The trailer bill legislation proposed by the Newsom Administration to fast-track approval and construction of a tunnel under the Bay-Delta estuary ended for the year when it did not come to the floor of either house in the state legislature by September 12. See earlier analysis here. This is a victory for people, wildlife, and…

The Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) hearing continues this month, scheduled for September 2, 5, 11, 15, 18, 19, 22, 29 and 30. Hearing dates are also scheduled for October 1, 6, 9, 10, 14, & 15. Additional proposed, but not confirmed, hearing dates are September 23 and October 20, 23, 27, 28, and 29.  The…

In July 2025, 34 parties who protested issuing water rights for the proposed tunnel under California’s Bay-Delta estuary filed testimony in opposition to the project. The filing of the protestants’ “cases-in-chief” follows two months of testimony by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) in support of the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP).  CSPA filed three…

On July 24, 2025, State Water Board staff released an “updated” version of a proposed Bay-Delta Plan.  The updated Plan is very clear: it is going to give the water users and the Newsom administration every single thing they have asked for in terms of managing water that goes into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and…

Delta smelt survey boat in the Sacramento Delta in 2010, when survey boats were still capturing Delta smelt. Credit: Peter Johnsen, USFWS Last month, the California Department of Water Rights (DWR) concluded the presentation of its case-in-chief for the hearing on the water rights petition for the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP). The next portion of the…