While Bay Delta Conservation Plan consultants have been telling the general public what is in the Administrative Draft of the BDCP HCP – habitat conservation plan documents (the tunnels plus “other” conservation measures, along with potential funding, costs/benefits to the exporters, and so on), state and federal agencies have been studying the 18,000 page Administrative...Read More

Before looking at the agency comments on the environmental documents, we wanted to share this interesting little inconsistency. We found the following in a tiny footnote related to the Preferred Alternative (the 9,000 cfs tunnels) in the BDCP EIR/EIS Administrative Draft (page 3-16, a): “The Dual Conveyance water delivery system would consist of the new...Read More

The Delta Stewardship Council isn’t rubber-stamping BDCP’s environmental documents. Council staff note, for example, that: the chapters need opening summaries and readable comparisons of the environmental impacts of alternatives. all alternatives should be analyzed at similar levels of detail. (Right now, only the Peripheral Tunnels alternative is analyzed in detail.) the EIR/EIS should at least...Read More

Thanks to Maven’s Notebook, here a summary of what the Water Board wants to see in the BDCP environmental documents. Identification of all changes to water quality objectives, water rights, and other approvals that BDCP needs.  Details on the scientific basis for changes that the Water Board can review independently. A discussion of impacts on...Read More

Earlier this month, the federal lead agencies for the BDCP EIR/EIS sent their comments on the EIR/EIS Administrative Draft (ADEIS) to the Department of Water Resources. Here are some of the comments. From the Bureau of Reclamation  The language and content of the draft are advocating for the project, which fails to meet the NEPA...Read More

In response to the Federal agencies evaluation of the BDCP, Natural Resources Deputy Secretary Jerry Meral was quoted as saying in a recent LA Times article, “It is important to remember that regulatory agencies by their nature do not give out ‘gold stars’ for work, but road maps for improvement. We will continue to follow...Read More

In another demonstration of Caltrans’ inconsistency when it comes to protected speech along the state’s roads, one of our North Bay Area correspondents offers the example of the “Save Drakes Bay Oyster Co.” yard signs along roads in West Marin. These relate to a controversy over National Park Service plans to terminate the lease for...Read More