$9.5M would be a bargain

News out that the Delta Stewardship Council has hired CH2MHill to develop the required comprehensive long-term management plan for California’s Delta.

On its website, the DSC also invites people to comment on the interim management plan that must be implemented until CH2MHill’s work is done and approved.

Restore the Delta has already expressed skepticism about the hire. RTD points out that the firm is already involved in the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan.

The DNP has not seen the short list of firms that CH2MHill beat out, but would be interested to know what they were. And of course, whether any of them would have been more acceptable to RTD. Kind of doubt it.

CH2MHill is getting $9.5M to do the work, charged with coming up with a plan to meet those “co-equal goals”:

State law calls for the Delta Plan to guide state and local actions in the Delta so that they further the coequal goals. According to the California Water Code, Section 85054: “Coequal goals” means the two goals of providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem. The coequal goals shall be achieved in a manner that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place.

While that seems like a clear enough purpose, the devil is in the details. It is entirely unclear whether it is possible to meet these goals. If Hill is able to achieve these goals, then the state is getting a real bargain.

Keep in mind that “co-equal” goals are primarily of political utility.

Just today, as the Sacramento Bee’s Matt Weiser reports, the Corps of Engineers is considering imposing its national policy of tree-stripped levees for the Delta.

A treeless Delta landscape. So much for co-equal goals. The Delta is destined to become nothing more than a piece of plumbing if the risk-averse get their way.