For Immediate Release: September 21, 2015  Contact: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter:@RestoretheDelta SHADES OF OWENS VALLEY Metropolitan Water District and Westlands Water District Moving to Purchase Delta Property Parcels in Path of Proposed Delta Tunnels Project UPDATED 9/23: Westlands Water District backing out of deal to purchase property parcels — see this story UPDATED 11:22 AM: Note paragraph 3, Westlands Water District is also moving to purchase Delta property parcels Los Angeles – On Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at 8:30 AM, behind closed doors, MWD's executive committee has scheduled what appears to be the purchase of parcels for the proposed massive Delta Tunnels project.   The Agenda for the MWD Real Asset and Property Management Committee contains the list of these parcels within its [...]

For Immediate Release: September 14, 2015 Contacts: Tom Stokely, California Water Impact Network, 530-926-9727, [email protected]  Sandra Lupien, Food & Water Watch, 510-681-3171, [email protected] Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053, [email protected] SWEETHEART SETTLEMENT FOR WESTLANDS WATER DISTRICT EXPECTED TUESDAY Horrendous Deal for Taxpayers and California Washington, DC – The Obama Administration is expected to sign a binding agreement on Tuesday (9/15/15) with the powerful Westlands Water District in the Western San Joaquin Valley that would guarantee the district vast amounts of California’s water to sustain the irrigation of toxic soils filled with selenium. The agreement would settle litigation over an unfulfilled federal requirement to provide drainage while forgiving Westlands’ debt to U.S. taxpayers with an unconscionable sweetheart deal.  The agreement would increase the federal deficit by $340 million [...]

**Media and public outreach cost money, make a donation to support our work.** Contact: Brian Smith, 415-320-9384, [email protected] Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, 209-479-2053, [email protected] In Case You Missed It… News of Interest Editorial: Twin tunnels plan sounds worse each day – Chico ER Every morsel of information released, discovered or leaked lately about Gov. Jerry Brown’s twin tunnels plan makes the project sound worse. Every new tidbit makes us wonder how and why this boondoggle is even a possibility. California to Seize Farms for Jerry Brown’s Water Tunnels  – Breitbart According to documents obtained by environmental group Restore the Delta, state water exporters and the Delta Design Construction Enterprise (DCE) division of the Department of Water Resources are planning to acquire 300 pieces of [...]

For Release: 8/18/2015   Contact: Brian Smith, 415-320-9384, [email protected] Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, 209-479-2053, [email protected], Twitter @RestoreTheDelta   In Case You Missed It August 17, 2015  Documents: Huge water tunnels not yet approved, but California already planning to take farms By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, Associated Press Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — State contractors have readied plans to acquire as many as 300 farms in the California delta by eminent domain to make room for a pair of massive, still-unapproved water tunnels proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown, according to documents obtained by opponents of the tunnels. Farmers whose parcels were listed and mapped in the 160-page property-acquisition plan expressed dismay at the advanced planning for the project, which would build 30-mile-long tunnels in the delta formed [...]

For release: August 17, 2015 Contact: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, (209) 479-2053 Thomas H. Keeling, attorney for Delta landowners, (209) 474-1818 Conner Everts, Southern California Watershed Alliance, (310) 804-6615 DELTA TUNNELS “Confidential” Documents Reveal State Plans to Take Delta Farms Public opposition & lack of permits don’t deter Department of Water Resources (Delta Design Construction Enterprise) Under Brown Administration Lead   Sacramento – Newly released documents gained through Public Records Actions show that water exporters and the Delta Design Construction Enterprise housed within the California Department of Water Resources have already developed plans to “acquire” family farms and right of way in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta through eminent domain.   The “Acquisition Management Plan,” obtained from the Metropolitan Water District [...]

For Immediate Release: July 14, 2015 Contacts: Sandra Lupien, Food & Water Watch, 510-681-3171, [email protected] Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053, [email protected] Tom Stokely, California Water Impact Network, 530-926-9727, [email protected]   SPECIAL REPORT: Retiring Toxic Farmland in Western San Joaquin Valley Would Save Water, Environment and Taxpayer Money Land retirement 25x cheaper than Tunnel plan and could save 455,000 acre-feet of water   Sacramento, CA – A new report by EcoNorthwest, an independent economic analysis firm, estimates that 300,000 acres of toxic land in the Westlands Water District and three adjacent water districts could be retired at a cost of $580 million to $1 billion.   Read the report here.   Retiring this land and curbing the water rights associated [...]

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, June 9, 2015 Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta Tunnels Opponents Respond to Gov. Brown 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 responded to Gov. Brown’s continued advocacy of his tunnels. “A month after telling critics of his Delta tunnels plan to ‘shut up,’ Governor Brown is on a Southern California speaking tour to tout his leadership during the drought. This follows on the heels of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s recent op-ed in the LA Times in which she continues to beat the [...]

“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 [...]

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 [...]