• Calaveras River Plan Takes 14 Years to Keep All the Water

    On November 14, 2019, CSPA filed comments critical of a new Habitat Conservation Plan for the Calaveras River and also filed comments critical of a supporting environmental review document.[1]   Stockton East Water District (Stockton East) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released the Plan and the supporting environmental review document on September 30, 2019. …

  • Hydropower Reform Coalition Opposes Another Trump Administration Attack on the Clean Water Act

    The Hydropower Reform Coalition (HRC), including CSPA and allied hydropower advocates, has submitted extensive comments in opposition to the Trump Administration’s attack on Section 401 of the Clean Water Act.  Trump’s Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a new Proposed Rule on August 22, 2019 that would roll back protections for water quality…

  • Oops, DWR Did It Again

    WaterFix version 1 is hung out to dry.  There have been welcome announcements by the Newsom administration of a clean start on California water policy.  But on June 10, 2019, the Department of Water Resources posted “Why Delta Conveyance” to one of its many webpages, linked in DWR’s email listserve DWR Water News.  It appears…

  • Cutting Funding for Ag Water Efficiency: A Backwards Portfolio for Managing Water

    On May 9, 2019, Governor Newsom released his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year.  The website for CalCAN, the California Climate and Agricultural Network, reports[1] that the proposed budget would eliminate funding for SWEEP, [2] “the state’s on-farm water use efficiency program.” This is nuts. The Brown administration initiated SWEEP during the 2014 drought. …

  • CSPA and Allied Groups Dissect Draft EIS for Don Pedro

    CSPA, nine other conservation and fishing groups, and four whitewater outfitters (“Conservation Groups”) jointly submitted 75 pages of comments on April 12, 2019 on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the relicensing of the Don Pedro Hydroelectric Project and the first-time licensing of the La Grange Hydroelectric Project.  Together, the projects have buried over…