For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 21, 2015 Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta TUNNELS OPPONENTS: GOV. BROWN IS BREAKING HIS PROP. 1 PROMISE, Announces he WILL Use Prop. 1 Funds to Mitigate Tunnels   Stockton, CA – Governor Brown promised the people of California that Proposition 1 (Water Bond) funds would not be used for the BDCP, but for dealing with the drought. Now, his administration admits that they could use money from Proposition 1 to pay for habitat mitigation for construction and operation of the tunnels. “It is outrageous that the governor would break the promise he made to the people of California that their taxes would not be used to mitigate [...]

For Immediate Release: Monday, April 20, 2015 Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta Tunnels-Only BDCP: Gov. Abandons Pretext of Saving Fisheries Ignores “Co-Equal Goals” Requirement; End-Runs EPA Water Use: The Top 1% Water-Takers vs. 38 Million Residents Sacramento, CA– Restore the Delta (RTD) and other 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 said in a news teleconference that Gov. Brown’s abandonment of habitat restoration in his BDCP tunnels project “violates the statutory ‘co-equal goals’, end-runs the EPA and other federal scientists who refused to issue permits for the project, and makes the tunnels project [...]

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: Friday, March 20, 2015 Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta Tunnel Critics: False Advertising by Gov. Brown, Exporters Expert Debunks Myth of Farm Jobs Loss. Drought Worse for Environment than for Farm Jobs 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 drought response as “false advertising,” and a Valley economic expert’s finding that the claims of farm job losses by water exporters are unfounded. Water exporters use farm job loss claims to whip up hysteria to overcome fact-based examination of the tunnels. [...]

Prop. 1 channels billions of dollars to California’s water needs — but will it hurt or help endangered salmon? By Alistair Bland “Everywhere else in the nation, they are tearing down dams to benefit fish. Only in California are leaders telling us that building dams will benefit fish.” “One of the main arguments for the dams from supporters is that dams will make for more flexibility in releasing water for fish. But obviously, the main reason for having dams is to have better flexibility for providing water for farmers. The environment just becomes justification for it.” Check out the full article here:  http://www.comstocksmag.com/longreads/fish-out-water

“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, [...]

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 [...]

For Immediate Release: Friday, January 23, 2015 Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta Restore the Delta Calls on California Water Commission To Heed Stanford Study’s Findings: Ground Storage 6 Times more Effective than Surface Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Gov. Brown’s plan to build Peripheral Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom salmon and other Pacific fisheries has called upon the California Water Commission (the Commission) to use science-based guidelines in setting priorities for spending Prop. 1 funds. In particular, RTD cited a recent Stanford University study showing that the benefits of groundwater storage far outweigh those of surface storage. “Any long term solution to the predictable droughts that impact California [...]

Drought talk around Thanksgiving table: Farmers versus urbanites By Steve Scauzillo, San Gabriel Valley Tribune POSTED: 11/29/14, 3:00 PM PST Would your Thanksgiving table be ruined if the stuffing or side dishes did not contain almonds? No, of course not, notwithstanding Martha Stewart’s recipe for chorizo-almond stuffing or your sister-in-law’s infamous green beans amandine. Then why are our water policymakers treating the almond farmers like they were producing a life-sustaining staple? In a severe drought, urban users like you and I are asked to cut back on water use, but farmers, who get close to three-quarters of the water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, don’t have to change their ways. That sums up the main argument from Barbara [...]