CSPA Comments to Army Corps on Pending Water Fix Permits

On November 8, 2015 CSPA, CWIN, and AquAlliance submitted comments to the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 and River and Harbors Act (RHA) Section 10 permits recently requested for the California Water Fix by the US Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources. If issued, the permits would allow the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States for the construction of the Delta Tunnels.

Before issuing the permits, the Army Corps must evaluate the environmental documents for the California Water Fix to determine if those documents are sufficient under the National Environmental Policy Act for the Corps to use them in issuing the permits. CSPA argues that the California Water Fix’s Recirculated Draft EIR (RDEIR)/Supplemental Draft EIS (SDEIS) are not sufficient for this purpose, and summarizes the many flaws in that document. These flaws led the US Environmental Protection Agency to rate the SDEIS as inadequate. CSPA urges the Corps to not use the Water Fix’s RDEIR/SDEIS as the basis for issuing CWA Section 404 and RHA Section 10 permits, and requests that the Corps develop its own EIS.

CSPA, et al. Comments on Water Fix CWA Section 404, RHA Section 10