The Winnemem Wintu Tribe has led the resistance against the proposed Shasta Dam raise since the early 2000s, and now the Trump administration and Westlands Water District are using the cover of Covid-19 to fast-track the project in possible violation of state, federal and International law. By Dan Bacher The general public can learn more […]
While many salmon advocates oppose several of California Governor Gavin Newson’s key water policies such as the Delta Tunnel, Sites Reservoir and the Big Ag-promoted voluntary agreements, a coalition of Tribes, fishing groups and conservation organizations today praised Newsom for urging the owners of four Klamath River dams to stick with a dam removal agreement. By Dan Bacher Newsom sent a […]
California Governor Gavin Newsom on July 28 unveiled a final version of his controversial Water Resilience Portfolio, a water plan that that includes the Delta Tunnel, Sites Reservoir and the agribusiness-promoted “voluntary agreements.” While the plan drew praise from agribusiness interests and water agencies — and strong criticism from salmon advocates, Tribal leaders and environmental justice leaders for the damage […]
Three California environmental nonprofits secured a landmark settlement agreement with the California State Water Resources Control Board to uphold the common law Public Trust Doctrine and other legal protections for imperiled fish species in the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay/Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta Estuary, according to a press release from the groups. By […]
Were you curious about seeing the public comments made during the public scoping period for the controversial Delta Tunnel to divert water from the Sacramento River before it flows through the Delta? If you made a comment, did you want to check to see if your comment was included? Well, here’s your chance. By Dan Bacher […]
The Sites Reservoir is a potential large new reservoir on 14,000 acres approx. 80 miles northwest of Sacramento. As currently proposed, the $4.7 billion project would create new water diversions from the Sacramento River and would increase pressure to divert water from the Trinity River, in order to store and transport water for industrial agriculture […]
The Trump administration on Monday, June 22, requested $15 million for the Shasta Dam enlargement project, a project that Tribes, fishing groups and conservation organizations say will drive imperiled winter-run Chinook salmon closer to extinction and flood many of the remaining sacred cultural sites of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. This $15 million was part of […]
The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear the case of Baley v United States, a case regarding water rights on the Klamath Basin, agreeing with the Court of Appeals that Basin irrigators’ water rights were subordinate to the Tribes’ federal reserved water rights. The court’s refusal to hear the 18-year-old case brought by the Klamath Basin irrigators settles “for […]
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) today took another key action in its plan to build the Delta Tunnel, a massive public works project that a coalition of fishermen, Tribal leaders, environmentalists, family farmers, Delta residents, elected officials and other Californians considers to be potentially the most environmentally destructive public works project in California history. By Dan […]
In a letter that is “as scathing as bureaucrats write,” the State Water Resources Control Board is “taking the Trump administration’s Bureau of Reclamation to the woodshed over its refusal to take meaningful steps to avoid annihilating California’s salmon runs this fall,” according to a statement from the Golden State Salmon Association (GSSA). By Dan Bacher […]
In a press release, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today announced the introduction of her Restoration of Essential Conveyance Act, a bill to authorize $800 million in federal funding “to repair critical canals in the San Joaquin Valley damaged by land sinking from overpumping of groundwater, known as subsidence, and for environmental restoration.” By Dan Bacher As I […]
In the latest lawsuit to contest Trump administration water policies, three environmental groups have sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation over the granting of permanent federal water contracts to water users supplied by the Central Valley Project (CVP). By Dan Bacher The lawsuit, brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Restore the Delta and Planning and Conservation League, […]
On May 11, a federal judge ruled that a federal Bureau of Reclamation water diversion and pumping plan, lethal to Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead and other fish species in the Central Valley and Delta, must temporarily restrict water pumping from the Delta. The order blocks the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation until May 31 from increasing […]
The Yurok Tribe, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), and the Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR), represented by the nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice, are seeking a temporary restraining order to reinstate water flows in the Klamath River to protect threatened salmon, according to a joint press release issued today. By Dan Bacher […]
On May 11, AquAlliance sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority (SLDMWA) in federal District Court over their long term water transfer transfer program that threatens Northern California farms, fish and communities. An environmental group that exists to defend northern California waters and to challenge threats to the hydrologic health of […]