For Immediate Release: August 24, 2015  Contact: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter:@RestoretheDelta Tunnels Opponents Respond to Gov. Brown and Presidential Candidate Carly Fiorina’s Exchange Regarding California Water Management, Delta Tunnels, and Climate Change On Meet the Press   STOCKTON, CA- Restore the Delta (RTD), the leading opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build massive underground water tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom sustainable farms, salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today responded to Gov. Brown’s statement and Carly Fiorina’s comments regarding the problems with drought management, conveyance, and dams in California in their interviews with Chuck Todd of Meet the Press. Restore the Delta’s Executive Director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla responded to the entire exchange with the following statement. To see the Meet [...]

PDF Version here. Watch the hearing here at CalChannel. Senate Select Committee on The Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta Informational Hearing Are the Tunnels Good for California? Tuesday, August 18, 2015 Good morning. Thank you Chair Wolk and committee members. I am Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla with Restore the Delta. I represent over 25,000 Californians who want to see the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary restored for our children and future generations. Thousands of our members reside at ground zero for the proposed Delta tunnels project. We are pleased with today’s oversight hearing. It is a first step. But we are calling on this committee, and the entire legislature to make oversight of the Delta tunnels their immediate and primary oversight priority. According [...]

For Immediate Release: 7/23/15   Contact: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, (209) 479-2053, [email protected], @RestoretheDelta Tim Stroshane, Policy Analyst, Restore the Delta (510) 847-7556 [email protected] Restore the Delta Files Protest Over State Water Board’s Changes to Delta Outflows Board is picking winners and losers in a drought Sacramento – Restore the Delta has filed a protest and request for consideration with the State Water Resources Control Board over its prior “Temporary Urgent Change Petitions” regarding water exports, Delta outflows, and water quality standards for the SF Bay-Delta estuary during the drought.   In its protest, RTD bases its request in three key areas: the existing Temporary Urgency Change Petition does not serve the public interest, is contrary to law, and [...]

Contact: Brian Smith 415-320-9384 [email protected]; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209-479-2053 [email protected] Top Ten Questions Delta Tunnels Boosters Don’t Want You to Ask 1. How will construction of the tunnels over a fourteen-year period help with drought? 2. Will the state conduct a full cost-benefit analysis of the project that includes the value of freshwater to the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary? 3. How much water is available for export through the tunnels in a drought after prior water rights and public trust needs are met? And if there isn’t any, how often will the tunnels be dry? 4. How does California Water Fix help reduce reliance on Delta imports as mandated by the 2009 Delta Reform Act? 5. The State Water Resources Control [...]

For Immediate Release: Wednesday 7/8/15 Contact: Brian Smith, 415/320-9384, [email protected] Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, 209/479-2053 [email protected] DELTA TUNNELS: New Plan, New EIR, Same Old Water GrabThree government actions imperil the largest estuary on the West Coast Listen to our teleconference: Sacramento, CA – Today, Restore the Delta and a coalition of advocates for the San Francisco Bay-Delta held a teleconference to preview the EIR/EIS for the revised Delta Tunnels project (formerly known as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan) to be released on Friday, July 10. The old plan failed to meet federal standards under the Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act, or to pencil out for water users. Under the leadership of Governor Brown’s administration, and public relations efforts like Californians [...]

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 [...]

Dear Restore the Delta friends,   We need you to express your opposition to the federal drought bill, H.R. 2898, the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015, by House Rep. David Valadao, a congressman who represents Big Ag in the Central Valley desert.   Please call your senator ASAP – especially Senator Barbara Boxer. If you already called, please continue to call your Senator until this bill dies. Thank you for your dedication.   H.R. 2898 will harm west coast salmon and fisheries, override key environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act, and will ruin Delta water quality for all Bay-Delta users (farmers, drinking water, native fish, and wildlife refuges).   This House bill is fast tracked [...]

“History never really says goodbye. History says, ‘See you later.” – Eduardo Galeano Articles • Gifted RTD alums • Speaking of the CA Water Fix…The Fix Is In Gifted RTD alums Restore the Delta, throughout its nine-year history, has been fortunate to work with brilliant talented people from every age and background – from Delta farmer Alex Hildebrand to local activist Javier Padilla Reyes; from river advocate Jerry Cadagan to League of Women Voters water leader Jane Wagner-Tyack; from fishing advocate Corey Cate to campaign assistant Jessica Iniguez. Some of our friends have passed from this world; some have retired and taken breaks from extreme public advocacy; some have left to further their education. As it has been with those [...]

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 24, 2015 Contact: Brian Smith 415/320-9384; [email protected] Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta;  Bill Jennings 209/464-5067 [email protected];   Native Fish Species Near Extinction; State Water Resources Control Board Violated Prohibition Against Unreasonable Use of Water   Sacramento, CA- Restore the Delta (RTD), the leading opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build massive underground water tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom sustainable farms, salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today, along with with the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance made detailed comments at the State Water Resources Control Board workshop on drought management of the Delta and the State’s water system. Both organizations charge that the SWRCB is violating key laws in its management of the [...]