California officials claim we are in the grip of a major drought, as the Governor issues a flood disaster proclamation requesting presidential aid, while he claims the State is running out of water. Critics are raising questions, “is it because California has gone nuts?” In every major drought, since the turn of the 21st Century, tens-of-thousands of acres […]
It’s final — for the sixth year in a row, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fall Midwater Trawl Survey (FMWT) has found zero Delta Smelt in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The slender 2 to 3 inch fish that smells like cucumber was once the most abundant fish in the Delta. The smelt, found […]
The Hoopa Valley Tribe has asked a federal district court in Fresno for an injunction against the Bureau of Reclamation, the Interior Department agency responsible for restoring Hoopa’s fishery on California’s Trinity River. By Dan Bacher Reclamation plans to set aside a twenty-two year-old agreement with the United States to restore the Tribe’s fishery, which […]
Gia Moreno of Hood spoke passionately about her commitment to stop the proposed Delta Tunnel at a public meeting hosted by the Delta Counties Coalition and Delta Legislative Caucus at the Willow Ballroom last week. By Dan Bacher “I am a mother, an artist, an educator, and I’m tired. I’m tired of coming to these […]
The Trinity County Board of Supervisors in Northern California voted ;ast week to oppose the Newsom administration’s Delta Tunnel project. The county joins Sacramento, San Joaquin, Yolo, Solano and Contra counties and a wide array of recreational fishing groups, Tribes, environmental organizations, family farmers, Delta residents, Southern California water ratepayers and numerous elected officials in opposition to the project. […]
California Tribes and Delta environmental justice organizations, represented by the Environmental Law Clinic at Stanford, last week received a Denial of Request for Reconsideration from the State Water Resources Control Board in response to the coalition’s Request for Reconsideration of the Board decision in June 2022 of denying the coalition’s Petition to Review and Revise the Bay-Delta Water Quality Standards. By […]
Here is the transcription of my 3 minute comment on the Delta Tunnel Draft Environmental Impact Statement that I made in the virtual hearing held by the California Department of Water Resources. By Dan Bacher I’m an independent journalist that’s covered the fish, environmental justice and water issues for 40 years. Different versions of this […]
Days after a fire induced mudslide killed all fish in a 60-mile reach of the Klamath River, ranchers defied state law by diverting flows from the Shasta River, one of the most important Klamath tributaries for imperiled salmon, according to a joint press release from the Karuk and Yurok Tribes. By Dan Bacher “The Shasta […]
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has announced that it will be releasing their Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) early this week for the Delta Conveyance Project, AKA the embattled Delta Tunnel. Documents for federal review of the project will be released later this fall. “Modernizing how California moves water supplies across the Sacramento-San Joaquin […]
Press Release from the California Water impact Water Network and AquAlliance, June 6: Governor Gavin Newsom recently stated he might institute mandatory water restrictions on California ratepayers in response to the catastrophic drought afflicting the state. From one perspective, his declaration seems reasonable: despite an extremely dry winter and dwindling water supplies, water use in the state […]
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has just published their monitoring report on 2021’s spring Chinook salmon run on Butte Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River in Northern California. By Dan Bacher The number of adult spring-run Chinooks that perished before spawning is worse than the preliminary estimate by the CDFW in October 2021, when the CDFW […]
Los Angeles, CA – The Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Water District (MWD), the main water wholesaler in Southern California, voted on April 12 to fund the next phase of planning for the controversial Sites Reservoir with $20 million of ratepayer money. By Dan Bacher If built, Sites Reservoir would be located on the west side of the Sacramento Valley, approximately […]
As the record drought in California and the West continues and the Sacramento River watershed already begins to see die-offs of endangered Chinook salmon, Governor Gavin Newsom on March 29 announced that state, federal and local water leaders had reached “broad agreement” on a package of controversial voluntary agreements purported to provide additional water flows and new habitat […]
State Senators Melissa Hurtado and Dave Cortese are not exactly friends of the Delta. Their audacious new bill SB1219 is a complete assault on the Delta and all the work that Restore the Delta has championed over the years. By Dan Bacher This bill would give the State Water Resources Control Board’s authority to the Department […]
Below is Patrick Porgan’s breaking report on how a U.S. Geological Survey Report affirms the catastrophic consequences of climate change and an ARkSTorm, with $725 billion in flood damages, resulting from the flooding of the entire Central Valley and the Delta, out to San Francisco Bay. By Dan Bacher This report is particularly urgent and timely, […]