Restore the Delta: DWR files petition to change Delta water rights despite civil rights investigation by the US EPA
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) under the Newsom Administration announced today that it has submitted a petition to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to change water rights for implementation of the Delta Conveyance Project, also known as the Delta tunnel, despite the SWRCB being under investigation by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a Title VI Civil Rights complaint.
The complaint, filed by the Delta Tribal Environmental Coalition (DTEC), comprised of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Buena Vista Rancheria, Restore the Delta, and Little Manila Rising, was accepted by the EPA in August 2022. The complaint outlines the SWRCB’s discriminatory mismanagement of water quality in the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed as well as the disparate impacts of the state’s failure to regulate the Delta watershed on the surrounding community. Notably, it requests the completion of the Bay-Delta Water Quality Plan before the SWRCB considers the change in the point of diversion for the Delta tunnel.
The EPA accepted DTEC Coalition’s complaint for investigation, engaging with DTEC and the SWRCB in two related processes for resolution.
The DWR petition proposes two points of diversion and rediversion to water rights for construction of the tunnel, however, it fails to disclose the Title VI Civil Rights complaint and the current investigation.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, expressed disappointment with DWR’s filing with the State Water Resources Control Board. She stated, “DWR, speaking on behalf of the State Water Resources Control Board’s actions while our petition for relief is under investigation with the US EPA, reveals the lack of proper regulatory distance between the Newsom Administration’s pro-tunnel agenda and State regulators tasked with protecting and considering impacts on all water users and related parties throughout the state.”
Barrigan-Parrilla pointed out that DWR has overlooked significant concerns of Delta environmental justice communities and tribes in its Environmental Impact Report for the project. This is especially concerning given DWR’s claim that the tunnel will address water challenges for all environmental justice communities and tribes, revealing the divide and conquer tactics being used by the Newsom Administration. Barrigan-Parilla also highlighted the State Water Resource Control Board’s failure to complete and implement a Bay-Delta Plan that addresses the documented needs of Delta tribes and environmental justice communities.
“The Newsom Administration’s handling of Delta management is riddled with discriminatory practices. We are extremely disappointed in the Governor’s leadership in California water, which contradicts the image that he cultivates as a social justice leader,” concluded Barrigan-Parrilla.
The SWRCB is set to review the petition and will follow with a public notice detailing their public review process.
San Francisco Baykeeper: Governor Newsom Doubles Down on Controversial Delta Tunnel, California’s Chinook Salmon One Step Closer to Extinction
Governor Newsom’s Water Resources Department applied for a permit today, which would allow the agency to build the controversial Delta tunnel project. The tunnel will divert large volumes of water out of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary, even though state scientists recognize more water is needed for the recovery of the state’s iconic Chinook salmon and steelhead populations. The water will instead go to big cities and industrial agricultural operations south of San Francisco Bay, and outside of the watershed.
Governor Newsom recently released a “salmon strategy” to restore the state’s imperiled salmon fishery, but his plan fails to provide a science-based solution for the state’s largest salmon runs, which spawn in the San Francisco Bay-Delta watershed. Instead, Newsom’s ‘strategy” calls for urban and agricultural water districts to reduce their water use voluntarily, and provides no safeguards for Bay-Delta water flows.
Baykeeper and a number of other environmental, tribal, community, and government entities have filed multiple lawsuits to stop the Delta Tunnel project. The California State Water Resources Control Board, which is responsible for maintaining the health of the state’s waterways, has the authority either to issue or deny the agency’s permit application.
San Francisco Baykeeper managing attorney Eric Buescher issued the following response:
“Governor Newsom is on a fast track to drive Bay-Delta salmon populations into extinction. Most scientists recognize that the Delta tunnel will accelerate the salmon’s decline. And, Newsom’s so-called ‘salmon strategy’ fails to provide any protections for these iconic fish in the Bay’s watershed, or for the people who depend on them.
“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 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.
“If the California State Water Resources Control Board follows its mission to protect the health of California’s waterways, it will have no choice but to deny Governor Newsom’s destructive project.”
