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

The California Water Commission had scheduled two days last week to deal with resolutions of necessity for eminent domain so that the Department of Water Resources (DWR) can go forward with geotechnical investigations in the Delta. But the Water Commission dispensed with matters in one day, having debated the most important issues at their September...Read More

Also on November 16, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) folks had a public meeting, and Stockton attorney George Hartmann, who represents Delta reclamation districts, told Resources Secretary Jerry Meral that it was hard to see how converting 133,000 acres of prime Delta farmland to habitat was going to be good for the people of...Read More

The Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) met on November 17 and 18 and spent its first meeting day on matters related to the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Delta Plan. In releasing the EIR, they have “officially initiated a legal process”, according to DSC counsel Chris Stevens. The Council discussed how best to incorporate public...Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court – not a group that most of us would describe as liberal or “green”  – has refused to limit Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for Delta smelt, leaving in place a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 9th Circuit had upheld the ESA as a valid use...Read More

This week, the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) will release the draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Delta Plan.  A 60-day review and comment period is required, so the DSC will not meet its deadline for completing the Delta Plan by January of 2012. Many people think that 60 days is an unreasonably short comment...Read More