By: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla Tunnel Trauma: Despite knowing for some time that the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) was advancing, when the Department of Water Resources (DWR) dropped the environmental impact report (EIR) for the project at the end of July, we, at Restore the Delta, felt like we were suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. The remnants of CalFed, the Chunnel, BDCP, CA WaterFix, and now the DCP – it is too much. There are so many other issues that need attention to restore the health of the Bay-Delta estuary and California’s rivers, including but not limited to harmful algal bloom research and mitigation, fishery health, habitat restoration, flood control, drought management, preparing for climate change impacts, managing invasive species, heat islands, [...]

By: Barbara Barrigan-ParrillaDrought Barriers, an evil necessity?Yesterday, Restore the Delta sent the following scoping comment letter to the Army Corps of Engineers in response to a “Dredge and Fill (404) Application from California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to construct North Delta Drought Salinity Barriers Project.” DWR proposes in its application to add two more temporary rock fill barriers along Steamboat and Miner sloughs in the North Delta intending to prevent intrusion of high-salinity tidal waters into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta should critical drought conditions persist into 2023 and beyond. Responding to planning for the installation of salinity barriers as the preferred method to manage drought in the Delta has always been difficult for Restore the Delta. On the one hand, as [...]

Restore the Delta staff and interns have begun public work again, in-person following the pandemic, with a bright and hopeful focus on problem solving and community building activities.Meanwhile, a new, and deeply problematic, Temporary Urgency Change Petition has been conditionally approved to suspend Delta water quality standards the next 90 days. In addition, the Department of Water Resources has released a Voluntary Agreement Framework for the Sacramento River watershed that is so deeply disappointing for the future of the Delta and California rivers that we simultaneously feel like we are publicly mourning.First, We Focus on the PositiveOur new team of Climate Water Advocates, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, the Mosaic Momentum Foundation, and Environment Now, are nearing completion of 18 [...]

by Barbara Barrigan-ParrillaIn December, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) announced that the Voluntary Agreement (VA) process had ended for the San Joaquin River watershed; that rule making and implementation planning would begin for the Bay-Delta Plan (Phase 1) for the San Joaquin River watershed (with physical implementation in 2023); and that the process for the creation of the Bay-Delta Plan (Phase 2) for the Sacramento River watershed would commence, while the VA process would continue for the Sacramento River watershed. On top of the delays in restoring water quality and quantity for the Delta caused by never-ending VAs, court cases remain pending for curtailment orders during the last drought; court cases continue in response to last year’s Temporary [...]

Mysterious Term Sheet A recent letter from Friant Water Authority to Secretary Crowfoot and Secretary Blumenfeld, responding to the State’s request to provide “red flag” comments on the October 18, 2021 Draft Memorandum of Understanding Advancing a Term Sheet for the Voluntary Agreements to Update and Implement the Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan, and Other Related Actions (Term Sheet) and related appendices by October 29, contains mystery. Friant’s letter raises multiple concerns about costs, water supply, conflict with the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, and the need for federal legislation to force Central Valley Project contractors to pay their fair share. It most notably states that with respect to the litigation over the 2019 Trump Biological Opinions and negotiations over interim operations “dismissing [...]

We didn’t think it could be possible – that the change from twin tunnels to a single tunnel could net a Delta Conveyance Project that is even worse for the Delta than California WaterFix.  But alas, the Newsom Administration’s rogue agency, the Department of Water Resources, has managed to take a bad idea and make it even worse. Before we share details of a recent coalition letter explicating how the Delta Conveyance Project fails in the present, let’s linger for a moment on why DWR is a rogue department in California government.While other boards, agencies, commissions, and government entities, in an attempt to improve equity in outreach are expanding who they bring to the table to deal with Delta planning issues [...]

By: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla The Department of Water Resources continues to fail in its management of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary. From its creation of a long-term water export operations plan based on the inaccurate fake corrupted Trump biological opinions written by former Westlands’ lobbyists, (now being rewritten by Federal agencies), to the voluntary agreements that will short the Delta of even more freshwater flows, to a new version of the Delta tunnel that will list major impacts as outside the project footprint for expediency, DWR consistently fails to put Delta health or communities first. Case in point: DWR is pursuing an effort to leave the saltwater barrier in place this fall.  Even though the current permit requires complete removal of the [...]

Before we continue with the blog below, we want to thank our contributors who have helped us keep this vitally important work for the estuary going. This weekend is the 15th anniversary and start of the 16th year of work by Restore the Delta! If you have been busy this summer and unable to contribute to Our Living Delta, it’s not too late. Click her to make a contribution.  As you read this blog, you will see that we are busier than ever working to protect the estuary that we all love.CEQA Reform Bill UpdateA number of our followers were in touch with us quickly after our last alert asking for a bill number for the CEQA Reform Bill in the California legislature and [...]

For decades, Anti-California sentiment has been part of American media news coverage, which sadly too often measures state success only in terms of corporate success. The trope, “what is wrong with California,” does not evaluate the societal, environmental, and economic outcomes that would improve the quality of life for working people within our state. It places two segments of an incomplete narrative side-by-side for consideration: a state can succeed through corporate growth, or it can fail. Corporate responsibility is never delineated when the media frames the story as to whether corporations are thriving or failing in California. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times about AECOM moving its headquarters to Dallas accurately asserts that “Texas state officials have for years been trying to lure [...]