Category Archives: Campaigns

Department of Water Resources Gets a Free Pass: CSPA Asks State Water Resources Control Board to Follow its Own Rules

On March 15, 2024, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and allies submitted a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) requesting that it resolve the protests of CSPA and others of a petition for extension of time … Continue reading

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Show Time: DWR Files Petition to Change Water Rights for Delta Tunnel Despite Pending Lawsuit and Widespread Opposition

On February 22, 2024, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) submitted a water rights petition for change in point of diversion to the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) for the Delta Conveyance Project also known as the Delta … Continue reading

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CSPA Submits Comments on Proposed Bay-Delta Plan Update

On Friday, January 19, 2024, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and AquAlliance submitted comments on the State Water Resources Control Board’s (State Board’s) proposed changes to the Bay-Delta Plan. The State Board proposed these changes in a Draft Staff Report (Report) … Continue reading

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The Delta Conveyance Project: Either We Survive Together or Perish Together

On December 8th, 2023, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) issued the Final Environmental Impact Report (Final EIR) for its proposed Delta Conveyance Project, informally called the Delta tunnel. During the required comment period following DWR’s release of its Draft … Continue reading

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CSPA Strong after 40 Years: We Will Not Surrender this Delta!

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance celebrated its fortieth birthday in 2023.  CSPA’s year of birth, 1983, was one year after California voters voted down the “peripheral canal” to divert water around the Delta. CSPA’s mission to protect fisheries, habitat, and … Continue reading

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California’s White Sturgeon: An Endangered Species within the Foreseeable Future

On November 30th, 2023, San Francisco Baykeeper, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), the Bay Institute, and Restore the Delta petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to list the state’s white sturgeon as “threatened” under the California Endangered Species Act. … Continue reading

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More Delta Flow or Delta Tunnel? One Good Decision Will Stop the Next Bad Decision

On December 8, 2023, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) issued its Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for its Proposed “Delta Conveyance Project” (aka tunnel under the Delta).  In thousands of pages of responses to comments, DWR affirms that its … Continue reading

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Good News for Fish: Clean Water Act Holds for PG&E Hydropower Projects on Yuba and Bear Rivers

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) is pleased to report that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an Order on September 5, 2023 that upholds the California State Water Board’s authority to require a “water quality certification” for new hydropower … Continue reading

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The View from under the Bus: Newsom Administration and Fish Agencies Sell Out Yuba River Flow for Fish Passage

With nary a mention that the center of the prospective deal is no flow increases on the Yuba River, two fish agencies, a water agency, and the Newsom Administration used glowing words to announce on May 16, 2023 “a restoration … Continue reading

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Another CSPA Legal Victory: US Supreme Court Denies Appeal, Affirming State Regulation of Merced and Yuba Rivers

The United States Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal regarding the California State Water Resources Control Board’s authority to set mandatory conditions in the new operating licenses for four hydroelectric projects.  The appeal was filed jointly by the … Continue reading

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Chris Shutes – Recipient of 2023 Mark Dubois Award from Friends of the River

Chris Shutes, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, was a recipient of the 2023 Mark Dubois Award at the California River Awards held on April 21, 2023 at the City Club in San Francisco.  Friends of the River … Continue reading

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CSPA Legal Victory: Supreme Court Denies Appeal of State Regulation of Tuolumne River

The United States Supreme Court will not hear an appeal regarding California’s authority to add mandatory conditions in the new licenses for two hydroelectric projects on the Tuolumne River.  The appeal was filed by Turlock Irrigation District and Modesto Irrigation … Continue reading

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Water for Fish Gulped by Delta Pumps; CSPA Objects to Circular Excuses

The State Water Resources Control Board has approved a petition that diverts water required to flow into San Francisco Bay to the fish-killing Delta pumps of the State Water Project (SWP) and Central Valley Project (CVP). The higher “Delta outflow” … Continue reading

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Water Quality, Fish and Wildlife Protection: It’s All Voluntary

The future is now. Governor Newsom’s February 13, 2023 Executive Order ordering the State Water Board  to consider modifying flow and storage requirements for the State Water Project (SWP) and the Central Valley Project (CVP) is his blueprint for the … Continue reading

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CSPA Disputes “Scientific Basis” of Voluntary Agreements

CSPA filed comments with the State Water Resources Control Board on February 8, 2023 criticizing a document that claims to provide scientific reasons why small flow increases in Central Valley rivers and the Delta would be good enough to restore … Continue reading

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CSPA Comments on Deficient Environmental Impact Report for Proposed Delta Tunnel

CSPA submitted Comments on December 14, 2022 on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for a proposed new tunnel to divert massive amounts of water under the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta.  The proposed tunnel is the latest scheme by … Continue reading

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CSPA Marks Poe Hiking Trail Victory over PG&E

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), along with American Whitewater (AW), scored a significant victory on October 20, 2022 when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an Order reaffirming a requirement that Pacific Gas and Electric Company  must construct … Continue reading

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Court Victory for California Water Quality and Rivers – and CSPA

On August 4, 2022, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overruled the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), re-establishing California’s right to protect water quality in the Yuba, Bear, and Merced River watersheds … Continue reading

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CSPA Develops and Supports Changes to Hydropower Licensing

CSPA has played a strong role over the last 12 months in developing and negotiating a package of proposed reforms to the Federal Power Act.  The package will, if implemented, change a multitude of on-the-ground aspects of how the Federal … Continue reading

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CSPA Tells Water Board: Limit Shasta Reservoir Releases and Sacramento River Deliveries in 2022 to Save Fish and Water in ’22 and ‘23

On March 16, 2022, CSPA presented recommendations to the State Water Resources Control Board to manage the Shasta and Trinity reservoirs and the Sacramento River in 2022.  The State Water Board must act now to limit releases from Shasta Reservoir … Continue reading

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