Last week we reported on some of the interactions between Delta landowners and the Department of Water Resources as it tries to collect the geotechnical data needed for preliminary engineering studies for a tunnel. DWR has been somewhat insensitive, to put the matter kindly. We’ve heard from another Delta landowner. She reports that she and...Read More
Restore the Delta is one of over 200 organizations that have signed a letter to the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) criticizing the Delta Plan that the Council has spent over a year developing. The signers include environmental, environmental justice, tribal, and commercial and recreational fishing organizations from all over California – the most diverse group...Read More
The Water Contractors have finally exhausted the considerable patience of the large environmental organizations that have been at the table with them for the last three years. American Rivers, The Bay Institute, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Defense Fund, and the Natural Resources Defense Council expressed their reservations about the BDCP in a letter to John...Read More
Yesterday, Congressman Jerry McNerney (CA-11), joined by Congressional Representatives George Miller, John Garamendi, Mike Thompson, and Doris Matsui met with Deputy Secretary Jerry Meral of the BDCP to express their “grave concern” that the project as planned will bring great harm to the Delta region. To read more about this meeting, click here to read...Read More
Federal Judge Oliver Wanger, on whose every word we have hung, fired one last salvo before stepping down from the bench of the Eastern District of California this week. The occasion was a hearing on the federal government’s request that Wanger hold off on a ruling he made involving efforts to push encroaching salt water...Read More
We made it clear last week that we think Secretary Salazar got just about everything about the Delta wrong in his remarks at the Commonwealth Club on September 19. (We didn’t comment about his remarks on the Klamath River settlement or the San Joaquin River Restoration Program except to note that it is funny for...Read More
The California Water Commission met in an all-day session on September 21, with the agenda dominated by preliminary hearings of evidence for resolutions of necessity for eminent domain. (They’re thinking about thinking about acquiring property.) The meeting started at 9 a.m., but it was 2:30 before the Commission got around to considering the 28 parcels. ...Read More
Tom Keeling, representing a number of Delta landowners, explained to the commission how the whole process of gathering data got to this point. A judge has told DWR that they can’t go onto people’s property to do geotechnical investigations (mostly test borings) with just a temporary entry permit (TEP) because the investigations they requested are...Read More
One landowner reported receiving four different proposals from DWR, each less invasive than the one before. Some people were waiting for funding from the state for an independent appraisal, which is required by law. One landowner said that DWR had scheduled a visit to the property then not shown up. Landowners suggested there was often...Read More
In considering a resolution of necessity, the Commission must find that The public interest and necessity require the proposed project. The proposed project is planned or located in the manner that will be most compatible with the greatest public good and the least private injury. The property described in the resolution is necessary for the...Read More
