“No matter how you slice it, this plan is bad news for endangered fish, wildlife and the long-term health of the Delta,” said Adam Lazar, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Unfortunately the Delta Stewardship Council seems more interested in catering to special interests than the communities it was supposed to protect.” The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court on behalf of groups from both Southern and Northern California, asserts that the Delta Plan violates the 2009 Delta Reform Act and the California Environmental Quality Act and the state Administrative Procedure Act. The coalition seeks to have the Delta Plan and its programmatic environmental impact report set aside for failing to disclose and analyze the devastating effects — on Northern California rivers, the Delta, and endangered fish species — resulting from taking enormous quantities of fresh water out of the Sacramento River upstream from the Delta. The lawsuit urges the court to suspend any activity based on the plan that could change the physical environment until the council has met its legal requirements. This would include delaying construction of the Brown administration’s proposed water-export tunnels."
Posted on: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 22:11:18 +0000