Opposition growing for 2-Gates Project
Nov 27, 2009 | 741 views | 1 
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Catherine Kutsuris of the Contra Costa County Department of Conservation takes the microphone from Mike Guzzardo, publicity chairman for the San Francisco Bay and Delta Foundation, during a packed meeting Monday night on the controversial 2-Gates Fish Protection Project. The town hall forum was held at the Discovery Bay Elementary School.
Photo by Richard Wisdom
Photo by Richard Wisdom
Photo by Richard Wisdom
Photo by Richard Wisdom
The San Francisco Bay and Delta Foundation (SFBDF) – a grass-roots group of Discovery Bay residents opposing the 2-Gates project – hosted the town hall meeting.
“It was a great turnout,” said Mike Guzzardo, SFBDF publicity chairman. “We had a lot of new faces, and we feel like we’re really starting to gain some momentum; we’re getting the word out.”
The 2-Gates project is a five-year experimental program designed to save the Delta smelt by rerouting them away from the water pumps on Old and Middle rivers in Byron, but many feel that the 2-Gates is the precursor to a peripheral canal.
The project is a joint venture by the State Department of Water Resources, the Federal Bureau of Reclamation and the Southern California Metropolitan Water District, and would implement the installation of gates at Old River between Holland Tract and Bacon Island, plus a Connection Slough between Mandeville and Bacon Island. The automatic gates would be closed at various times of the year for as much as 10 hours per day, depending on flood tides.
The SFBDF was formed only a few weeks ago, but has already been instrumental in getting the Bureau of Reclamation to extend its public comment period by two weeks, to Nov. 30, and the group is hoping to force the bureau to provide an Environmental Impact Report for the Discovery Bay and Delta regions.
Pete Lucero, public affairs officer for the Bureau of Reclamation, said that federal agencies such as the bureau do not conduct environmental impact reports but rather environmental impact studies (EIS), of which the currently completed environmental assessment is the first step. Should an EIS be necessary, it would be conducted after the close of the public comment period and following the results of the environmental assessment.
The SFBDF meets every Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. at the Discovery Bay Yacht Club and is open to the public. Donations to the SFBDF may be mailed to 2465 Discovery Bay Blvd., Suite 200, Discovery Bay, CA 94505. Additional information may be found on the SFBDF Web site, www.nodeltagates.com.
SFBDF wants to thank our fellow residents and local government for helping in our effort to have the Bureau of Reclamation recognize that the residents and wildlife of the Southern Delta and Discovery Bay are too important to ignore. We still have a lot of work to do but we are starting to be heard.
We want the government to provide an environmental impact statement on Discovery Bay and the Southern Delta and we want them to sit down with US, the residents of the region, and hear our concerns.
Timeline right now is:
Submit comments to the Bureau of Reclamation by 11-30-09.
Comments to the Department of Interior http://www.nbc.gov/doi_feedback/water_comments.cfm by 12-1-09
Comments to Army Corps of Engineers by 12-31-09
Again, we thank you for your support.
Mike Guzzardo
Media Relations
SAVE THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AND DELTA FOUNDATION
www.nodeltagates.com