Delta Conservancy

Delta Flows: February 16, 2015

“We can follow the example of those who remembered that the role of an activist is not to navigate systems of oppressive power with as much integrity as possible, but rather to confront and take down those systems.” — Derrick Jensen Articles • Navigate or Confront • How drought management plays out in the Delta • Chipping away at all watershed protections Navigate or Confront By: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla This week, Tim Stroshane finished preparing Restore the Delta’s first Protest response to the State Water Resources Control Board, specifically the Board’s January 27, 2015 Notice of Temporary Urgency Change Petition (TUCP). The TUCP is the Board’s decision to modify D-1641 for the months of February and March, weakening Delta outflow standards, [...]

Delta Flows: February 10, 2015

Articles • If it ain’t broken… • History repeating itself… • Not Really Fixing It If it ain’t broken… By Stina Va Local and state Delta agencies continue to disagree about current state efforts to change priorities and funding for Delta levees. Currently, two efforts are under way: The Delta Stewardship Council is developing a “levee investment strategy” to implement its Delta Plan levee strategy, and the Delta Protection Commission is studying the feasibility of creating a Delta levee assessment district to fund levees that may not be covered by state or federal liability. The Council seeks to prioritize levees for investment, and the Commission hopes to create a funding base to ensure funds are available to invest. But local [...]

News from Restore the Delta: December 17, 2014

“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” ― Benjamin Franklin Articles A less than tasty appetizer for 2015 A mixed up salad: Learning Delta Water Management The Meat and Potatoes of the Tunnels Project Remembering our friends And Christmas Cookies A less than tasty appetizer for 2015 Federal drought legislation failed to pass in the Senate this year and failed to move forward on the budget despite a Rule Committee waiver to legislate on an appropriations bill. We are grateful to our colleagues in numerous other environmental organizations and our participatory members for making your opposition to this legislation loud and clear to our elected representatives. But, we are not [...]

News from Restore the Delta: September 9, 2014

“In the discovery of secret things and in the investigation of hidden causes, stronger reasons are obtained from sure experiments and demonstrated arguments than from probably conjectures and the opinions of philosophical speculators of the common sort.” – William Gilbert Articles EPA re BDCP: The short version Worrisome language in the Water Bond “At the table” about habitat Revisiting the Delta Plan’s House of Mirrors EPA re BDCP: The short version People who follow Delta issues know by now that the California Natural Resource Agency will be recirculating the BDCP Draft and environmental documents early next year. This may be largely in response to a letter they received from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency giving a long list of problems [...]

News from Restore the Delta: June 5, 2014

“In one of our conversations yesterday, we were talking about adaptive management and how everyone seems to be using the term differently, and the most cynical interpretation of a lot of the use of ‘adaptive management’ is promising to fix it later.” — Dr. Jay Lund, Delta Independent Science Board “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with bullshit.” — W. C. Fields Articles An Implementing Agreement at last Lost in translation A Water Bond soup with too many cooks Hits, runs, and an error Ask for a dome No barriers after all (updated correction 6/6/14) Every great campaign has an art movement An Implementing Agreement at last We finally have a draft Implementing Agreement (IA) released [...]