The struggle by Tribes, environmental organizations, fishing groups and the people of California to stop the construction of the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP), AKA Delta Tunnel, heated up today with the submission of a formal statement with the State Water Resources Control Board that highlights the “fundamental flaws” with the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) hearings. […]
On Friday, Sept. 20, a California appellate court upheld an earlier trial court ruling and found the controversial Sites Reservoir Project environmental impact report (EIR) to be legally adequate, disappointing environmental advocates and fish groups. By Dan Bacher Judge Ronald B. Robie, Presiding Judge of the Third Appellate District Court in Yolo County, concluded that “the environmental impact […]
The struggle against the fish-killing Delta Tunnel, the zombie water boondoggle that keeps getting resurrected by state officials and the state and federal water contractors, continues. In the latest battle in the California water wars, the Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School, on behalf of the Delta Tribal Environmental Coalition (DTEC), submitted a formal letter to the […]
It’s a very tough time for the fish and ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary, with ocean salmon season closed off the California and most of Oregon due to the collapse of Sacramento and Klamath River fall-run Chinook populations as the Delta smelt gets closer and closer to extinction in the wild. One […]
California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency for the ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay estuary and its Central Valley watershed, and vowed to provide relief in the form of increased freshwater flows and other benefits for the endangered species and habitats of the vast area covered by the estuary and watershed, […]
On Feb. 9, Representative Josh Harder (D CA-9) reintroduced his Stop the Delta Tunnel Act, a bill that prohibits the Army Corps of Engineers from issuing a federal permit necessary for the State of California to build the Delta Conveyance Project. By Dan Bacher “The Delta Tunnel is a zombie project,” said Rep. Harder in a […]
Stanford, CA – As Central Valley salmon populations plummet and the Bay-Delta ecosystem continues to collapse, a coalition of California Tribes and Bay-Delta Environmental Justice groups submitted comments on Feb. 8 regarding the Draft Scientific Basis Report for proposed Voluntary Agreements (VAs) for the Sacramento River, Delta, and Tributaries Update to the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Water Quality Control Plan. By […]
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 […]
The West uses too much water. For such a simple problem, the obvious solution — use less — lies frustratingly out of reach. That inability to change may seem hard to understand, but the root of the problem becomes clearer if we consider the role of the West in the historical development of the United […]
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. […]
Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt— In a press statement issued today, a global river and human rights coalition at the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP27) called both on governments to avoid including new large hydropower projects in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and financiers to avoid funding projects due to the climate and human rights […]
This week’s featured guest is someone our producer Price Atkinson has wanted to get on the show since season one. Dr. Brandon Shuler is a co-founder of the American Water Security Project (long-time listeners heard from his counterpart, Kirk Mantay, back in season one). By Chelsea Henderson EcoRight News/ RepublicEN Brandon, an old friend of Price’s, is dedicated to advancing solutions and […]
EcoRight Speaks, season five, episode ten: This week’s guest is no stranger to the podcast, having made a guest appearance back in season one. Dr. Nicole Kirchhoff is the founder and CEO of Live Advantage Bait, a marine biologist with 16 years commercial aquaculture production experience and a doctorate in aquatic animal health, aquaculture, fisheries and conservation. Her […]
Wetlands are areas of land that are covered by water, or have flooded or waterlogged soils. They can have water on them either permanently or for just part of the year. Whether it’s year-round or seasonal, this period of water saturation produces hydric soils, which contain little or no oxygen. But this doesn’t mean that […]
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 […]