Also on November 16, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) folks had a public meeting, and Stockton attorney George Hartmann, who represents Delta reclamation districts, told Resources Secretary Jerry Meral that it was hard to see how converting 133,000 acres of prime Delta farmland to habitat was going to be good for the people of the Delta.
Meral responded that the self-interest of the water contractors was the Delta’s best protection (they need to do the habitat right to get the water), and that anyway, they will use public land for habitat first.
We aren’t reassured at all by this argument.
To see video of the exchange, go to the Central Valley Business Times. The video is a bit rough, but it is worth watching.
While you’re there, you may be able to see comments from Bob Potter, who objects to the Delta “cottage industry dedicated to stopping progress on any configuration of facilities that keeps them from dropping their straw in other people’s supplies and clearly exposes their impacts on the estuary.”