Boaters on the delta in Stockton on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in Stockton, California.
Brian van der Brug
TNS
A long-awaited Bay-Delta Plan is on track to be ready for adoption this year, with possible refinements still under review — but with no signs of major changes to the proposal as released in December.
Eric Oppenheimer, executive director of the State Water Board, on Friday told The Sacramento Bee that the board’s staff is reviewing thousands of public comments, evaluating whether any updates to the proposed plan and supporting environmental analysis are needed before bringing it to the board for a final decision.
“So far, based on what we’ve seen … what we’ll be putting out is refinement to the basin plan amendment language,” Oppenheimer said, noting that the staff has not yet reviewed all comments.
“The important distinction here is there will be an opportunity to provide comments on the updated basin planning language when that goes out, but we will not be accepting any new comments on the staff report.”
While he does not yet have definitive dates for when updated documents will be released, Oppenheimer said the State Water Board is aiming to finish its work in time for the plan to be considered for adoption by the board members in the fall.
The proposed Bay-Delta Plan has drawn divided reactions from conservation groups and regional water agencies, with last month’s three-day hearing underscoring those tensions.
Environmental advocates opposed relying on voluntary agreements as the plan’s primary pathway, instead pushing for firm, enforceable minimum flow standards, while water agencies continued to support the voluntary approach.
And though the public comment process for both the staff report and the amendments is now closed, and the agency is not accepting any additional public comments, “we’re definitely open to meeting with people who want to meet with us,” Oppenheimer continued.
State officials have spent years to update flow and habitat rules for the Sacramento River and Delta. The Sacramento–Delta sections of the Bay-Delta Plan have not seen major changes since the mid-1990s, while the San Joaquin River was last updated in 2018.
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Chaewon Chung covers climate and environmental issues for The Sacramento Bee. Before joining The Bee, she worked as a climate and environment reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina.