Dear Restore the Delta friends, We need your attendance and public comment at a public workshop held by the State Water Resources Control Board on Wednesday.  The Board wants to use the workshop to receive public input regarding its drought related activities in the Bay Delta watershed.   To date, the Board has been letting its executive director, Tom Howard, issue “temporary urgency change petition” (“TUCP”) decisions allowing state and federal water projects to get out from under established water quality protections for the Delta in order to smooth over the projects’ mismanagement of their water supplies.   While some of the TUCP order’s provisions are intended to protect endangered runs of Chinook salmon upstream, they have reduced and will [...]

For Immediate Release: Friday, May 15, 2015 Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta; Karen-Cunningham 925/354-2599 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 California Fish and Wildlife’s celebration of the 10th National Endangered Species Day by pointing out the department’s failure to protect the giant garter snake in the Delta. “The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) states that the purpose of the Endangered Species Act is to conserve imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend to prevent extinction,’” said executive director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla. [...]

Dear friends,  Watch our federal legislation alert. A pro-tunnels drought bill in Washington D.C. will lay the groundwork for water transfers regardless of conditions in the Delta. If this bill is allowed to pass, it will rid all the necessary obstacles to build the tunnels and expedite the project.  However, this drought legislation was made to be folded into other federal legislation, so it's important for you to call Senator Feinstein (202-224-3841) and your congressional representative and tell them you are opposed to over pumping the Delta and/or weakening protections of fisheries, in any Federal legislation under the disguise of drought. Take action today.  An easy tool to find your representative's and Senator's phone number can be done by going to https://www.opencongress.org/people/zipcodelookup — all you [...]

In case you missed it…   From: On the public record Blog   Tuesday, April 7, 2015 My thoughts on Governor Brown’s reasons for not including agriculture in mandatory water restrictions.   Governor Brown lists three reasons in the ABC interview below. The lack of delivery from the water projects and water rights curtailments of junior appropriators is already sufficient cutback. It would end Californian food production and displace hundreds of thousands of people.’ Our historical water rights system gives (some) farmers precedent. 1.  This argument doesn’t impress me much, because we know that farmers are still getting water. They had a cheap surface water cutback, but replaced that supply with groundwater.  About 500,000 acres out of 9,500,000 acres were [...]

In case you missed it: several important news stories during Easter weekend about the new California drought measures and the change in the Delta tunnels plan listed below. Restore the Delta: news of interest: $25-billion Sacramento-San Joaquin delta tunnel project reexamined — Gov. Jerry Brown's administration is overhauling its proposal for a controversial tunnel project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta in the wake of doubts about whether water exporters can meet stringent federal conditions for operating the system over a 50-year period. Bettina Boxall in the Los Angeles Times$ — 4/5/15  Governor Brown's drought order lets agribusiness, oil companies off … Bay Area Indymedia-Apr 4, 2015 “Governor Brown has had two responses of opposite extremes to the drought crisis,” said RTD executive [...]

For Immediate Release: Friday, April 3, 2015 Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta New Analysis Finds Harm in Gov. Brown’s Drought Order: Suspends CEQA, Abandons Public Rulemaking Drought Barriers for up to 10 Years, Decimate Fisheries, But 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 executive order. “While urban water conservation measures are desperately needed, Governor Brown is not calling for shared sacrifice,” said RTD Executive Director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla. “What he is enacting is sacrifice by 98% of Californians, and the [...]

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 [...]

Tunnel Critics: MWD Emails Show Water-Takers’ Secret Influence; Move to Gut Endangered Species Act Protections 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 a report in Energy & Environment Daily that shows water-takers are exerting undue influence over legislation, and directing a move to gut Endangers Species Act (ESA) protections. “S. Calif. water district exerts heavy influence on legislative negotiations Debra Kahn, Energy & Environment reporter E&E Daily: Friday, March 27, 2015 “As congressional talks continue over California’s historic drought, one participant in the negotiations has been more influential than it has claimed. “Metropolitan [...]

Read original story here. S. Calif. water district exerts heavy influence on legislative negotiations Debra Kahn, E&E reporter E&E Daily: Friday, March 27, 2015 As congressional talks continue over California’s historic drought, one participant in the negotiations has been more influential than it has claimed. Metropolitan Water District, a consortium of 26 public agencies that supplies water to 19 million people in Southern California, sent Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) proposals for managing the state’s water that made it into bills that passed both houses last year, according to documents obtained through a California Public Records Act request. Emails between Met staff, Feinstein’s staff and others also reveal extensive negotiations last year over a draft bill [...]