Aerial view looking North along Old River, in the center is Fay Island, left top is Palm Tract, left bottom is Orwood Tract, bottom is Woodward Island and top right is Bacon island all part of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in San Joaquin County, California. Photo taken March 08, 2019. Ken James / California Department of Water Resources, FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY

THIS JUST IN … Bureau of Reclamation responds to California decision to litigate CVP and SWP

Photo by DWR

From the Bureau of Reclamation:

In light of Governor Newsom’s announcement regarding the State of California’s intent to sue the federal government on the Central Valley Project (CVP) and the State Water Project (SWP), please see the below statement from Brenda Burman, Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation:

”From the beginning, we’ve been focused on cooperative solutions with the State of California to bring reliable water supplies to farms, families, communities and the environment. Today’s announcement by Governor Newsom is disappointing in his preference to have judges dictate these important projects instead of the career professionals at the federal and state levels who have developed a plan based on the best science and significant input from the public. If that’s their choice, we’ll see them in court.”

Background:

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation oversees the CVP. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, National Marine Fisheries Agency, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have all worked closely with the state on the biological opinions since reinitiation was announced in August of 2016. As such, the final biological opinions included significant modifications based upon the state’s feedback.

When the Bureau of Reclamation and California’s Department of Water Resources requested reinitiation, they recognized in 2016 that there was a need to explore potential alternatives to operating the CVP and SWP and to take advantage of advancements in our scientific knowledge. Without question, the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinions represent the best available science and included two independent peer reviews.

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