Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Delta Stewardship topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Delta Stewardship Council nominees stress science, social outreach and climate adaptation
Summary
Julie Lee and Anne Patterson appeared before the Senate Rules Committee, underscoring the council's use of scientific metrics, tribal and environmental-justice outreach, and the Delta Adapts climate adaptation work as central to balancing the council's coequal goals of ecosystem restoration and water reliability.
Julie Lee and Anne Patterson, nominees to the Delta Stewardship Council, told the Senate Rules Committee that the council relies on data, science and community engagement to balance the statutory "coequal" goals of water-supply reliability and ecosystem restoration.
Lee, who serves as the council chair in testimony to the committee, highlighted the council's science programs and performance metrics and said the council tracks 158 performance measures to evaluate progress toward the coequal goals. "Measuring success in that way and having it publicly reported helps people understand and all work from the same baseline," she said.
Patterson emphasized the council's growing incorporation of social science and tribal and environmental-justice outreach to better communicate risks and trade-offs to Delta communities. She said pilot projects and vulnerability studies, such as those in the Delta Adapts report, are being used to engage farmers, fishermen and other stakeholders about tangible impacts such as flood risk and salinity intrusion.
Senators asked how the council brings skeptical stakeholders along on difficult trade-offs involving sea-level rise, flooding and water exports. Both nominees pointed to early consultation, tribal consultation, public training, and research grants that fund social-science work as tools to build trust and increase accessibility of technical information.
Committee members also asked whether the council's mission has a foreseeable end. Lee said the council fills an ongoing management need for an area with scores of jurisdictional actors and that the council's science leadership is a continuing public good; both nominees said they are open to legislative conversations about improvements but do not anticipate the council's mission becoming unnecessary.
The committee voted to forward both nominees to the full Senate (committee votes recorded at the time of the motions as 4-0). Supporters from the Association of California Water Agencies and other stakeholders spoke in favor during the public-comment period.
The nominations will proceed to the Senate floor for confirmation.
