Will Delta Plan Draft EIR Get Us Closer to Solutions?

All eyes will be on the Delta Stewardship Council tomorrow as it issues a long-awaited draft environmental impact report (EIR) for the Delta Plan.

The document is reportedly 2,000 pages in length. Based on recent comments by council staff, however, it is unclear whether the content of those pages will get us any closer to achieving to co-equal goals of improved water supply reliability and ecosystem restoration.

A notice issued by the council yesterday indicates the draft plan evaluated in the EIR does not propose construction or operation of any facilities. Absent any actual projects, the EIR instead looks at activities and projects that other agencies might implement at the council’s behest. Those activities – which of course would be subject to their own environmental review if they in fact move forward – were apparently evaluated for environmental impacts in various resource areas.

As council staff indicated last week, the EIR does not evaluate whether the plan or specified alternatives will meet the co-equal goals. Apparently, that determination will be made at a later date by the council.

While we will reserve our formal assessment until we’ve reviewed and analyzed all 2,000 pages, it’s safe to say more than a few people are wondering if this exercise is what the Legislature really intended when it established the council as part of the 2009 comprehensive water legislation.

The council has spent the better part of a year and several million dollars getting to this point. Let’s hope this doesn’t turn out to be another lost opportunity to finally get to a comprehensive solution in the Delta.