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The "sustainability" of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has long been on the list of California's pressing land use policy topics. Hurricane Katrina's assault on the levees in New Orleans in late August of 2005 moved the issue to the top of that list. From Governor Schwarzenegger's declaration of a state of emergency in February 2006 to U.S. Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff's subsequent tour of the levee system, the political and practical need for "preparedness" in the short-term, and "a sustainable management program" in the long-term, has lit a fire under both the State's executive and legislative branches. With the signing of SB1574 and Executive Order S-17-06 by the Governor in September 2006, the Delta Vision effort was established, with a timeline and process for developing and implementing a durable management plan for the region. With the approval of Proposition 1E in November, the voters made a $4.1 billion commitment to the "preparedness" side of the equation; the Delta Vision effort, by contrast, is tasked with building a roadmap for "sustainability."
The legislation and executive order call for the creation of an independent Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force (and the Delta Vision Stakeholders Group to provide input and technical expertise) to develop a sustainable management program for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta. The Task Force is charged with providing: 1) an independent public report setting forth its findings and recommendations on the sustainable management of the Delta, to the cabinet-level Delta Vision Committee (chaired by the Secretary of Resources Agency) and the Governor by January 1, 2008; and 2) a Strategic Plan to implement the Delta Vision by December 31, 2008.
Pushing the process forward is the timely (Feb. 07) release of the highly provocative report "Envisioning Futures for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta" by the Public Policy Institute of California. The report is a multidisciplinary examination of the issues facing the Delta by a team of UC-Davis faculty, and lays out a broad range of alternative strategies – from "Levees as Usual" to "Abandoning the Delta". Key conclusions include: 1) current management strategy is unsustainable; 2) the situation is not hopeless; and 3) significant political decisions are needed to avoid the continuation of the failed consensus-driven approach. While the report stops short of recommending the "best" option, it narrows the field of plausible options and lays out a series of institutional, technical, and programmatic recommendations that will lead to success. The report was clearly intended – both in timing and in content – to provide a framework within which the Blue Ribbon Task Force can conduct its business.
In February 2007, the Governor appointed the 7-member Task Force and the 41-member Stakeholders Group, with initial meetings held in Sacramento in early March. Key framing for the discussion has been provided by the recent release of the Delta Vision-commissioned, "Delta Vision Stakeholder Assessment Report"(by the Center for Collaborative Policy, CSU-Sacramento). CCRL will be closely tracking the proceedings of the Delta Vision effort and notifying our network about opportunities for input to the process.
Links:
For more information, including Task Force and Stakeholder Group meeting calendars and workplans, see www.deltavision.ca.gov.
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