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Restore the Delta sends public comments video to Obama and Jewell

by Dan Bacher
"Outside the sham public hearing a video crew recorded comment directly from the 300 people who came to express their concerns," according to Restore the Delta. "Their concern centered on the proposed 40-foot tunnels to be dug beneath the Delta that will suck freshwater from the Sacramento River that every farmer, resident, and vanishing species in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary needs for survival."
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Restore the Delta sends public comments video to President Obama and Secretary Jewell

by Dan Bacher

As Governor Jerry Brown continues to push his Delta Tunnels plan, considered by many to be the most environmentally destructive public works project in California history, opposition by the public to the multi-billion dollar plan continues to mushroom.

In the latest action by Delta advocates, Restore the Delta (RTD) on August 13 sent public comments on the state and federal governments' proposed Delta Tunnels, in the form of DVD videos, to President Barack Obama and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

Watch the Video here:
https://youtu.be/mvXzMHpbhAQ

Read the Letter here:
http://restorethedelta.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Secretary-Jewell-DVD-of-Delta-Tunnels-Public-Comments.pdf

On July 28, 2015 the agencies boosting the Delta Tunnels Plan/CA Water Fi, formerly called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), presented their "new" plan to the public at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento.

"Booster agencies were determined to avoid a traditional public hearing where public statements are made before listening decision-makers," according to a news release from RTD. "Instead, the agencies and their consultants presented the Delta Tunnels plan as an “open house” science-fair-like setting. The public was invited to walk from display to display and ask questions of experts who were fully briefed with talking points. It was a sales pitch any conventioneer would recognize.

Restore the Delta, a grassroots organization based in Stockton, CA with 25,000 supporters, decided to put the “public” back into the process, the group said.

"Outside the sham public hearing a video crew recorded comment directly from the 300 people who came to express their concerns. Their concern centered on the proposed 40-foot tunnels to be dug beneath the Delta that will suck freshwater from the Sacramento River that every farmer, resident, and vanishing species in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary needs for survival," said RTD.

The letter to Jewell and Obama makes the following major points:

• The California Water Fix does not address the environmental, public health or economic impacts of the proposed Delta tunnels project.

• The plan also ignores alternatives that would save California tax and ratepayers billions of dollars, while investing in the jobs and local water sources that build sustainability.

• Additionally, the letter points out that the new version of the plan still violates Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act which prohibits federal agency actions that are likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered species or that “result in the destruction or adverse modification of [critical] habitat of [listed] species.”

In addition to driving salmon, Delta smelt and other species closer to extinction, the tunnels project also violates tribal rights, according to Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, who showed up at the "open house" with her son, Michael, and her sister, Helene.

“The government has conducted no on-the-ground cultural studies, as required under Public Law 106, protecting burial sites, villages and traditional fishing areas,” said Sisk. “They are solely relying on the libraries for their information. They have not consulted with any of the Tribes. Tribes have been left out of the water process.”

She emphasized, “Right now the existing water projects continue to damage our ecology. They have already harmed our fish and driven them to extinction. The tunnels will only complete the job. The tunnels that they want to build are large enough to divert the entire Sacramento River."

“The tunnels are one key part of the plan that includes the Sites Reservoir, Shasta Dam Raise and Proposition 1,” she said.

She said the water for the tunnels would be provided by Shasta Lake and Sites Reservoir – and that to fill Sites Reservoir, the Shasta Dam would be raised to hold more water from the Sacramento River.

“This state was built for salmon, not almonds and pistachios,” Chief Sisk said. “We should base our economy on salmon. If people want to see a healthy environment and healthy watersheds, we should bring back the salmon."

“A lot of countries are now acknowledging the rights of nature. We should allow nature to have the right to support us,” she concluded.

You can read my photo essay on the event at: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/07/30/18775549.php

The Delta Tunnels will hasten the extinction of Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt and green sturgeon, as well as imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers.

Comment Period Now Open

The Revised BDCP EIR/EIS at 48,000 pages of appendices, footnotes, tables, and renumbered alternatives is now open for public comment. The original 45-day comment period was met with outrage by community groups and agencies. The comment period has now been extended until October 30, 2015.

Written comments are due by close of business Friday, Oct. 30. Comments should be mailed to BDCP/WaterFix Comments, P.O. Box 1919, Sacramento, CA 95812 or emailed to BDCPComments [at] icfi.com
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