced water districts with greater capacity.
The Bay-Delta Plan is a critical rulemaking that will shape water quality, river flows, and ecosystem protections for California’s largest and most endangered estuary and watershed, necessitating adequate time and meaningful engagement from local stakeholders most impacted by the plan.
Read the letter in full here.
STATEMENTS FROM BAY-DELTA TRIBES AND ADVOCATES:
Vice Chair Malissa Tayaba, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians:
“The Bay-Delta Plan is a complex and far-reaching document with rules that affect tribes, communities, and everyone else who depends on our rivers and Delta. Unlike the entities that profit from water diversions, we do not have the capacity to quickly review the Plan, especially when the review period includes the upcoming holidays and tribal ceremonies. Meaningful review and analysis takes time, and the Water Board should grant our extension request.”
Gary Mulcahy, Government Liaison with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe:
“Just like the State Water Resources Control Board, spend 28 years updating a plan they’re required by law to do every 3 years, then tell people they have to review all 3,122 pages over the Christmas and New Year holidays and submit their comments by mid-January. The Grinch isn’t even that heartless.”
Gloria Estefani Alonso Cruz, Environmental Justice Advocacy Coordinator, Little Manila Rising:
“This holiday season, the long-awaited Bay-Delta Plan draft was released with limited time for public review, placing a real strain on community capacity and leaving many overwhelmed. Approving the extension request for public comment is the fair and reasonable response.”
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director, Restore the Delta:
“Perhaps it is not a complete surprise that the State Water Resources Control Board would seek to rush community, environmental justice groups, and California Tribes through the comment period for this Bay-Delta Plan. After all, they have failed to resolve our Title VI complaint regarding disparate impacts and discrimination, and they are proposing “voluntary agreements” negotiated in secret cutting us out— the most impacted parties. We do not have a true water regulator in California. We have a Board that lobbies for the tunnel and cutting the public out of planning processes. They work for special interest water districts at the expense of the people and the environment we all depend on for survival.”
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