Anglers, divers and other residents of the Lake Tahoe Basin have reason to celebrate. Under a settlement agreement finalized this month in federal court in Sacramento, AT&T’s PacBell subsidiary will remove eight miles of decrepit telephone cable from Lake Tahoe, where it has been leaching toxic lead into the iconic lake’s water for decades. The cable […]
The FracTracker Alliance has released a new report on water use by the oil and gas industry in California: www.fractracker.org/… By Dan Bacher “We found that the oil and gas industry consumed over 4.6 billion gallons of freshwater for extraction operations in California during the 3 year period from 2018-2020,” said Kyle Ferrar, author of the report. […]
If built, the Newsom Administration’s Delta Tunnel (Delta Conveyance) would be potentially the most environmentally destructive public works project in California history. The multi-billion dollar project would hasten the extinction of endangered Delta and longfin smelt, Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento winter run and spring run Chinook salmon, green sturgeon and other fish species, as well as imperil salmon […]
On October 27, Fresno Superior Court Judge D. Tyler Tharpe tossed out the Westlands Water District’s proposed permanent federal water contract from the Central Valley Project (CVP) that would have allocated roughly double the amount of water that Los Angeles residents use in a year. By Dan Bacher Tharpe found Westlands, the largest federal irrigation district in the […]
Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a proclamation extending the drought emergency statewide to the eight additional counties not already not previously included in the drought state of emergency. By Dan Bacher The proclamation follows the second driest water year on record as record low storage plagues California’s largest reservoirs and after big fish kills took […]
The Yurok Tribe, the largest Indian Tribe in California, is urging Yurok Citizens and Allies to voice their support for a plan to manage the Trinity River, the largest tributary of the Klamath River, in a “more holistic manner.” By Dan Bacher In a statement issued yesterday, the Tribe said it “fully supports the Trinity River Winter Flow Variability […]
Yesterday, Save California Salmon released its first episode of the Western Water Justice podcast, “Envisioning Justice on the Klamath River with Dr. Cutcha Risling-Baldy”. The first episode of the podcast was released today in honor of indigenous People’s Day, according to Save California Salmon. By Dan Bacher “The Western Water Justice podcast aims to highlight […]
Sejal Choksi-Chugh, Executive Director of the San Francisco Baykeeper, believes that “it’s nuts” to ask California’s urban water users to voluntarily reduce water use while allowing almond, walnut, and pistachio growers to use big amounts of water during a record drought. By Dan Bacher On July 15, Governor Gavin Newsom added nine counties to the regional drought state of emergency and […]
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, resigned in protest Friday from the Stakeholder Engagement Committee (SCE), for the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority (DCDCA). By Dan Bacher “When our good faith efforts produce no results and are met with resistance, Restore the Delta will shift and move into a new direction to […]
As we stated in our Sunday newsletter, the Newsom Administration is trying to move forward with disingenuous Delta watershed restoration bills that replace water with habitat (instead of doing both). This is part of their full court press to create “voluntary agreements” to fill the Delta tunnel. By Dan Bacher (Updated Action Alert from Restore the […]
On August 26, three environmental groups filed a lawsuit in federal District Court challenging the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation over extra groundwater pumping plans by Sacramento River water districts. The filing of the suit by AquAlliance, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, and the California Water Impact Network was followed on Wednesday, September 1, by a motion […]
The U.S. government announced its first-ever water shortage declaration for the Colorado River on Aug. 16, 2021, triggering future cuts in the amount of water states will be allowed to draw from the river. The Tier 1 shortage declaration followed the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s forecast that the water in Lake Mead – the largest reservoir in the U.S., […]
The below Delta Conveyance Update by Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta (RTD), “with the help of friends,” indicates that “the operations conditions for water quality under the proposed are getting worse” under the proposed changes by DWR under the single tunnel than under the twin tunnels — and “the suggested operations are worse for salmon” than under the California […]
Against the backdrop of the horrific discoveries of more than 1,000 Indigenous childrens’ bodies at Indian boarding schools in Canada and the U.S. over the past weeks, the slow genocide of Native peoples continues unabated at the front lines of the Line 3 pipeline. By Lakota People’s Law Project Resistance camps have been set up […]
While most California farms and ranches face water regulations to save dwindling water resources and protect fisheries, Siskiyou County’s Scott Valley alfalfa growers continue to pump groundwater with no regulatory oversight. The river is now a series of shrinking puddles full of Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed Coho salmon, according to an August 13 press release […]