Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA)

In response to this article, Newsom offers Delta compromise, a guest commentary that says, “Delta interests should seize the opportunity to cease water fights”, the California Delta Chambers & Visitor’s Bureau chimes in and says “No!”:

The California Delta Chambers & Visitor’s Bureau opposes diverting the Sacramento River around the Delta. We have never made a distinction over the method of diversion whether it be canals, tunnels, or any other conveyance. Diverting the river will destroy what is left of the Delta. The water barons in the south will want as much water as they can get out of the system and they will not finance it unless they are assured of this. We do not trust them! Over the last 12+ years we have asked officials to give us a few examples of where a project like this has not destroyed the parent waterway, so far they have produced – none. We have also asked for a study to determine how much water can be removed from the system without destroying fish and wildlife populations – they have refused to do so, we think it is somewhere in the 3 million acre-foot range. Don’t be fooled by this new scheme. A common ploy of government organizations is to ask for twice as much as you expect to get and settle for half and call it a compromise.

If the river needs to be diverted then do it at Sherman Island which will enhance the natural flow, cost less, and be self-regulating as far as salt intrusion.

We agree! The Sherman Island site is what Dr. Robert Pyke proposed years ago, and is also what Rep. Garamendi is pitching. It is referred to as the “Western Alignment.” The beauty of taking water there is that the water would have already flowed through the Delta, providing the fish what they need and keeping the water in the Delta fresh for Delta farms, boating, and recreation. That plan is self-regulating. That is, if too much water is extracted for the health of the Delta, the salt water would intrude at Sherman Island. But in years like right now, when water is flowing rapidly through the Delta, they could be pumping tons of water to ship South to refill the aquifers there, the reservoirs, and the Kerns Water Bank.

Some people who read my blogs mistakenly think STCDA may be for the tunnels if they move them out of the Delta and go East, around the Delta. No, that isn’t true. The truth is that if they ignore everyone in the Delta and still move to build them, going East or West would at least not destroy the Delta communities, boating, and fishing for ten years. Any tunnels operated with the same abandon that DWR and the Water Contractors have displayed for decades will destroy the Delta long-term.

DWR has been cheating the system but justice is on our side

Save the California Delta Alliance has filed our initial petition against the Department of Water Resources (DWR) concerning the California WaterFix (aka Delta Tunnels). The entire lawsuit plus a copy of only the Introduction (for those who find looking at legalese scary) are attached. I hope you will at least read through the Introduction so you can see what we have been doing to fight back against the continued push by DWR for the tunnels.

Regardless of what goes forward, the past-Governor Brown’s two tunnels or Governor Newsom’s one tunnel, the plan as designed will cause unrepairable damage to Delta communities and to the ecosystem.

As the petition states, our members have exhausted all administrative processes to make our valid concerns about this project known.

Our Legal Council, Michael Brodsky, lays it all out clearly and concisely. If you want a review how this project morphed from what the legislature dictated (the Delta Reform Act) to the ambitious Bay and Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) which included environmental improvements and habitat, and then into WaterFix (the Tunnel Plan), read through the Introduction, at least.

I like Brodsky’s overview of what caused the Legislature to write the Delta Reform Act in the first place, in 2009 (emphasis added):

The State Water Project’s dream of making the Central California desert bloom and fueling unlimited population growth in arid Southern California metropolises with exported Delta water, zealously promoted over a half century ago by recently retired Governor Jerry Brown’s father, Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, is an unsustainable artifact of the environmentally ignorant 1950’s. The mega-engineering dream has proven an environmental nightmare. It has been legislatively replaced by the goal of reducing exports, taking pressure off of the Delta, and developing technologically up- to-date regional water supply infrastructure to replace Delta exports.

You may wonder what role Save the California Delta Alliance plays when there are so many environmental groups, big and little, fighting against this project. Why this lawsuit? As you all know, over the past years you, our members, have been going to the meetings in Sacramento, showing up, making comments, sending in complaints. It often seemed futile, yet because all of you have gone on the record telling the DWR over and over what the unmistakable and intolerable impacts this through-Delta tunnel plan would have on your lives, it has allowed us to now make this very compelling case.

In summary, why does STCDA have to take action? We represent you!

Many Petitioners, including national environmental groups, will no doubt call the illegality of proposed project operations.


Delta Alliance will brief these issues as well. However, because of the herculean effort DWR has expended in camouflaging a water grab to make it look like an environmental benefit, it has done less to cover its tracks with regard to the impacts that massive amounts of construction activity will have on Delta communities and Delta Recreation.

DWR has shown disregard toward the small rural communities and family businesses— of modest means — that will be obliterated by eleven years or more of continuous heavy construction. It made no meaningful effort to consider alternative infrastructure locations or employ alternative construction methods with regard to construction impacts on Delta recreation and communities.

Delta Alliance will focus a significant amount of its briefing on DWR’s failure to consider construction impacts in any serious way, and will attempt as best it can within its limited means to give voice to the voiceless before this Court.

Here is the Introduction:
Introduction Section.

Read the entire document:
The Entire Petition.

And if you appreciate STCDA’s efforts to represent you in the ongoing fight against the tunnels, please donate!

Gov. Gavin Newsom announces his appointment for State Water Resources Control Board: Joaquin Esquivel as Chair of the State Water Board and also Laurel Firestone to the Board. Esquivel has served on the Water Board since 2017. Esquivel was assistant secretary for federal water policy at the California Natural Resources Agency from 2015 to 2017 Firestone served on the Tulare County Water Commission from 2007 to 2012, and co‐chaired the Governor’s Drinking Water Stakeholder Group from 2012 to 2014.

Good? Bad? STCDA had been advocating to keep Felicia Marcus as Chair. In our assessment, losing Felicia Marcus is a big blow for the Water Board. With the new updated Water Quality Plan on-the-line, if it goes to the back-burner, fish will not withstand another waiting period.

Esquivel’s appointment is considered a positive sign for voluntary settlement agreements. What those are is creative ways to improve the ecosystem without providing increased flows. If we know anything, we know that years of “experiments” with habitat projects and other “creative ways to improve the environment” have only made the fish situation more dire, so that isn’t promising.

Firestone is new to the Board. Firestone has no knowledge of the delta or water quality plan or flows. Human right to water is her “thing.”

These two appointments weakens the board in setting real requirements to protect fish. And we lose the history of the last three years of testimonies arguing our case to prove the destruction of the WaterFix construction project.

Result: Bad, unless Newsom is freeing up Marcus to be the new head of the DWR. If that is his plan, that would be good news.

2019 is a new year. What’s been happening in the Water Wars?

Photo by Tony Kukulich, Discovery Bay Press, Feb 6, 2019.

Reminder: At the end of 2018

If you remember, at the end of 2018, the WaterFix opponents had successfully argued before the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) that the tunnel project’s destructive through-Delta construction project would be a disaster for small Delta communities in the North, for the entire area’s traffic when hoards of construction vehicles flood the small rural roads and two-lane levee highways, and for boating and recreation when barge traffic and construction totally shuts down boating in the Delta for the entire 10 or more years of construction.

Because of the strong case built against the tunnel construction, the SWRCB put off awarding the necessary permit to begin construction of the new intakes for the tunnels, waiting for a decision by the DSC whether or not the tunnel project was consistent with the Delta Plan. Consistency with the Delta Plan is a requirement for any project to move forward in the Delta. When the DSC Staff recommended strongly that the tunnels were inconsistent with the Delta Plan, both because of the construction impacts and water quality degradation, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) withdrew their consistency request.

The DWR did withdraw their consistency request but, in a sneaky move, also asked the DSC to withdraw the appeals, which they immediately did, shutting down all of the valid information and complaints that had been presented in the opponents’ appeals. STCDA’s Legal Council Michael Brodsky submitted a formal complaint, which we knew would be ignored, but wanted our complaint on-the-record.

Regardless, at the end of 2018, the project appeared to be at a roadblock.

Now it’s 2019.

Without SWRCB permits, no construction can begin.

Then why is the Joint Powers Association DCA awarding contracts for the tunnels work? The Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority (DCA) move ahead and select the Jacobs company to be the engineering design manager for the Delta Tunnels? Then the DCA awarded Fugro a contract for a major geotechnical investigation to support the California WaterFix project even though the project has not been approved. (Both were reported by Dan Bacher, FishSniffer). “The awarding of contracts to Fugro and Jacobs by the DCA also takes place despite an avalanche of lawsuits by cities, counties, water districts, Tribes, fishing groups, environmental NGOs and other organizations against a project opponents consider to be the most environmentally destructive public works project in California history.” People are wondering how the State thinks they can spend money on contracts and engineering when they have no permits.

A very worrisome action was the recent Trump Administration’s update to the Biological Assessment. Their goal is to increase exports from the Delta by reducing restrictions. Since we know the current high levels are what have caused the decades of decline in the Delta, this is a huge concern. It is now up to the US Dept. of Fish and Game and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to provide their feedback. In the past, NMFS has put science and logic above political gamesmanship. We hope they are allowed to give an honest assessment and that it will be listened to. It has been bad enough that we have had years of a Brown Administration that has ignored science and moved ahead with tunnel vision. Now we have the Trump Administration pushing past science to side with the almond farmers against the Delta communities, farmers, and fish.

These are worrisome developments. But we have a new Governor. Everyone wants to know his opinion on the Delta Tunnels.

While we haven’t heard directly from our new governor about what his position is, Contra Costa Supervisor Diane Burgis was hopeful when Gov. Newsom called for a meeting with Delta representatives as one of his first activities in January. On January 23rd, Newsom met with the Delta County Coalition (a representation of supervisors from five Delta Counties: Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, and Yolo) and Delta Caucus members (Rep. Jim Frasier, Susan Eggman, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, and Buffy Wicks). They discussed the lack of representation from the Delta on State Agencies and Boards making decisions about the Delta. They also discussed the Delta as a Place and what that means. No promises were made but Supervisor Burgis left the meeting feeling optimistic.

So far, Newsom has appointed Wade Crowfoot of Oakland as Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency. He was West Coast political director at the Environmental Defense Fund and senior environmental advisor to former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom from 2004 to 2007. We were encouraged by his choice of Jarad Blumenfeld, a former Obama administration official and longtime environmental advocate as the new secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. As EPA Chief, Blumenfeld will lead the SWRCB. As far as I can tell, there have been no objections from the environmental groups about either of these appointments.

More importantly, additional upcoming appointments to be made by Governor Newsom will give us more insight into his intentions going forward. We will be encouraged if Newsom re-assigns Felicia Marcus as Chairperson of the SWRCB, as she has proven to be a fair arbitrar during the past three years of Water Board Hearings. She also showed fortitude in pushing back against the CA Dept. Fish and Wildlife and requiring increased flows on the San Joaquin River. We hope that decision will be supported by Gov. Newsom as the process moves forward. We’re hoping he decides to pick a new Director of the Department of Water Resources. That would be a big, positive step.

Besides the good news from the recent Newsom meeting, we have our Northern California Senators and Assemblymembers who formed the Delta Caucus last year, pushing to bring sanity to the project. From the Discovery Bay Press:

Last week, (February 1), Sen Bill Todd (Napa) introduced Senate Bill (SB) 204, which would require the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Delta Conveyance, Design and Construction Authority (DCDCA) to submit information about pending State Water Project contracts to the legislature for public review prior to those agencies moving forward with work on the Delta Tunnels.

The state’s Water Code requires DWR to advise the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) at least 60 days prior to the renewal or extension of water supply contracts between DWR and water contractors. In September 2018, DWR sought to extend the contracts with 29 water contractors from the current expiration date in 2035 to a new expiration date of 2085. During the hearing to review the contract extension, legislators renewed the call for increase oversight.

“I’ve been saying all along that DWR should not be spending large sums of tax dollars on any WaterFix contracts without oversight from the legislature,” said Frazier at the time. “I am working with other Delta Caucus legislators to determine what that oversight would look like and what it might take to implement it legislatively.”

For more information, read here: Discovery Bay Press “Senate Bill 204 increases WaterFix oversight”.

Bottom line: There are lawsuits starting opposing continued moves forward by the various agencies. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration’s new Biological Assessment is a huge concern in addition to the JPA’s DCDCA contracts to start the project and the Santa Clara Water Board push for rate increases to support the tunnels.

We will see what happens next, but STCDA will continue to do our part to stop the Tunnels.