Category Archives: Water Quality

How A Lack of Regulatory Oversight Dried Up the Merced River – The State Water Board Needs to Protect Merced River Flows Now

Merced River, Yosemite Valley, Oct. 2022 / Dead Lower Merced River  Aug. 2022 The Merced River, the iconic wild and scenic river flowing out of Yosemite National Park, died in the summer of 2022 upstream of its confluence with the … 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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Nitrate Pollution: One Place Environmental Justice and Environmental Advocacy Meet

In 2021, the Central Coast Regional Water Board (Regional Board) adopted Agricultural Order 4.0. This order contained measures to reduce nitrate pollution in groundwater caused by the agricultural sector. Specifically, Order 4.0 set numeric limits to regulate the amount of … Continue reading

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Sites Reservoir: Fast-Tracking and Greenwashing a Huge Water Development

In the summer of 2023, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 149 into law. This bill gave the Governor the power to fast-track infrastructure projects deemed beneficial to the state of California’s bid to create a climate-resilient future. On November 6th, … 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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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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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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Legendary California Fishery and Water Quality Activist Bill Jennings Dies at Age 79

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and the fish of California lost Bill Jennings on December 27, 2022. Above all, Bill was a relentless activist. For over 40 years, he used the law, meticulously documented data, an irascible wit, and a … 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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D.C. Court Denies Waiver of Clean Water Act for Tuolumne River Hydro Projects; Ruling Vindicates CSPA and Allies

On June 17, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit issued a ruling denying waiver of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act in the licensing of two hydropower projects on the Tuolumne River.  Turlock Irrigation District and Modesto … Continue reading

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CSPA Objects to Weakened Delta Water Quality without Strict Diversion Limits and a Ban on Transfers

On April 6, 2022, CSPA and allied organizations AquAlliance and California Water Impact Network filed a protest and objection to a “Temporary Urgency Change Petition” for April-June 2022 water operations in the Delta.  The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) … 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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CSPA & Allies File Lawsuits on Groundwater Management in Butte, Colusa & Vina Subbasins

By Cindy Charles The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), along with AquAlliance and the California Water Impact Network, filed three separate lawsuits in February 2022 against the Butte, Colusa, and Vina subbasins’ Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs). The lawsuits argue that … Continue reading

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SF Estuary/Delta Needs Long Overdue Protections from Ballast Water Discharges

By Cindy Charles CSPA, along with over a dozen other environmental organizations, recently signed on to a comment letter supporting limits on the discharge of ships’ ballast water into the Bay-Delta Estuary.  The letter was sent to the San Francisco … Continue reading

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Bill Jennings Elected to California Outdoors Hall of Fame 2022

CSPA is pleased to announce that CSPA’s Executive Director Bill Jennings has been elected to the California Outdoor Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2022. Fighting to protect fisheries and water quality for over 25 years, Bill … Continue reading

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The Merry-Go-Round of Denial Must Stop – Transfer of Public Trust Water to Agriculture Is On Repeat

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and allies AquAlliance and California Water Impact Network (CWIN), filed an objection on January 7, 2022  to yet another petition to weaken flow and salinity standards that protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  The objection urges … Continue reading

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CSPA Wins Settlement to Remove Phone Cable from Tahoe; Cable Contains 63 Tons of Lead

On November 4, 2021, CSPA won settlement of a lawsuit it filed against AT&T’s PacBell subsidiary regarding eight miles of abandoned phone cable on the bottom of Lake Tahoe. As a result of the settlement, PacBell will remove the decaying … Continue reading

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Court Ruling Finds FERC 401 Waiver Not Justified – Important Implications for California Hydropower Project Licenses

On July 2, 2021, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an important decision regarding Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, overturning an Order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  FERC’s Order had found that the state … Continue reading

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CSPA Protests State Water Board’s Protection of Irrigated Agriculture at the Expense of Fisheries and the Environment

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and allies have vigorously protested two recent actions by the State Water Resources Control Board that virtually ensure a repeat of the last drought, when the Board’s disastrous decisions decimated multiple year classes of … Continue reading

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CSPA & Allies Tell Biden Administration Not to Endorse Flawed Voluntary Agreements

On May 7, 2021, CSPA joined a broad coalition of organizations in a letter urging the Biden Administration not to endorse so-called “voluntary agreements” that propose inadequate environmental requirements for the San Francisco Bay-Delta and its tributaries.   The letter was … Continue reading

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