The Delta Stewardship Council draft environmental impact report comment period, which began on Friday, Nov. 4, has been extended for an additional thirty (30) days.

The comment period now ends on (and includes) Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012.

The environmental impact report is being prepared by the Delta Stewardship Council as the Project proponent and state lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the Delta Plan.

CEQA requires lead agencies to consider the environmental consequences of a project over which they have discretionary authority before approving, carrying out, or funding the project.

Under CEQA, a project is an activity which may cause either a direct physical change in the environment or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.

CEQA requires a lead agency to prepare an EIR if the project may have a significant environmental effect.

The discretionary action considered by the council is the adoption of the Delta Plan. Because the council does not propose or contemplate constructing, owning, or operating any facilities or directly undertaking any specific activities to implement the Delta Plan recommendations or regulatory policies, there would be no direct physical change in the environment through adoption of the Delta Plan.

However, adoption of the Delta Plan by the council could influence the nature and shape of decisions and actions by other agencies (particularly where those actions are "covered actions" under the Delta Reform Act). Those decisions and actions, as potentially influenced by the Delta Plan, could cause physical changes in the environment.

The Delta Plan EIR is a programmatic EIR due to the broad nature of the Delta Plan. Future environmental documents would be completed by other agencies when they implement projects that are subject to consistency reviews by the council, or which are encouraged or otherwise influenced by the Delta Plan.

This programmatic EIR is not intended to provide project-level clearance for any specific project.

To learn more about how to comment on the draft EIR, please visit the “draft EIR page” on the Delta Stewardship Council Web site at http://www.deltacouncil.ca.gov/draft-eir.