Yesterday the Nation Research Council, a federal independent science board, released a report that slammed the previous Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BCDP). The report stated BDCP is currently incomplete and scientifically fragmented. Scientists noted BDCP assumes too much about the proposed tunnel/conveyance option and stressed the current BDCP draft does not fully consider alternatives to the highly controversial 45-mile Delta tunnel or canal option. The scientific board noted at times the BDCP reads like a “rationalization” for some type of large scale Delta conveyance.

The Schwarzenegger administration’s draft BDCP plan released last November was four years in the making, cost nearly $150 million and is over 1,100 pages long. The Nation Research Council said the Schwarzenegger draft “lacks clarity of purpose,” has major scientific shortcomings and warned failure to address the entire bay is a “significant flaw.”

The Brown administration now has the opportunity to turn BDCP around by using the best science available and integrating that science into all facets of the Bay-Delta Plan, as well as using an open public process.