C-WIN PRESS RELEASE: While fish go extinct, DWR claims no environmental impact from SWP operations

A recently released draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) purports to analyze the long-term operations of the State Water Project, which diverts massive quantities of water from the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta to San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California cities.

The DEIR comes about nine months after the State Water Resources Control Board issued a comprehensive environmental review that found conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed are dire and that significantly higher river flows are needed to restore and maintain ecosystem health. However, DWR’s DEIR ignores the Water Board’s assessment and instead concludes that its operations plan – which is driving native aquatic species toward extinction – will not cause additional environmental damage.

“DWR was able to reach that conclusion by refusing to address the totality of the project,” said Max Gomberg, a water policy expert and board member of the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) “They provide no context for baseline conditions, they eliminate reasonable project alternatives, they omit foreseeable regulatory actions, they restrict their analysis to a narrow geographic area and ignore ratepayer impacts, they eliminate most resource evaluation categories, and they largely ignore tribal and social justice impacts. This is not a legitimate analysis.”

Gomberg observes that the DEIR presupposes the approval of “voluntary agreements” among water agencies instead of regulatory requirements for higher river flows.

“The ‘voluntary agreements’ process deliberately excluded tribes, environmental justice organizations, and fishing groups, and highlights one of the most hypocritical aspects of Governor Newsom’s water policy – claiming to support environmental equity while actively undermining it through backroom deals,” said Gomberg.

“It’s business as usual. They’re attempting to circumvent the body of law enacted to protect our state’s natural resources and environmental health.”

Gomberg noted DWR’s additional goals through the DEIR are securing an updated Incidental Take Permit (i.e., a fish kill permit) from the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) and assisting the Water Board in its use of DWR’s outdated water rights – the subject of current litigation filed by C-WIN and other organizations.

“But when making regulatory decisions, DFW and the Water Board are bound by the public trust doctrine, which requires them to weigh impacts to fish and wildlife against other societal goals,” Gomberg said. “C-WINs’ comments to the DEIR confirm the information it contains is insufficient for public trust purposes, and that it should be ignored by the regulatory agencies unless it is revised. DWR is playing a shell game to avoid accountability for the full impacts of the State Water Project. They must be held responsible, either by the regulatory agencies or the courts.”