Delta stakeholders press State Water Board to cancel DWR petitions, update Bay-Delta Plan and fix virtual hearing security

Speakers at Tuesday’s State Water Resources Control Board meeting in Sacramento urged the board to cancel pending water-right petitions for the Delta Conveyance Project and accelerate an overdue update to the Bay‑Delta Plan while demanding better safeguards for virtual public hearings.

Delta advocates and fishery and environmental groups pressed the board during public comment, saying the Department of Water Resources has failed to provide information the Administrative Hearings Office (AHO) ordered and that proceeding without that information prejudices protesting parties. “DWR has had ample opportunity in time to provide the information requested by the AHO … but now have failed twice to meet these deadlines,” said Morgan Snyder, policy analyst with Restore the Delta. Snyder and other speakers asked the board to act on a March 19 motion to cancel the permits under Water Code procedures.

The issue matters because the AHO previously ordered DWR to supply material the hearing officer deemed necessary to resolve contested claims. “Water Code section 1701.4 provides that when an applicant fails to comply with a request for information under 1701.3, the board shall cancel the petition,” said Eric Buscher, managing attorney at San Francisco Baykeeper, urging the board to act quickly to…