The deadline for filing CEQA litigation against the Delta Conveyance Project closed yesterday. Two Three more lawsuits were filed, bringing the total of those I know of to 7 8. Read on for links to the court filings and the response from the Department of Water Resources.
Press release from the Delta Counties, North Delta water agencies
The Counties of San Joaquin, Contra Costa, Yolo, and Solano, the Central Delta Water Agency, Contra Costa County Water Agency, and Local Agencies of the North Delta today sued the California Department of Water Resources, challenging its approval of the Delta Tunnel (a.k.a. “Delta Conveyance Project”). The lawsuit was filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, joining numerous other challenges to the controversial megaproject. If built, the Delta Tunnel would include massive new diversions on the Sacramento River in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for export to Southern California, the Southern San Joquin Valley and parts of the Bay Area. The proposed diversions are large enough to take up to half of the river during lower flows, and would worsen water quality and imperil fish attempting to migrate through the Delta.
The Counties and Agencies claim the project approvals violate the California Environmental Quality Act and other laws that protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, including Area of Origin protections.
Attorneys Osha Meserve, Roger Moore, and Thomas Keeling – who represent the Counties and Agencies – described the Delta Tunnel as “an antiquated response to 21st century challenges, founded on false assumptions about what is needed to address California’s water supply needs.” They explained: “The health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the largest freshwater estuary on the west coast of the Americas, is critical to 500,000 Delta residents as well as to the entire region, in addition to the a wide array of aquatic and terrestrial species. Delta communities depend on healthy Delta flows to provide water supplies for farms and towns, and want to protect the landscapes of the Delta for future generations. Unfortunately, sixty years of excessive water exports, reduced flows, and irresponsible operation of state and federal water export projects have damaged the Delta and its fisheries, farming and communities. Rather than addressing these challenges and improving conditions in the Delta, the Delta Tunnel would further degrade Delta water quality, while subjecting the region to over 14 years of intense construction. Better and more affordable water supply solutions are readily available to meet climate change and other forthcoming challenges, including creating new supplies with water recycling and stormwater capture, as well as better protecting existing supplies with levee maintenance and other upgrades to existing infrastructure.”
The new complaint was filed less than a week after a Sacramento Superior Court judge denied the Department of Water Resources’ request for an order “validating” bond resolutions that would have financed the Delta Tunnel project.
For more information, contact: osha@semlawyers.com, tkeeling@freemanfirm.com or rbm@landwater.com
24.01.22 SJC et al PetitionPress release from environmental & Tribal organizations
Late yesterday, a coalition of environmental and Tribal organizations took legal action against the California Department of Water Resources for violating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The groups contend that when the agency finalized approval for Governor Newsom’s controversial Delta tunnel project in December 2023, it failed to consider, avoid, or mitigate the wide range of negative effects the project would have on Tribal and other historically marginalized communities, as well as on endangered fish populations and other wildlife.
The Delta tunnel—also called the Delta Conveyance Project—would divert vast quantities of fresh water from the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary to industrial agricultural operations, as well as to large cities south of the Delta and outside of the Bay-Delta’s watershed. The health of the Bay-Delta, its wildlife, and its local residents depend on fresh water flowing from its Central Valley tributary rivers into the Bay.
The tunnel will also destroy Tribal sites that have been in use for thousands of years, along with the cultural practices associated with them. The agency’s CEQA review failed to consider the tunnel’s cultural implications for the Delta’s Tribal peoples who continue to rely on the Delta for their survival, and for whom the Delta is a fundamental part of their histories.
Among a host of errors, the Department of Water Resources relied on a Trump-era interpretation of the Endangered Species Act, even though California’s attorney general is challenging that opinion right now in court.
California diverts more than half of the water flowing through Central Valley rivers to serve industrial agriculture and big cities. Because of excessive water diversions, more and more fish native to San Francisco Bay and its watershed are verging on extinction, and California’s fisheries are increasingly shut down.
The groups taking legal action against the Department of Water Resources include the The Bay Institute, California Indian Environmental Alliance, Golden State Salmon Association, Restore the Delta, San Francisco Baykeeper, and the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. The groups are represented by Jason Flanders at Aqua Terra Aeris Law Group, and by attorneys at San Francisco Baykeeper.
Eric Buescher, managing attorney, San Francisco Baykeeper: “Governor Newsom’s Delta tunnel would harm all of the communities that depend on the Bay and its tributary rivers, degrade the Bay’s water quality, and further decimate ecosystems and fisheries that are already in crisis. Yet, the governor is hell-bent on sending more of the Bay’s fresh water to unsustainable industrial agriculture and to big cities outside of the watershed. He’s even willing to rely on the Trump administration’s misapplication of the law to get the job done. The Bay belongs to all of us, so we must make sure the Bay’s ecosystem is healthy. We had no choice but to take legal action to stop this harmful project.“
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director, Restore the Delta: “The approved project document is inadequate because the Department of Water Resources is only committed to providing water for powerful political interests in California, and not managing the estuary for the common good, including tribes and environmental justice communities in the Delta. “The Newsom Administration is pitting regions against each other for our limited water supply, rather than creating a climate water plan that equitably serves all Californians.”
Scott Artis, executive director, Golden State Salmon Association: “We are witnessing the creation of the next endangered species: the salmon families across California and Oregon who rely on the health of our fishery for their living, their community, and their culture. The Delta tunnel is one of the biggest salmon-killing projects in state history, and Governor Newsom has his hand directly on the spigot. The governor is doing everything he can to divert water away from our rivers, fish, and people in a vain effort to appease an insatiable industrial agricultural thirst. The salmon industry is already suffering from the Newsom fishing shutdown. California salmon fishing was completely closed in 2023, and is likely to be closed in 2024, because the governor mismanaged our rivers during the drought.”
Gary Bobker, Program Director, the Bay Institute: “Over the course of a century and a half, California has constructed what is arguably the world’s largest, most landscape-altering and environmentally destructive system of dams, canals, and diversions. The result has been the closure of salmon and other important fisheries, toxic algal blooms, and the looming threat of extinction for fish and wildlife species in the Bay-Delta and the Central Valley. But instead of learning from the past, the Newsom administration is moving backward, embracing a new Delta tunnel that would increase already unsustainable levels of water diversion, hastening the Bay-Delta’s collapse and further harming diverse communities of people who depend on a healthy ecosystem. California can manage for both sustainable ecosystems and sustainable water supplies, but not by sinking billions of dollars into an environmentally damaging—and unnecessary—tunnel project that springs from a nineteenth century approach to managing our state’s finite water resources.”
Sierra Club also files a lawsuit
“Friday, Sierra Club California filed a lawsuit against the Delta Conveyance project (Delta tunnel), joined in the case by Friends of the River, California Water Impact Network, Planning and Conservation League, AquAlliance, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Institute for Fisheries Resources, and California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. Center for Biological Diversity is co-counsel in the case. The complaint alleges that the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Delta Tunnel is deficient. The Department of Water Resources certified the Final EIR for the project in December. … ” Read more from the Sierra Club.
24.1.19 Sierra Club et al PetitionSo where are we at?
That brings the total to 7, as far as I am aware of. There may be others.
Here are the court filings:
- Delta Counties, Local Agencies of the North Delta
- Environmental & Tribal organizations (Restore the Delta, SF Bay Keeper, The Bay Institute, CA Indian Environmental Alliance)
- South Delta Water Agency
- Sacramento County
- Sacramento Area Sewer District
- Sierra Club
- City of Stockton
- Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District
Department of Water Resources’ responds
The Department of Water Resources sent me this statement in response:
CEQA lawsuits are not unexpected or unusual. DWR has been aware that several parties intended to pursue a CEQA legal challenge to stop the project before the EIR was even complete and regardless of whether the EIR complied with CEQA requirements. The Delta Conveyance Project EIR is thorough, responds to all substantive public comments, and most importantly it meets and, in many cases, exceeds CEQA requirements. DWR will review the lawsuits and respond accordingly, and will proceed as planned with permitting, and continued planning and design for the Delta Conveyance Project. This project is vital to modernizing the State Water Project and protecting water reliability for 27 million Californians.
