October 2018

A fundamental principle of California water law states that those who receive water are strictly responsible for their water projects. Proposition 3 turns this water policy on its head by robbing billions of dollars of taxpayer money to cover repairs that would normally be financed by specific water agencies.

Sacramento Bee, October 1, 2018

September 2018

[T]he report argues that WaterFix will reduce freshwater flows from the Sacramento River and allow salty and polluted water from the San Joaquin River to reside in the ecosystem longer as well as allowing greater intrusion of salty water from the San Francisco Bay. Degraded water quality will impact farmers dependent upon Delta water for irrigation, recreational and subsistence fishing and drinking water quality for Delta communities.

The Press, September 27, 2018

The measure promises money for quite a few local agencies, nonprofits, private water companies and others, which is great for them. It's not clear, however, that these are the projects that California needs most right now, or that they couldn't get the money elsewhere.

September 24, 2018

Proposition 3 is a classic "pay-to-play" initiative that California voters should soundly defeat on Nov. 6. The $8.9 billion water bond package points to some serious water issues that demand the Legislature's attention. But loading up an initiative with giveaways to special interests and local public agencies is no way for the state to conduct its business.

Mercury News, September 19, 2018

California farmers are laboring under a daunting edict: They must stop over-pumping groundwater from beneath their ranches. The saving grace is that state law gives them more than 20 years to do it. Now, however, a landmark court ruling could force many farmers to curb their groundwater consumption much sooner than that, landing like a bombshell in the contentious world of California water.

Sacramento Bee, September 17, 2018

This plan would not create a drop of new water, and would destroy the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Western Hemisphere.

Mercury News, September 14, 2018

There are many reasons to oppose the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water tunnels project, now called the California WaterFix. The Trump administration has just added a few more.

Los Angeles Times, September 7, 2018

Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown's administration will try for a third time to secure a political mega-deal that would commit millions of California property owners to pay for the $19.9 billion Delta twin-tunnels water grab. Without approval of voters or the Legislature.

Mecury News, September 6, 2018

With talk of boosting water deliveries to Central Valley agriculture, the Trump administration is telling growers exactly what they want to hear. But given California's complex water system and a web of federal and state environmental regulations, such promises could prove more political than practical.

Los Angeles Times, September 2, 2018

August 2018

In an unprecedented move, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation served notice to California officials Aug. 17, stating it wants to renegotiate a landmark 1986 agreement governing the big federal and state water projects and how they pump water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to their member agencies in southern half of the state.

Sacramento Bee, August 23, 2018

July 2018

During the height of the California's 5-year drought, state voters approved new funding for water storage as part of Proposition 1. This week, the California Water Commission will allocate those funds to the eight projects that have qualified after a lengthy analysis. Some projects are classic dams, but several won't get the windfall they'd been hoping for. Instead, next-generation projects are in the running, like using the state's vast network of natural underground aquifers for water storage.

KQED, July 23, 2018

California water officials on Friday released a plan to increase flows through a major central California river, an effort that would save salmon and other fish but deliver less water to farmers in the state's agricultural heartland.

San Francisco Chronicle, July 6, 2018

June 2018

State biologists have found hardly any Delta smelt in their sampling nets in the past two years. Consecutive surveys in late April and early May found no smelt at all.

Sacramento Bee, June 1, 2018

May 2018

Environmental organizations sued the California agency in charge of managing a massive water project Friday, saying the state illegally altered the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta management plan to favor the project over environmental restoration.

Courthouse News Service, May 25, 2018

Backed by southern California interests, the House Appropriations Committee just unveiled the fiscal year 2019 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. It includes language that would prohibit any judicial review of anything associated with the disastrous twin tunnels project, also known as California WaterFix, under federal or state laws.

Sacramento Bee, May 17, 2018

Now the $1.3 billion project has returned with force. Congress in March appropriated $20 million for pre-construction planning. The appropriation, part of a massive federal budget bill signed into law by President Donald Trump, was enough to touch off a political fracas stretching from Washington to Sacramento.

Sacramento Bee, May 7, 2018

The challenge of California water "is that we expect more than there is to get," said Doug Obegi, a Natural Resources Defense Council attorney who attended the hearings."Prop 1 tried to depoliticize that by making it about specific public benefits. But over and over again you saw the commission struggling with the broader implications."

Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2018

The commission -- and all Californians -- should bear in mind that water storage doesn't necessarily mean a dam with water behind it. The commission's charge is not to fund the biggest new dam but to fund projects with the greatest net benefits to California cities, farms and wildlife.

San Francisco Chronicle, May 2, 2018

The largest river in Southern California, measured by volume and flow, is the Santa Ana, which empties into the ocean near Huntington Beach. But the second largest, again in terms of volume and flow of water, is the virtual river that flows out of the Hyperion sewage treatment plant. Hyperion is, in fact, the major component of L.A.'s sanitation system and its water is -- to put it gingerly -- dirty. But it is water, it can be cleaned, it can be stored, distributed and reused. When we have bond funding for storage projects, it makes sense to spend it where the water is, and it's increasingly in urban outflow.

Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2018