Assemblywoman Alyson L. Huber, who represents the 10th Assembly District, is responding to the Dec. 13 Viewpoints article "Delta plan faces water problems in a more comprehensive way." That article stated, "We must embrace BDCP, and see it as the great opportunity it is."

According to U.S. Rep. Jim Costa's Viewpoint, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan's peripheral canal is a comprehensive approach to Delta restoration that resulted from an open public process. According to Costa, "there is no alternative" to completing the BDCP. As a representative of communities affected by the BDCP, I strongly disagree.

First, the BDCP is not a comprehensive stakeholder-driven process. Planning for the BDCP has been an inside job by the state and federal water projects and water contractors reliant on Delta water exports. While meetings technically may have been open to the public, very few people even knew about the BDCP until recently. Stakeholders can now sit in meetings. However, they still cannot change the project.

BDCP also has no professional facilitation and has failed to address concerns about the project's impact on local farmlands and community water supplies.

Second, it is not clear that BDCP will lead to a long-term solution to our water problems. Since 2008, the BDCP has focused on a canal or tunnel taking up to half the Sacramento River's flow under the guise of conserving fish. Meanwhile, there are still no plans to screen the South Delta pumps to conserve fish where we know they are killed.

According to the BDCP, putting five new diversions at the town of Hood may not reduce the number of Delta smelt killed. Independent scientists have consistently criticized the BDCP for pre-selecting the canal/tunnel prior to fully studying which alternatives would best protect endangered fish.

Although the Delta faces serious challenges, I do not trust the same people who brought the ecosystem to its knees to create a solution largely outside of public scrutiny – especially since the BDCP places all of the burdens of Southern California's water demands on our communities without providing local benefits.

The Legislature must exercise oversight before tax and ratepayers are asked to spend billions of dollars on a peripheral canal. Under my bill, Assembly Bill 550, a full fiscal analysis and legislative approval would be required prior to construction in order to prevent negative impacts on water in the Delta and upstream communities.

Ronald Reagan was famous for the phrase "trust, but verify." If the BDCP is as good as they say it is, the Legislature must approve it. If not, it should not be built.

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Assemblywoman Alyson L. Huber, who represents the 10th Assembly District, is responding to the Dec. 13 Viewpoints article "Delta plan faces water problems in a more comprehensive way." That article stated, "We must embrace BDCP, and see it as the great opportunity it is."

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