Restore the Delta has heard that BDCP planners think the state has no obligation to do a cost/benefit analysis of building conveyance in the Delta.  If you want to know about costs and benefits, we can listen in on board meetings for the Metropolitan Water District and Westlands.  They’re the ones who will be paying...Read More

In December, in a truly sneaky move, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, quietly and at the last minute, inserted into a 1,221-page year-end spending bill a couple of sentences that lifted restrictions designed to prevent water speculation in California. Westlands Water District and the Kern Water Bank benefit.  They can now get more from irrigation districts...Read More

Dear Restore the Delta supporters, Assemblymember Alyson Huber is sponsoring AB550 — a bill that would require the legislature to vote on the merits of a peripheral canal after a full cost analysis. We believe that Assemblymember Huber’s bill is one of the most important pieces of proposed legislation for Californians.  Can California tax payers...Read More

Below are some articles of interest from Restore the Delta Salazar & Jerry Brown issue statement today in further response to outcry over the MOA Click here to read online. CV Business Times immediately gets a less-than-positive comment on the statement from Jerry McNerney Click here to read online. just passed Fed budget bill has...Read More

We are indebted for today’s opening quote to the website for The Dolphin Group. This is not an organization committed to looking out for the welfare of dolphins or other aquatic creatures.   It is a 30+ year-old political consulting firm with offices in Los Angeles and Sacramento. The Dolphin Group specializes “in helping clients identify...Read More

Former federal judge Oliver Wanger, who just retired a couple of months ago, lost no time in taking on Westlands Water District as a client. He was all set to defend Westlands in a lawsuit filed by several Northern California groups. But this week, he changed his mind. As a judge, he had presided over...Read More

The BDCP folks had a lot of explaining to do last week when the following premature ad for a construction manager for new conveyance was posted by Jacobs Engineering: Manage the Jacobs Construction Management (CM) Team for the $10.5 Billion Delta Habitat Conservation and Conveyance Program (DHCCP). The DHCCP will be one of the world’s...Read More

A few notes on Delta Stewardship Council chair Phil Isenberg’s November 28 meeting with people in the North Delta, thanks to Nicky Suard of Snug Harbor Resorts. Isenberg said, “You can’t expect consistency in water flow calculations.”   But Suard points out that the State Water Resources Control Board’s 2008 Strategic Plan said that “inappropriate inconsistency...Read More

Delta landowners have won a victory in the State Water Resources Control Board’s (SWRCB’s) systematic challenge to the reparian/pre-1914 water rights in the Delta. The SWRCB had issued several Cease and Desist Orders (CDOs) challenging the existence of riparian and/or pre-1914 water rights of property owners on several Delta islands.  As a result of hearings...Read More

The North Delta’s Peter Stone is the only Delta resident currently participating in the BDCP Public Finance Work Group. He reports that the vast majority of the participants are water contractors, NGOs and various governmental agencies. Stone is participating in order to influence how BDCP is financed should it actually be approved. Participants in the...Read More