By: Ashley Overhouse, Defenders of Wildlife and Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta
These last couple of years, the Newsom administration has certainly embraced the old (and inaccurate) adage of “water is for fighting and whiskey is for drinking.” Two dangerous and undemocratic proposals were made by the Newsom Administration in the form of “budget trailer bills” that accompanied the May version of the California state budget. The first was a broad-sweeping, extreme proposal to change California law, from eminent domain to water rights, to accommodate the proposed Delta Conveyance Project, also known as the Delta Tunnel. The second was seemingly more innocuous, exempting all Water Quality Control Plans (WQCP) from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
While these changes in law may seem small – their impacts will be massive on the people tied to the Bay-Delta watershed. Though it may not be obvious to the public or even some elected officials, both bills erode democratic norms and endanger civic trust by bypassing public input, judicial and scientific review and legal accountability. These proposals are aimed at furthering greedy water interests at the expense of Delta communities and the wildlife that depend on Delta waters.
Moreover, the Newsom administration is also pushing Voluntary Agreements, negotiated deals between the state and water agencies that allow agencies to forego minimum flow requirements. These voluntary agreements, also known as the “Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program”, and the Delta Tunnel are inextricably linked. Legal processes for WQCPs cannot be bargained away for what is essentially water industry self-regulation— the Department of Water Resources has already made it clear the voluntary agreements will fill the Delta Tunnel with water.
Despite staunch opposition from the Legislature and advocates throughout the summer, Governor Newsom has publicly acknowledged his plans to bring these two bills back once the Legislature reconvenes on August 18. So why is Governor Newsom, the leader of our anti-Trump, pro-Democracy movement, trying to push these legal exemptions through after such staunch public and legislative opposition? Shouldn’t he be defending science-based water quality standards to protect the health of Californians and related water economies to match his claims of being pro science?
Here’s the missing context: the Newsom Administration is on a race to the finish line to complete the Delta Water Quality Control Plan (Bay-Delta Plan) update, the Delta Tunnel and the Voluntary Agreements all at the same time with the hope that the public isn’t paying attention to the lasting, generational environmental catastrophe this will be for the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas. His focus on the abundance economy is based on faux water abundance for profit, not real water abundance for all Californians.
The Bay-Delta Plan Update
Right now, there is a critically important public process occurring in front of the State Water Board to update the three-decade old water quality standards in the Bay-Delta Plan. This plan dictates how much water from the Sacramento River and its other tributaries goes into and through the Delta at any time of year. This flow is crucial to keeping salinity and pollution at bay, an ecosystem sustained and ensuring adequate water for Delta communities and for the State and Central Valley water projects to pump water for farms and cities in the Central Valley and Southern California.
The newest documents released in July for the Bay-Delta Plan reveal that the Water Board is accepting the voluntary agreements, despite having been consistently deemed scientifically inadequate by federal and state agencies in addition to being deeply inequitable, having excluded Delta communities, Tribes, and environmental justice groups in the process. With these voluntary agreements, the Water Board is supporting an effort to strip the rights of Californians and limit their ability to participate in state water planning processes.
As drafted, the Bay-Delta Plan update will not adequately protect the Delta from additional diversions of water, like the Delta Tunnel. By accepting the voluntary agreements and not including an adequate backstop, any flows that make it into the Delta will be conveniently sucked up by the Tunnel. This will only exacerbate the terrible water quality conditions Delta communities currently experience and devastate the Delta’s ecosystem and wildlife.
Additionally, by exempting the Bay-Delta Plan from additional review under CEQA as proposed in the trailer bill, the Newsom Administration conveniently excludes any new information from public review and environmental analysis such as new water operations and water rights permits for the Tunnel as well as any new data as part of the continually changing Voluntary Agreements—all critical information that the public and Water Board must evaluate.
And the final cherry on top? The Trump Administration is a critical partner in this destructive water effort. The Voluntary Agreements are dependent on the Bureau of Reclamation, who own and operate the Central Valley Project. The Central Valley Project controls over half of the water that is stored and released throughout the Sacramento River watershed that is then pumped south by their facilities. They also have a tentative contract with Sacramento River Settlement Contractors that promises to “voluntarily” reduce water deliveries for agricultural interests to leave more flow in the Sacramento River in certain times of year. Is the Newsom Administration really going to count on the Bureau of Reclamation under the Trump Administration to keep to those commitments?
The Bureau of Reclamation has already publicly refused to implement the “early-implementation” flows under the voluntary agreements this year and violated minimum water quality protections in April and May. We don’t yet know the devastating environmental impacts this will have on the Delta, but it is no surprise that there is currently a new harmful algal bloom outbreak.
This legislative effort by the Newsom Administration is not just another saga of the “bitter water wars” in the Delta. This is an unprecedented attack, a power grab that will devastate the multibillion-dollar Delta economy and entrenches the injustices Delta Tribes, Delta farmers, and environmental communities have faced for generations.
Delta residents and elected officials at all levels of government must recognize that the region’s environmental and economic health are tied to its water quality – from the North Delta Water Agency contract to drinking water in Stockton; from pear farms in Sacramento County to rice farms in South San Joaquin County; from coastal salmon commercial fishers and upstream Tribal food sovereignty and security to the hundreds of millions spent by recreational boaters and bird watchers each year.
At a time when we are facing a dismantling of our democracy, the Delta is being betrayed by the Governor, through intertwined efforts. We have a positive vision for the Delta and all California water management, which is being thwarted by the advancement of a dangerous agenda driven by special water interests.
But we will not go quietly until the Tunnel is stopped and science-based water flows are restored– because being pro Delta means no Delta Tunnel. A healthy Delta is the right of all Californians.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Maven’s Notebook.
COMMENTARY: Newsom’s Budget Trailers are a Planned Attack on the Delta
By: Ashley Overhouse, Defenders of Wildlife and Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta
These last couple of years, the Newsom administration has certainly embraced the old (and inaccurate) adage of “water is for fighting and whiskey is for drinking.” Two dangerous and undemocratic proposals were made by the Newsom Administration in the form of “budget trailer bills” that accompanied the May version of the California state budget. The first was a broad-sweeping, extreme proposal to change California law, from eminent domain to water rights, to accommodate the proposed Delta Conveyance Project, also known as the Delta Tunnel. The second was seemingly more innocuous, exempting all Water Quality Control Plans (WQCP) from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
While these changes in law may seem small – their impacts will be massive on the people tied to the Bay-Delta watershed. Though it may not be obvious to the public or even some elected officials, both bills erode democratic norms and endanger civic trust by bypassing public input, judicial and scientific review and legal accountability. These proposals are aimed at furthering greedy water interests at the expense of Delta communities and the wildlife that depend on Delta waters.
Moreover, the Newsom administration is also pushing Voluntary Agreements, negotiated deals between the state and water agencies that allow agencies to forego minimum flow requirements. These voluntary agreements, also known as the “Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program”, and the Delta Tunnel are inextricably linked. Legal processes for WQCPs cannot be bargained away for what is essentially water industry self-regulation— the Department of Water Resources has already made it clear the voluntary agreements will fill the Delta Tunnel with water.
Despite staunch opposition from the Legislature and advocates throughout the summer, Governor Newsom has publicly acknowledged his plans to bring these two bills back once the Legislature reconvenes on August 18. So why is Governor Newsom, the leader of our anti-Trump, pro-Democracy movement, trying to push these legal exemptions through after such staunch public and legislative opposition? Shouldn’t he be defending science-based water quality standards to protect the health of Californians and related water economies to match his claims of being pro science?
Here’s the missing context: the Newsom Administration is on a race to the finish line to complete the Delta Water Quality Control Plan (Bay-Delta Plan) update, the Delta Tunnel and the Voluntary Agreements all at the same time with the hope that the public isn’t paying attention to the lasting, generational environmental catastrophe this will be for the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas. His focus on the abundance economy is based on faux water abundance for profit, not real water abundance for all Californians.
The Bay-Delta Plan Update
Right now, there is a critically important public process occurring in front of the State Water Board to update the three-decade old water quality standards in the Bay-Delta Plan. This plan dictates how much water from the Sacramento River and its other tributaries goes into and through the Delta at any time of year. This flow is crucial to keeping salinity and pollution at bay, an ecosystem sustained and ensuring adequate water for Delta communities and for the State and Central Valley water projects to pump water for farms and cities in the Central Valley and Southern California.
The newest documents released in July for the Bay-Delta Plan reveal that the Water Board is accepting the voluntary agreements, despite having been consistently deemed scientifically inadequate by federal and state agencies in addition to being deeply inequitable, having excluded Delta communities, Tribes, and environmental justice groups in the process. With these voluntary agreements, the Water Board is supporting an effort to strip the rights of Californians and limit their ability to participate in state water planning processes.
As drafted, the Bay-Delta Plan update will not adequately protect the Delta from additional diversions of water, like the Delta Tunnel. By accepting the voluntary agreements and not including an adequate backstop, any flows that make it into the Delta will be conveniently sucked up by the Tunnel. This will only exacerbate the terrible water quality conditions Delta communities currently experience and devastate the Delta’s ecosystem and wildlife.
Additionally, by exempting the Bay-Delta Plan from additional review under CEQA as proposed in the trailer bill, the Newsom Administration conveniently excludes any new information from public review and environmental analysis such as new water operations and water rights permits for the Tunnel as well as any new data as part of the continually changing Voluntary Agreements—all critical information that the public and Water Board must evaluate.
And the final cherry on top? The Trump Administration is a critical partner in this destructive water effort. The Voluntary Agreements are dependent on the Bureau of Reclamation, who own and operate the Central Valley Project. The Central Valley Project controls over half of the water that is stored and released throughout the Sacramento River watershed that is then pumped south by their facilities. They also have a tentative contract with Sacramento River Settlement Contractors that promises to “voluntarily” reduce water deliveries for agricultural interests to leave more flow in the Sacramento River in certain times of year. Is the Newsom Administration really going to count on the Bureau of Reclamation under the Trump Administration to keep to those commitments?
The Bureau of Reclamation has already publicly refused to implement the “early-implementation” flows under the voluntary agreements this year and violated minimum water quality protections in April and May. We don’t yet know the devastating environmental impacts this will have on the Delta, but it is no surprise that there is currently a new harmful algal bloom outbreak.
This legislative effort by the Newsom Administration is not just another saga of the “bitter water wars” in the Delta. This is an unprecedented attack, a power grab that will devastate the multibillion-dollar Delta economy and entrenches the injustices Delta Tribes, Delta farmers, and environmental communities have faced for generations.
Delta residents and elected officials at all levels of government must recognize that the region’s environmental and economic health are tied to its water quality – from the North Delta Water Agency contract to drinking water in Stockton; from pear farms in Sacramento County to rice farms in South San Joaquin County; from coastal salmon commercial fishers and upstream Tribal food sovereignty and security to the hundreds of millions spent by recreational boaters and bird watchers each year.
At a time when we are facing a dismantling of our democracy, the Delta is being betrayed by the Governor, through intertwined efforts. We have a positive vision for the Delta and all California water management, which is being thwarted by the advancement of a dangerous agenda driven by special water interests.
But we will not go quietly until the Tunnel is stopped and science-based water flows are restored– because being pro Delta means no Delta Tunnel. A healthy Delta is the right of all Californians.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Maven’s Notebook.
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