Category Archives: Campaigns

PG&E Completes Recreation Access Site on NF Feather River

Posted on June 28, 2017 by Chris Shutes

On June 13, 2017, PG&E and a group of stakeholders including CSPA dedicated the Rock Creek Bench recreation access and parking area just downstream of Rock Creek Dam on the North Fork Feather River.  The facility will provide safe access … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC) | Comments Off on PG&E Completes Recreation Access Site on NF Feather River

CSPA, Coalition Submits Multiple Comments on Stewardship Council’s Revision of the Delta Plan

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Bill Jennings

The Delta Stewardship Council is in the process of revising the Delta Plan and related environmental documents following the successful litigation by CSPA and others in vacating the previous Plan. Unfortunately, the Council is again ignoring the strict requirements for … Continue reading →

Posted in Bill Jennings, California Delta, Fisheries, No Tunnels Campaign, Water Quality, Water Rights | Comments Off on CSPA, Coalition Submits Multiple Comments on Stewardship Council’s Revision of the Delta Plan

CSPA Talks Hydropower Relicensing at Water Agency Conference

Posted on May 12, 2017 by Chris Shutes

Chris Shutes, CSPA’s hydropower advocate, gave a presentation about hydropower relicensing at the conference of the Association of California Water Agencies on May 10, 2017, in Monterey.  He appeared as part of a panel that included the relicensing leads for … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC) | Comments Off on CSPA Talks Hydropower Relicensing at Water Agency Conference

CSPA, FOR and Others Request Release of Information and Public Involvement at Oroville

Posted on April 23, 2017 by Chris Shutes

CSPA joined Friends of the River and three other groups in an April 19, 2017 clarification and public process request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) concerning repairs of the damaged spillway works at Oroville Reservoir.  The letter asks … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC) | Comments Off on CSPA, FOR and Others Request Release of Information and Public Involvement at Oroville

CSPA Submits Rebuttal Testimony in Part I of WaterFix Hearing

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Bill Jennings

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance et al. (CSPA, CWIN and AquAlliance) joined the County of San Joaquin and Local Agencies of the North Delta in submitting rebuttal testimony in Part I of the State Water Resource Control Board’s (SWRCB) evidentiary … Continue reading →

Posted in Bay Delta Conservation Plan, Bill Jennings, California Delta, Fisheries, No Tunnels Campaign, State Board Bay-Delta Standards, Water Quality, Water Rights | Comments Off on CSPA Submits Rebuttal Testimony in Part I of WaterFix Hearing

Chris Shutes Named “Restorationist of the Year”

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Chris Shutes

The Salmonid Restoration Federation (https://www.calsalmon.org/) named Chris Shutes – me – “Restorationist of the Year” on the concluding day of its 2017 annual conference in Davis.  It is recognition that I did not expect and that I value very greatly. … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC), Water Rights | Comments Off on Chris Shutes Named “Restorationist of the Year”

CSPA Comments on San Joaquin River Flow and Salinity

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Chris Shutes

CSPA filed extensive comments March 17, 2017 on the State Water Board’s plan for improving flows in the lower San Joaquin River and for allowing more salinity in the southern Delta during the growing season. CSPA supports the Board’s approach … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, State Board Bay-Delta Standards | Comments Off on CSPA Comments on San Joaquin River Flow and Salinity

180,000 People out of their Homes: Oroville Spillway Was Someone Else’s Problem

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Chris Shutes

In 2005, Ron Stork of Friends of the River warned in a Motion to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that the “ungated, unarmored spillway” at Oroville Dam needed to be made into a real spillway with real concrete.  The … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC) | 1 Comment

PG&E Withdraws License Application on Butte Creek: Future of Spring-Run Salmon Uncertain

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Chris Shutes

By Chris Shutes (CSPA) and Dave Steindorf (American Whitewater) In a surprise move, PG&E announced on February 2, 2017 that it was withdrawing its application to relicense the DeSabla – Centerville Hydroelectric Project on Butte Creek and the West Branch … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC), Water Quality | Comments Off on PG&E Withdraws License Application on Butte Creek: Future of Spring-Run Salmon Uncertain

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Rebuffs Idaho Power’s Attack on Clean Water Act

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Chris Shutes

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has dismissed a petition by Idaho Power Company that sought to limit the right of states to enforce water quality requirements when FERC relicenses hydropower projects.  In a January 2 post, we described the … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC) | Comments Off on Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Rebuffs Idaho Power’s Attack on Clean Water Act

CSPA Defends the Clean Water Act Once Again

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Chris Shutes

One of CSPA’s many strategies in the past several years has been to defend the federal Clean Water Act from attack.  Much of this defense has been in the context the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) relicensing of hydropower projects.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC) | Comments Off on CSPA Defends the Clean Water Act Once Again

CSPA Testifies on San Joaquin River Flow and South Delta Salinity

Posted on December 30, 2016 by Chris Shutes

On December 16, 2016, CSPA’s Bill Jennings and Chris Shutes made presentations to the State Water Board regarding the need to increase flow from the San Joaquin River into the Delta.  The hearings held in Stockton are part of Phase … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, State Board Bay-Delta Standards | Comments Off on CSPA Testifies on San Joaquin River Flow and South Delta Salinity

CSPA Testifies in Hearing on Proposed Delta Tunnels

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Chris Shutes

On December 1, 2016, CSPA provided testimony before the State Water Resources Control Board in the hearing on the proposed Delta tunnels, known inaccurately as the “California WaterFix.”  CSPA joined in presenting testimony with witnesses from the California Water Impact … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, No Tunnels Campaign | Comments Off on CSPA Testifies in Hearing on Proposed Delta Tunnels

CSPA and Friends of the River Defend Clean Water Act and CEQA

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Chris Shutes

CSPA and Friends of the River (FOR) have filed an amicus brief arguing that the procedures of state law are not preempted by federal law in California’s application of the federal Clean Water Act.  The brief argues in favor of … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC) | Comments Off on CSPA and Friends of the River Defend Clean Water Act and CEQA

CSPA Submits Testimony and Exhibits for State Water Board Hearings on Delta Tunnels

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Bill Jennings

CSPA is a formal protestant and party of record in the continuing battle over the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s (USBR) scheme to construct twin tunnels to divert the Sacramento River under the Delta to … Continue reading →

Posted in Bay Delta Conservation Plan, Bill Jennings, California Delta, Fisheries, State Board Bay-Delta Standards, Water Quality, Water Rights | Comments Off on CSPA Submits Testimony and Exhibits for State Water Board Hearings on Delta Tunnels

Major CSPA Victory as State Water Board Acts to Protect Spring-Run Salmon in Butte Creek

Posted on August 7, 2016 by Chris Shutes

On Tuesday, August 2, 2016, the State Water Resources Control Board took an important action to protect the spring-run Chinook salmon in Butte Creek.  Butte Creek contains the only run of spring-run Chinook in the Central Valley that is considered … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC) | Comments Off on Major CSPA Victory as State Water Board Acts to Protect Spring-Run Salmon in Butte Creek

CSPA Objects to Reduced San Joaquin River Flows

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Chris Shutes

CSPA and allied groups California Water Impact Network and AquAlliance have filed an Objection to an April 19, 2016 Order that allows reductions of April-June flows in the lower San Joaquin River from the flows required in Water Rights Decision … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, State Board Bay-Delta Standards, Water Rights | Comments Off on CSPA Objects to Reduced San Joaquin River Flows

Coalition Sets High Bar for Analysis of Proposed Dam

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Chris Shutes

CSPA and allies in the Foothills Water Network submitted 25 pages of comments today on the analysis Nevada Irrigation District (NID) must perform to inform decision making about a proposed new dam on the Bear River. NID’s proposes to build … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Shutes, Hydroelectric (FERC), Water Rights | Comments Off on Coalition Sets High Bar for Analysis of Proposed Dam

Give Voters the Opportunity to Vote on the Multi-Billion Dollar Delta Tunnels

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Denise Zitnik

On April 13, 2016, CSPA joined a coalition of environmental and fishing groups to send a letter to California assembly member Susan Eggman in support of Assembly Bill 1713. The bill would prohibit the construction of any infrastructure like the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bay Delta Conservation Plan, Denise Zitnik, Water Rights | Comments Off on Give Voters the Opportunity to Vote on the Multi-Billion Dollar Delta Tunnels

California Cannot Wait for Water Quality Protections Any Longer

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Denise Zitnik

CSPA and more than 150 other environmental, fishing, environmental justice and tribal organizations have submitted two letters regarding the supposed three-year update of the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan. A letter to the State Water Resources Control Board urges the … Continue reading →

Posted in Denise Zitnik, State Board Bay-Delta Standards, Water Quality | Comments Off on California Cannot Wait for Water Quality Protections Any Longer