From Friends of the River:
The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) is responsible for granting certification of state compliance with the federal Clean Water Act under Section 401. This certification determination also includes compliance with section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Section 404 is administered by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which found the 404 permit application of the Sites Authority was lacking critical information. On May 17, 2024, USACE informed the Authority that the request for a 404 permit for the Project was administratively withdrawn after USACE did not receive the requested information.
On May 14, 2024, Friends of the River and other environmental organizations submitted extensive comments to the USACE on the Sites Authority’s 404 permit application, requesting the Corps deny the application due to extensive environmental concerns. We also stated, “we request the Corps delay issuance of the 404 permit until the Authority provides all legally required information and otherregulatory processes are complete, such as the state water rights proceedings and state and federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) compliance.”
The USACE has done so.
Friends of the River applauds the decision of the SWRCB to “deny without prejudice” the Sites Authority’s request for Clean Water Act certification under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, and the administrative withdrawal by the USACE, of the Sites Authority permit application under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
The SWRCB denial of water quality certification is procedural, and the Sites Authority will likely submit the required information to the USACE on time. Friends of the River opposes the reservoir and supports a full consideration of the costs and harms before the people of California are committed to this boondoggle.
The Sites Reservoir is a bad solution to the wrong problem. While the hole the Sites Authority wants to dig is big, and the environmental and financial costs are huge, the amount of “new water” to be stored in the reservoir is small, around 1% of total state water resources annually—and the annual yield of usable water from the reservoir is even less. Sites is about water for profit for the Sites investors. It’s not about water security for the people of California.
