For Immediate Release: Tuesday September 1, 2015 Contact: Osha Meserve 916/425-9914 [email protected] Dante Nomellini 209/465-3956 [email protected] Brian Smith 415/320-9384 [email protected] DELTA TUNNELS CA Water Resources Control Board Gets “Fixed” Application from DWR and USBR To Take Water; Ignores Requirements and Private Property Rights Needed for Project   Sacramento, CA – Focusing on false and misleading information provided by state and federal officials to take water supplies, Local Agencies of the North Delta and the Central Delta Water Agency have filed objections to the potential perjury caused by the misinformation contained in the DWR/USBR August 26, 2015 petition filed to divert water some 35 miles of the Delta estuary.   In yet another attempt to rush building of massive underground water tunnels that would drain the Delta of [...]

For Release: August 27, 2015 Contact: Brian Smith, 415-320-9384, [email protected] \ Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053 [email protected], Twitter: @RestoretheDelta \ Osha Merserve, Delta Water Rights attorney, 916-425-9914 DELTA TUNNELS State and Feds Steamroll Ahead Despite Open Public Comment Period “Change Petition” Filed for New Diversion Points from Sacramento River   Sacramento, CA – The California Department of Water Resources and the United States Bureau of Reclamation today announced that they have jointly submitted permit requests to add three additional points of water diversion from the Sacramento River to supply the State Water Project and Central Valley Project. Read the petition here. The three intakes would each have a capacity of 3,000 cubic feet per second. That potential 9,000cfs is a shocking amount of water exports considering that TODAY, the Sacramento is [...]

Overly Optimistic By Tim Stroshane “Relax”—Things Will be OK | It Gets Worse | But Wait, There’s More | Gentlemen’s Agreement Mismanagement of the state and federal water projects in California’s Central Valley during the state’s four-year drought was on full display at a June 24th workshop convened by the State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento. Extinction of winter- and spring-run Chinook salmon and Delta smelt and the threat of dead pool supplies at Folsom Lake for urban and suburban water users are likely legacies of state and federal drought actions in 2015. But by gum, the State Water Board will have also ensured exports from the Delta through it all. Much the way Congress and federal regulators gave [...]

In case you missed it… JD Supra Business Advisor Lawsuit Filed Over State Water Board’s Temporary Modification of Water Quality Objectives 6/10/2015 by Stephanie Clark  | Nossaman LLP Consistent with Governor Brown’s Drought Proclamation and Executive Orders, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) sought and obtained a temporary modification of certain water quality objectives from the California State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) in order to allow for increased exports of water from the Central Valley Project and State Water Project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta).  On June 3, 2015, environmental groups, including the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, California Water Impact Network, AquAlliance, and Restore the Delta, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Interior [...]

“When we lack the ability to talk back to entities that are culturally and politically powerful, the very foundations of free speech and democratic society are called into question.” – Naomi Klein Articles • He Did It For Love • Drought and the False River Blues —- The TUCP Orders and System Mismanagement —- Barriers to Salt He Did It For Love By Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla It is with great sadness that Restore the Delta shares with our followers the recent passing of our friend and fellow advocate Jerry Cadagan. In addition to providing a number of us with daily media clips that included brilliant commentary and great wit, Jerry was our friend. He always had an encouraging word when we [...]

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, April 1, 2015 Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta   Drought Barriers to Push Delta Closer to Collapse: Threaten Salmon, No Restrictions on Mega-Farms   Stockton, CA – Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build water export Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom sustainable farms, salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today responded to Gov. Brown’s latest drought measures. “Governor Brown has had two responses of opposite extremes to the drought crisis,” said executive director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla. “The first response is to place the largest burden of conservation on urban water users.  His second response is to push the Delta further toward ecological collapse [...]

Articles • Temporary urgency, permanent extinction? • While Westlands Drives the Regulatory Process… • Would Delta Barriers Really be a Last Resort? • Curtailing water use during drought? Temporary urgency, permanent extinction? By: Tim Stroshane and Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla Releasing his latest Delta water quality order late on March 5th, Tom Howard, executive director of the State Water Resources Control Board, added a loophole allowing state and federal water contractors reliant on Delta exports to tell the state and federal water project operators they need more health and safety water supplies. State and federal operators must merely inform the State Water Board they will export more from the Delta to meet those claims for water. This is a loophole you can [...]

Will the State Water Board Tear Up Paper Water? Unprecedented Demand on Senior Water Rights Holders Ignores State has Overpromised Water 5.5 Times Over; Westlands & Kern Mega-Growers Continue Overpumping Stockton, CA – Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build Twin Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today responded to the State Water Resources Control Board’s (SWRCB) draft order issued Wednesday night demanding water diversion data from every riparian and pre-1914 water right holder in the Delta’s Central Valley watershed, starting March 1st until, well, whenever. “This is an unprecedented move by the Board’s Division of Water Rights,” said Restore the Delta Executive Director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla. “The Board has [...]

Restore the Delta Responds to Westlands Water District Secret Settlement; Trawl Survey Shows Delta Smelt Population At All Time Low           Taxpayers Should Not Have to Shoulder Westlands’ Water District’s Debt Or Give Up More Water While System Is At Risk Sacramento, CA – Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build Peripheral Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom sustainable farms, salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today responded to the prospect of a secret settlement of the debt Westlands Water District owes to US taxpayers and the near extinction presently of Delta smelt. Statement by Restore the Delta Executive Director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla:            “The idea that the Westlands Water [...]