[env-trinity] Resources Agency official says tunnel plan documents won't be translated

[Dan Bacher]

  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/06/1304901/-Resources-Agency-official-says-tunnel-plan-documents-won-t-be-translated


Resources Agency official says tunnel plan documents won't be translated
byDan Bacher
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In a clear case of racial discrimination, the Brown administration has  
violated the rights of non-English speaking Californians by refusing  
to publish the 40,000 pages of Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to  
build the peripheral tunnels and the BDCP EIS/EIR in any other  
language than English.

This failure to abide by numerous state and federal civil rights laws  
occurs in a state where 20 percent of the residents, including many  
people on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta where the tunnels  
will have the most severe environmental impacts, are non-English  
speakers.

Neither the BDCP itself, the BDCP EIS/EIR or the Implementing  
Agreement will be translated into languages other than English,  
according to a Natural Resources Agency officlal at a press conference  
on Friday, May 30 announcing the release of the plan's draft  
implementing agreement and an extension on public comment period on  
the plan.

In response to my question of whether or not any of the documents  
would be translated into languages other English, Richard Stapler of  
the Natural Resources Agency on Friday, May 30 told reporters at a  
news conference that the cost of translation would be "prohibitive"  
and questioned whether it would be possible to translate some of the  
technical language:

"We’ve had the comment period open for BDCP now for just about six  
months. We’re extending it now for another two months, so of course we  
appreciate that input this late in the comment period on this issue.  
That said, for the entire time and for the entire process, we have  
actually have had an 800# where all of those languages, people can ask  
questions in all of those languages and get answers.

There is a prohibitive cost associated particularly with translating  
technical language, if it’s even possible to translate some of that  
technical language, so that is a significant issue. But we are  
extremely sensitive to those populations and any suggestion otherwise  
is more just political rhetoric than anything else.

So we do have some materials that are available in different  
languages. We are currently translating some other fact sheets and  
such for those populations, making extra additional well above and  
beyond what is necessary under CEQA to reach out to the groups that  
represent those communities to be sure that they are being properly  
educated and have the opportunity to ask questions about those impacts."

I then asked Stapler, "So you’re not going to translate either the IA  
or the BDCP documents?

Stapler replied: "The 35,000 page BDCP document, no."

I find it extremely ironic that Stapler describes the cost of  
translating the BDCP documents into languages other than English as  
"prohibitive" when the tunnel plan will cost over $67 billion,  
according to the estimate of an economist at a Westlands Water  
District Board of Directors meeting last year.

Jane Wagner-Tyack of Restore the Delta responded to Stapler's response  
to my question in her article in the June 5 RTD newsletter, pointing  
out the arrogance of Stapler's response:

Resources Agency Deputy Director for Communications Richard Stapler  
said that for the entire process, they’ve had an 800 number where  
people can ask questions about BDCP in various languages and get  
answers. Which is fine if people know there is as project they should  
be asking questions about. But BDCP hasn’t done that kind of outreach  
to non-English language communities.

Stapler mentioned the “prohibitive cost associated particularly with  
translating technical language, if it’s even possible to translate  
some of that technical language.” So all those languages that aren’t  
English just don’t even have the words to explain the BDCP? And all  
those people who don’t speak English wouldn’t understand anyway?

What arrogance.

Said Stapler, they (the Resources Agency? DWR? BDCP?) are “extremely  
sensitive to those populations.” They are “currently translating some  
other fact sheets and such for those populations,” going beyond what  
CEQA requires. But they aren’t going to translate the 35,000 plus  
pages of draft BDCP and draft EIR/EIS.

Then Wagner-Tyack points out the refusal of the Brown administration  
to publish the BDCP documents in other languages besides English in  
the larger contest of the rush to build the tunnels without proper  
public and scientific input and support. Rather than a well thought  
plan, the BDCP amounts to a "data dump":

The question everyone should be asking is: How should the State  
explain to ALL citizens what it plans to do, or allow to be done, with  
public resources and public funds?

Reviewers are calling for reissued documents to address dozens of  
inadequacies in BDCP and the EIR/EIS. But that doesn’t mean that  
anyone wants more of the same. More of the same wouldn’t clarify  
anything. At least one reviewer has called the BDCP and its EIR/EIS a  
“data dump” – bloated with details, short on usable analysis of those  
details. Native English speakers, even those with technical science  
training, have trouble understanding it.

The Delta Science Program conducted an independent science review of  
the BDCP Effects Analysis, which should explain how implementing BDCP  
will impact covered species (the point of a habitat conservation  
plan). The review panel looked at the Effects Analysis chapter, which  
is 745 pages long, but also at eight technical appendices with about  
4500 additional pages.

Reporting to the Delta Stewardship Council for the review panel,  
panelist Dr. Alex Parker said they found a disconnect between the  
Effects Analysis chapter and the technical appendices with regard to  
scientific certainty. The panel also found that the document lacked  
structure and was therefore hard to interpret.

Said Dr. Parker, “[The] Effects Analysis needs to provide clear  
guidance about what [the] uncertainties are, where our information  
gaps [lie], and then also inform adaptive management in terms of what  
information should we be monitoring along the way, what are the  
appropriate triggers so that we know when we are on the wrong track  
and then course correct – move in a different direction. That was  
largely lacking.”

To read the complete RTD newsletter, go to: http://us3.campaign-archive1.com/?u=06887fa70084fef8e939fef63&id=0e01013629&e=120d0c2b69

There is no doubt that the Bay Delta Conservation Plan won't add one  
drop of new water, will cost Californians over $67 billion, will  
hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish  
populations, violates the civil rights of millions of Californians,  
violates the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and  
has little public support. Yet Governor Jerry Brown won't back down on  
his insane plan to build the twin tunnels and new water pumping  
facilities as bizarre monuments to his "legacy."

Background: Brown administration violations of Non-English speakers'  
civil rights

Restore the Delta (RTD) and environmental justice advocates on May 28  
charged the Brown Administration with violation of the civil rights of  
more than 600,000 non-English speakers in the Delta by its agencies'  
failure to provide for “meaningful access to and participation” in the  
Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) public comment period.

The groups said the state and federal agencies failed to make the EIR/ 
EIS available in any languages other than English. Restore the Delta,  
the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, Asian Pacific Self- 
Development and Residential Association, Café Coop, Lao Family  
Community Empowerment, Environmental Water Caucus, California  
Sportfishing Protection Alliance, California Water Impact Network (C- 
WIN), and Friends of the River released a letter calling on State and  
Federal officials to restart and extend the public comment period for  
the BDCP and its EIR/S, and to do adequate public outreach to limited  
English speakers.

“In particular, we request that the agencies hold public hearings and  
provide interpreters; translate vital documents such as, at the very  
least, the Executive Summary of the draft EIS/EIR; and provide  
affordable access to documents to allow the thousands of low-income  
and limited English speakers to have meaningful participation in the  
process,” the letter stated.

Colin Bailey, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, said, "While  
a very limited amount of outreach material can be found on the BDCP  
website in Spanish, the plan itself and its corresponding Draft EIS/ 
EIR have not been translated into Spanish. In particular, the EIS/EIR  
identifies forty-seven adverse and unavoidable impacts (Chapter 31 EIR/ 
EIS) that will have a direct impact on residents of the five Delta  
counties."

"The majority of Spanish, Cambodian, and Hmong speakers have not been  
made aware of these impacts, let alone that there is presently an  
ongoing comment period regarding the BDCP, or that the project  
exists," he said.

According to the letter from the groups, the violations of the state  
and federal laws by BDCP officials include but are not limited to the  
following:

• CEQA participation requirements— CEQA requires a process that  
provides an opportunity for meaningful participation of the public.  
According to Public Resources Code Section 21061: “The purpose of an  
environmental impact report is to provide public agencies and the  
public in general with detailed information about the effect which a  
proposed project is likely to have on the environment; to list ways in  
which the significant effects of such a project can be minimized; and  
to indicate alternatives to such a project.”

• NEPA participation requirements, and Equal Justice Executive Order  
12898: Federal Executive Order (EO) 12898 (1994), Federal Actions to  
Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income  
Populations, requires Federal agencies to make environmental justice  
part of their mission and to develop environmental justice strategies.

• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides: “No Person in the  
United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin,  
be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be  
subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving  
Federal financial assistance.”

• California Government Code section 11135 (a) and implementing  
regulations in the California Code of Regulations Title 22 Sections  
98211 (c) and 98100. Government Code 11135(a) provides: “No person in  
the State of California shall, on the basis of race, national origin,  
ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation,  
color, genetic information, or disability, be unlawfully denied full  
and equal access to the benefits of, or be unlawfully subjected to  
discrimination under, any program or activity that is conducted,  
operated, or administered by the state or by any state agency, is  
funded directly by the state, or receives any financial assistance  
from the state.”

• The Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act—Government Code Sections  
7290-7299.8 which requires that, when state and local agencies serve a  
“substantial number of non-English- speaking people,” they must among  
other things translate documents explaining available services into  
their clients’ languages.

Not only does the Brown administration violate the civil rights of non- 
English speakers, but the BDCP process violates the UN Declaration on  
the Rights of Indigeous Peoples and numerous state and federal laws  
protecting California's indigenous nations.

"The Delta Tunnel plan violates the Declaration of Indigenous Peoples  
Rights!" said Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem  
Wintu Tribe. "These twin tunnels will kill the largest Estuary that  
keeps California….CALIFORNIA! When that happens it will bring changes  
no one can imagine right now….it will as Mother Nature wants."

To read the letter from the groups charging civil rights violations,  
go to: http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/05/29/rtd_and_ej_coalition_letter_requesting_bdcp_extension_may__28_2014_copy.pdf
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