“First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. And then you win.” ― Ghandi Articles • Halftime Score. Delta 7. Tunnel Proponents 0. • Getting Ready for the Second Half. • Game plan Halftime Score. Delta 7. Tunnel Proponents 0. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan is dead. Long live the Delta! That puts the people who love the Delta and who want to see REAL restoration of the estuary in the lead at halftime. When we consider that the Brown Administration and tunnel proponents threw at us 40,000 pages of convoluted and misleading documents, a quarter of a billion dollar administrative effort, and eight years of public messaging and lobbying by the deep pockets at [...]

San Jose Mercury News:  Fate of Delta smelt sinks as numbers drop By Denis Cuff POSTED:   03/17/2015 10:41:07 PM PDT EXCERPT: "The relaxed standards were aimed at storing water in reservoirs for a long, dry summer, but environmentalists say the emergency rule has hastened the decline of the smelt. "Excessive water pumping by the state and federal water exporters has led to the collapse of the estuary," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta." Read San Jose Mercury News article here.  East Bay Express: California Targets Wrong Water Wasters By Robert Gammon MARCH 18, 2015 EXCERPT: "Environmentalists, however, are concerned the current record-drought conditions will only lead to dumber decisions about water. They're worried that instead of calling for the end of [...]

Fishermen, Delta Leaders: Exporters “Destroy Delta Smelt” Export Projects Overpumping Delta During Drought Destroys Fisheries If Endangered Species Become Extinct, Fault Will Be With State Water Board and Captive Fish Agencies Stockton, CA – Restore the Delta (RTD) and other opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build massive underground Tunnels that would drain the Delta of freshwater and doom sustainable farms, and salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today responded to the finding that Delta Smelt may be extinct. The latest state trawl survey found just six smelt to date. The smelt may be reaching the point of no return if swift action is not taken. The tunnels opponents criticized a move by the State Water Board to further weaken Delta [...]

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 [...]

In case you missed it… Mercury News Editorial POSTED: 02/24/15, 2:47 PM PST    Original article from San Jose Mercury News website here.  California needs to get serious about protecting the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, one of Silicon Valley's most valuable water sources. The short-term needs of Central Valley farmers are significant. But they pale in comparison with preserving the long-term water quality of the estuary that provides water for two-thirds of the state's residents. California took a significant risk when it waived some environmental protections last year for the Delta in order to pump additional water south to save acres of almond orchards. The results were not pretty. Tom Howard, the executive director of the State Water [...]

Media coverage from February 18-19, featuring Restore the Delta and supporters:   News 10, watch or read: Central Valley farmers are demanding access to more water from the Delta Feb. 19, 2015 News10/KXTV "…But, those who campaign under the banner "Restore the Delta" say for them, it's also about the people. "We're talking about the fish because the fish supply more jobs than this small area of California farming," California Water Impact Network lawyer Michael Jackson said. "It's not a matter of fish versus farmer. In this particular circumstance, it's farmer versus farmer."… … However, people who live near the Delta are asking, "what about us?" Those residents worry that as freshwater leaves the Delta, salt water will come in. The state limits how much [...]

“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, [...]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, January 20, 2015 Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta In case you missed it… Contra Costa Times editorial: Supreme Court’s smelt decision was not surprise Contra Costa Times editorial © 2015 Bay Area News Group POSTED: 01/19/2015 12:48:49 PM PST “It took all of, oh, a couple of minutes for big water districts in the Central Valley to criticize last week’s U.S. Supreme Court for choosing fish over people. If only it were that easy. “Farmers and cities in the Central Valley and Southern California like to dumb down the argument to just that — the Delta smelt vs. the thirsty masses. “But it’s not just about the 3-inch [...]

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 [...]