Review Period for Deeply Flawed Bay Delta Conservation Plan Ends Today

LOS ANGELES (July 29, 2014) –  The opportunity for public input on the controversial, poorly-designed Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) ends today after a  228-day public review and comment period, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

The proposed project would build two, 30-mile long, 40-foot wide tunnels to divert even more water out of the Delta at a total estimated cost of $67 billion (including financing). Because it was designed without regard for the best science, the wildly expensive project fails to meet its intended goals to improve water supply reliability and restore the Bay-Delta ecosystem.

Environmental groups, farmers, local governments in the five-county Bay-Delta region and civic groups have all opposed the currently-proposed BDCP. And recent polling shows strong public opposition to the project.

Following is a statement by the Director of NRDC’s water and wildlife team Kate Poole:

“At $67 billion, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan isn’t just exceptionally expensive, it categorically fails to meet the two goals it was intended to address: improve water supply and restore the Bay-Delta.

Californians can meet our water supply needs and have healthy rivers and fisheries by investing in cost-effective, 21st-century water solutions, but we’re not going to get there with tunnel vision. It’s time for the State to expand its horizons and develop a real plan of statewide investments to secure California’s water future.”