The controversial Delta Conveyance Project may have bigger problems than legal action over its recently approved environmental impact report. Who’s going to pay the estimated $16 billion price tag?
Some of the thorniest debates over water in California revolve around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where pumps send water flowing to farms and cities, and where populations of native fish have been declining.
The first official accounting of damage in San Diego County from the torrential Jan. 22 storms estimated that more than 800 homes were impacted by flooding, and local schools across the region sustained an estimated $4 million in damage.
A California judge says a 60-year-old law does not give the state permission to borrow the billions of dollars it would need to build a large water project, a decision that could threaten a key source of funding for a controversial plan backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to build a massive underground tunnel that would reroute a big part of the state’s supply.
In the face of heavy opposition from environmental groups, Gov. Gavin Newsom and his administration are pushing forward with a controversial plan to build a 45-mile water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta — a project the governor says is vital to modernizing the state’s aging water system.
California’s state government began drawing up plans for Sites Reservoir in the Sacramento Valley 70 years ago. And it still only exists on paper.
So, kudos to Gov. Gavin Newsom for deciding that it’s finally time to put this tardy project on the fast track.
Fast track means there’ll be limited time for any opponent to contest the project in court on environmental grounds.
For California, a mixed bag of results on irrigation regulation has occurred with the signature of Assembly Bill 1572 into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom, while Assembly Bill 1573 was ordered to the inactive file by the state’s Senate.
The two bills each had different aims to address conservation measures in California and targeted various irrigation methods as a means of advancing that effort.
At midnight Thursday, California lawmakers put their pencils down.
The legislative session had come to a close in Sacramento, and elected officials had approved a whole bunch of climate change, energy and environment bills — and rejected others. Here’s a brief roundup of some of the highest-profile legislation.
In the final week of what became the hottest month in history, it was reported that California is not on track to reach our 2030 climate goals to reduce emissions to 48% below 1990 levels. As we experience more extreme heat, droughts, water scarcity, and intense wildfires, California’s role as a climate leader for the nation and world is called into question.
Amping up their concerns as a deadline looms, key California legislators today escalated their pushback on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts to streamline the Delta water tunnel and other infrastructure projects. The stalemate could become a critical lever while lawmakers haggle with Newsom over the 2023-2024 budget leading up to his June 27 deadline for approving the spending plan.
