Today Californians face increased risks from flooding, water
shortages, unhealthy water quality, ecosystem decline and
infrastructure degradation. Many federal and state legislative
acts address ways to improve water resource management, ecosystem
restoration, as well as water rights settlements and strategies
to oversee groundwater and surface water.
… More than half a century ago, when Republicans were still
running the state, Reagan brought CEQA
(pronounced ‘see-kwa’) into the world as a shield against
unintended consequences: a project that befouled waterways or
drove species toward extinction. But the law’s reach expanded
through a series of court rulings until it applied to
developments of all kinds, becoming a handy tool for almost
anyone to challenge a proposed project by demanding more
analysis and remediation. CEQA has long been a bogeyman
for Republicans and developers, a symbol of regulatory excess
and government dysfunction — and an expensive one at
that. … This summer, Newsom and like-minded
legislators did what was unthinkable just a few years ago: They
scaled the law back dramatically, exempting most urban housing
developments, along with daycares, manufacturing hubs and
clinics.
Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper have
reintroduced a bill to expand access to clean water in tribal
communities. The Tribal Access to Clean Water Act aims to
increase funding that would critically expand water
infrastructure projects through the Indian Health Service, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of
Reclamation. … The 2025 version would authorize the
USDA to provide grants and loans for water infrastructure in
tribal communities, increasing funding for its Rural
Development programs by $100 million annually for five years,
with $30 million specifically dedicated to technical
assistance. It would also boost funding to the Indian Health
Service for facility construction, technical assistance and
operations, as well as authorize $90 million annually to the
Bureau of Reclamation’s existing technical assistance program.
California lawmakers are growing increasingly concerned about
federal staffing cuts at the National Weather Service, which
they say are harming the state’s agriculture industry and
putting critical fire operations in jeopardy. In a letter dated
Wednesday and obtained by The Times, both U.S. senators from
California, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, urged the Trump
administration to reverse its considerable cuts to the nation’s
leading weather agency, which has lost at least 600 employees
to layoffs and buyouts this year. … Their letter follows
a Times report which found that two of the six NWS offices in
California — Hanford and Sacramento — are among the hardest-hit
by federal cuts in the nation. The president and his unofficial
Department of Government Efficiency have said the cuts will
help save taxpayers money and reduce federal waste.
For the first time in more than 100 years, the Kern River is
headed back to the California Supreme Court where justices may
overturn or uphold an order mandating flows be kept in the
riverbed through Bakersfield. The high court announced
Wednesday that it would grant review of a 5th District Court of
Appeal’s ruling that overturned a Kern County Superior Court
judge’s order mandating water be kept in the river for fish.
The 5th District’s ruling was also “published,” meaning it can
be used as legal precedent in other, similar cases. The Kern
River plaintiffs asked the Supreme Court to review the 5th
District’s ruling and have it depublished. Justices granted
review but declined to depublish the ruling. Instead, justices
said the 5th District’s Kern River ruling could stand, pending
their review. And that the ruling could be cited as both an
authoritative precedent as well as to show there is a conflict
of authorities and that it was up to trial courts to then
“choose between sides of any such conflict.”
House Appropriations subcommittees approved three fiscal 2026
bills Tuesday with significant cuts to energy, environment and
climate initiatives. The House Interior and Environment
Appropriations Subcommittee passed its bill on a party-line 8-5
vote. The legislation would slash funding for the Interior
Department, EPA and other environmental agencies, though not as
deeply as proposed by President Donald Trump’s budget plan.
Subcommittee Chair Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) noted the legislation
has funding for EPA grants that support water
infrastructure and reduce air pollution. In addition,
it targets several agency rules for the power sector.
… Democrats decried its cuts for national parks as well
as to EPA’s efforts to combat climate change. The agency would
receive $7 billion in fiscal 2026, a 23 percent drop.
Other environmental and resource management agency news:
House Republican appropriators unveiled their fiscal 2026
funding legislation for the Interior Department and EPA, with
steep cuts proposed for both agencies. The bill would approve
about $38 billion for agencies under its purview, nearly $3
billion below the fiscal 2025 amount. Interior would get about
$14.8 billion and EPA would be funded at $7 billion, a 23
percent cut for the environment agency. The legislation is,
however, more generous than the president’s budget
request. … EPA would receive roughly $7 billion
from the legislation in fiscal 2026, about a $2.1 billion or 23
percent decrease from its enacted funding this year.
… That sum includes $2.1 billion for the agency’s
Clean Water and Drinking Waterstate
revolving funds, which Trump proposed to eliminate
almost in their entirety in his plan. That is still $662
million below current levels, Democratic lawmakers noted in
their bill summary.
Other water and environmental project funding news:
California lawmakers on Thursday re-introduced the Border Water
Quality Restoration and Protection Act to combat ongoing
pollution from the Tijuana River. … This is not the
first time the bill has surfaced as a piece of bicameral
legislation. It was introduced in 2021 and again in 2024.
However, the reintroduction comes just after officials released
results from the Centers for Disease Control’s survey of how
people near the border felt about the Tijuana River pollution
crisis and its effects on them. … The Border Water
Quality Restoration and Protection Act would establish the EPA
as the lead agency coordinating efforts between federal, state,
tribal and local agencies to deal with pollution. The bill also
would establish an EPA Geographic Program that would implement
a water quality management program within 180 days of the
bill’s passing. The EPA already has 12 Geographic Programs
that protect local ecosystems through water quality
improvement, habitat restoration and environmental
education.
U.S. senators are set to interview President Donald Trump’s
pick to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration on Wednesday in a confirmation hearing that may
be charged with concern over whether massive cuts to the
agency’s workforce may have contributed to the deaths of more
than 100 people when torrential rain flooded Central Texas
early Friday. In the five months since Trump chose Neil Jacobs
to serve as NOAA administrator, hundreds of NOAA scientists and
meteorologists have left the agency through firings, buyouts
and retirements. … Jacobs has emphasized a need for
the United States to improve the accuracy of its weather
forecasting models, which routinely perform worse than models
operated in Europe and, at times, Canada. He has most recently
served as chief science adviser for the Unified Forecast
System, an initiative he has spearheaded to improve U.S.
weather and climate forecasting accuracy using government,
academic and private-sector data.
Last week, California enacted the most significant reforms to
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) since the
mid-1970s. On June 30, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate
Bill 131 and Assembly Bill 130 into law,
effective immediately. These laws will streamline or
exempt new project categories from CEQA review and reduce
litigation risks across the state. These unprecedented changes
mark a significant shift in how CEQA will shape project
timelines and risk profiles for developers, public agencies,
and regulated industries. The new framework also raises
important questions about the future impacts on environmental
protections and environmental justice communities throughout
the state.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s office will absorb nearly
5,700 employees from various agencies under a reorganization
plan, according to an internal document detailing the shift.
The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) obtained the
list of the employees who are being reassigned to the
secretary’s office from their individual agencies overseen by
the Interior Department, which the group shared with POLITICO’s
E&E News. The employees work in specific specialties, such
as communications and information technology. The document —
which provides the employees’ emails, duty locations, job areas
and other information — shows Interior moving staffers from the
Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Fish and
Wildlife Service, Interior Business Center, National Park
Service, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement,
Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey,
and Office of the Solicitor.
California Justice Department attorneys pushed a federal judge
Tuesday to reject an industry motion that would immediately
halt the state’s nation-leading climate disclosure laws,
arguing that the rules have not been implemented and are not
placing a burden on businesses. The hearing comes on the same
day that the California Air Resources Board was supposed to
finalize rules implementing SB 253 and SB 261. CARB Chair Liane
Randolph said last week that the agency aims to finish the
rules by the end of this year and did not plan to release any
updates Tuesday. The rules would create the first
emissions disclosure standards in the United States and
potentially offer a model for other states, after the
Securities and Exchange Commission announced in March that it
would stop defending a Biden-era federal disclosure law in
court.
… On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills
that scale back CEQA—curtailing local power to stop urban
development, and particularly housing, on environmental
grounds. After more than a decade of reform talk, the state’s
housing and homelessness crisis has finally prompted an
overhaul of a development procedure that a state study compared
to “urban warfare—contested block by block, building by
building.” CEQA reform is not really a defeat for
environmentalism—as the New York Times insisted on framing it.
Rather, it reflects a 21st-century understanding of the
environmental movement, one that recognizes that an existing
neighborhood is the greenest place for housing to be built. (Of
note, one of the bills also permits a variety of non-housing
stuff to be built in cities without environmental review,
including day cares, food banks, water
infrastructure, and critically, “advanced
manufacturing” plants, in industrial zones.)
With the worst of wildfire season ahead, Gov. Gavin Newsom
urged President Donald Trump on Tuesday to direct the federal
government to dramatically increase its investment in forest
management. At the Mount Howell lookout tower in Colfax, Newsom
spoke to reporters about a model executive order sent to the
White House that he said would bring federal firefighting and
forest management efforts more in line with California’s.
… The draft order would make it federal policy for the
U.S. to match the capabilities and investments of “the most
advanced states and local governments with respect to forest
management and firefighting capabilities.” It would direct the
Office of Management and Budget to develop spending plans to do
so, including the reversal of recent staffing and funding
cuts. … The U.S. Forest Service has lost 10% of all
positions, which will likely “impact wildfire response this
year,” Newsom said, adding that noncompetitive federal
firefighter pay has led to further staffing shortages.
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered setbacks to environmental
interests in a series of recent rulings including by further
restricting the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority and
relaxing requirements for environmental impact studies for
proposed projects. While cases involving President Donald
Trump’s policies on immigration and other issues captured
attention during its just-completed nine-month term, the court
also continued its years-long trend of narrowing federal
protections for the environment in several rulings that could
be a boon for businesses. Wendy Park, a lawyer with the
Center for Biological Diversity environmentalist group, said
those rulings “dealt huge blows to the environment and public
health and safety.” “We’ll all suffer from unhealthier air,
less safe water and more climate warming,” Park
added. Park’s organization was on the losing side of
perhaps the term’s biggest environmental decision, one that
involved a proposed Utah railway intended to transport crude
oil.
The Golden State’s tug-of-war between environmental advocacy
and a worsening housing crisis came to a head Monday evening
when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law two bills that will
overhaul the landmark California Environmental Quality Act in
an effort to ease new construction in the state. The two pieces
of legislation, Assembly Bill 130 and Senate Bill 131, were
linchpins in the approval of a proposed $320-billion annual
state budget deal; the governor’s signature was conditional on
their passage. … “Today’s bill is a game changer,
which will be felt for generations to come,” the governor said
in a statement. Development experts agreed, saying it is among
the most significant reforms to CEQA in its 55-year history.
But its passage sparked fierce backlash from environmental
groups who say it marks a sweeping reversal of essential
protections for the state’s most vulnerable landscapes,
wildlife and communities.
The U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture recently announced
it would try to roll back the “roadless rule,” a decades-old
policy that prevents road construction and logging on nearly 4
million acres of national forest in Utah. … Utah leaders
celebrated the decision, with House Speaker Mike Schultz,
R-Hooper, calling it a “big win” for the state. But in
Utah, proponents of the rule say it’s a vital tool for
protecting the state’s forests, which in turn keep
water clean, provide habitat for wildlife and allow
recreation opportunities. “This rule protects almost half
of the forest service land in Utah,” said Kate Groetzinger,
communications director for the Center for Western Priorities.
“This opens about half of Utah’s forest land to logging that
has been previously protected. That can drastically change the
feel of some of our most popular forests.”
A group of Environmental Protection Agency employees on Monday
published a declaration of dissent from the agency’s policies
under the Trump administration, saying they “undermine the EPA
mission of protecting human health and the environment”. More
than 170 EPA employees put their names to the document, with
about 100 more signing anonymously out of fear of retaliation,
according to Jeremy Berg, a former editor-in-chief of Science
magazine who is not an EPA employee but was among non-EPA
scientists or academics to also sign. The latter figure
includes 20 Nobel laureates. The letter represents rare
public criticism from agency employees who could face blowback
for speaking out against a weakening of funding and federal
support for climate, environmental and health science.
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health made a similar
move earlier in June.
In a bipartisan compromise between state lawmakers and the
executive branch, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs approved a
program estimated to conserve nearly 10 million acre-feet of
water and facilitate thousands of new housing developments
across central Arizona. State Senator T.J. Shope’s Senate
Bill 1611 met Hobbs’ pen Monday morning, setting in motion what
state officials refer to as the “Ag-to-Urban” plan. …
Under the program, farmers in either of the active management
areas would voluntarily relinquish groundwater rights on
individual acres of land irrigated by groundwater in three of
the previous five years. In exchange, a farmer would receive
conservation credits based on the number of acres
relinquished. The farmer would then sell the acres to land
developers, who would “pledge” the credits to a water provider
that services that land.
The U.S. House of Representatives during the last week of June
passed the Wastewater Pollution Prevention and
Environmental Safety (WIPPES) Act, a bipartisan, bicameral, and
ACWA-supported legislation. This legislation would require wipe
manufacturers to clearly label their products as non-flushable
to protect wastewater systems from pollution and structural
damage, which can cost millions of dollars to repair critical
infrastructure nationwide. The legislation passed by a
unanimous voice vote, indicating broad support in the
chamber. The WIPPES Act was introduced in March by U.S.
Representatives Jared Huffman (D-CA-02), Kevin Mullin
(D-CA-15), Lisa McClain (R-MI-10) and Tom Kean (R-NJ-07). Next,
the WIPPES Act will be taken up in the U.S. Senate.
California lawmakers today approved one of the most substantial
rollbacks of the state’s signature environmental review law in
decades, including a controversial exemption that would allow
high-tech manufacturing plants to be built in industrial zones
with no environmental review. The changes to the California
Environmental Quality Act were embedded in a last-minute budget
bill that sailed through the Senate and the Assembly. The new
law exempts nine types of projects from environmental reviews:
child care centers, health clinics, food banks, farmworker
housing, broadband, wildfire prevention, water
infrastructure, public parks or trails and, notably,
advanced manufacturing. Aiming to streamline and lower the cost
of construction in California, the new law also restricts legal
challenges under CEQA by narrowing which documents courts can
consider.
A federal judge agreed on Monday with the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation that conversion of temporary water contracts from
the California Central Valley Project doesn’t require a new
environmental review under the National Environmental Policy
Act or the Endangered Species Act. U.S. District Judge Jennifer
Thurston, a Joe Biden appointee …. said she agreed with and
adopted the bureau’s interpretation that (the 2016 Water
Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act) requires
contract conversion upon request by farmers and other water
users that obtain water from the Central Valley Project and
that it strips the bureau of discretion to modify any
contractual right other than those related to the financial
terms specifically addressed in the statute.
Beginning January 1, 2025, the “Making Conservation a
California Way of Life” regulatory framework requires
urban retail water suppliers — not individual households or
businesses — to adopt a series of “urban water use
objectives.” And beginning January 1, 2027, the
regulations require urban retail water suppliers to annually
demonstrate compliance with those objectives. The objectives
are calculated based on indoor residential water use; outdoor
residential water use; commercial, industrial and institutional
irrigation use; and potable reuse. Implementation of the
objectives includes setting and meeting specific targets for
reducing water use per capita, improving system efficiency, and
reporting progress to state regulators. Urban retail water
suppliers are also required to implement water conservation
programs, support the development of drought–resilient
infrastructure, and encourage customers to adopt water-saving
practices such as using “climate ready” landscapes.
The plan to put millions of acres of California forests, parks
and other public federal lands at risk of being sold got a
devastating, probably lethal, blow as the Senate
parliamentarian ruled lawmakers could not consider the proposal
as part of its “Big Beautiful Bill” this week. Before such
legislation can be considered by the Senate, Parliamentarian
Elizabeth MacDonough has to make sure what’s in it involves
fiscal policy. She decided the plan to sell the land did not
meet the standard. Popular destinations near Sacramento and
Lake Tahoe were on the original plan’s proposed sale list from
the Wilderness Society. … Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, led the
effort to sell up to 3 million acres nationwide. He vowed after
the ruling to keep fighting. “Stay tuned. We’re just getting
started,” he said in a post on X. … He outlined some of the
steps he plans. He said he would not be “selling off our
forests,” and only land within 5 miles of population centers
would be eligible for sales.
On May 29, 2025, in a decision long-awaited by project
developers, the Supreme Court issued Seven County
Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, which
clarified the proper scope of review and deference to be
afforded to agency decisionmaking under the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This decision reinforces
longstanding Supreme Court holdings and may help improve the
NEPA process by providing support for agencies to focus their
NEPA reviews on impacts associated with their authorizations.
… The decision is also noteworthy for its commentary on
how NEPA litigation has negatively impacted project
development. The Court noted that project opponents may not
always be motivated by their concern for the environment,
instead using NEPA to prevent new infrastructure
projects.
… The Supreme Court’s reasoning in Seven
County encourages judicial restraint in NEPA cases.
Thus, Seven County may prompt federal agencies to
conduct NEPA reviews with less fear of judicial oversight than
they may have had prior to the decision. For proponents of
water infrastructure projects involving the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (Corps), Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), or
other federal agencies, this shift could create a less onerous
permitting process. However, these project proponents remain
exposed to regulatory uncertainty — especially in projects
involving multiple federal agencies — because of the recent
rollback of the Council on Environmental Quality’s unified NEPA
framework. The proponents also face litigation risk at the
state level, and under statutes that, unlike NEPA, impose
substantive constraints on development decisions. In fact,
approval of the project at the heart of Seven
County remains vacated under some such authorities at this
time. Therefore, all stakeholders — project proponents and
opposers alike — should proceed cautiously as this area of law
continues to evolve.
Two Central Valley Democrats are pitching a new water bill
designed to protect water access for the region’s
farmers. Rep. Adam Gray (D–Merced) introduced the Valley
Water Protection Act last week and was joined by Rep. Jim Costa
(D–Fresno). The Valley Water Protection Act would amend
the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to protect
farmers from enforcement actions that could pose national
security threats or regional economic harm. … The bill
has widespread support from water users across the Central
Valley, including the Turlock Irrigation District, the Merced
Irrigation District, the Modesto Irrigation District, the San
Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority and the Friant Water
Authority. … Along with Gray’s bill, Westerman
introduced the Endangered Species Act Amendments Act of 2025,
which would streamline the ESA permitting process and establish
clear definitions within the act.
Last week, lawmakers introduced a new proposal to sell off
roughly 3 million acres of public land in the Western U.S. as
part of President Trump’s omnibus spending and tax bill, known
as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” According to the
Wilderness Society, more than 250 million acres of land managed
by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management could
be up for grabs under a leaked June 14 version of the proposal.
Though the plan focuses on land, its effects on
water could be profound. The eligible
land excludes national parks and a few other protected areas,
but it leaves open massive amounts of acreage in each Western
state. These eligible areas include land with wilderness
characteristics, grazing lands, wildlife corridors for
threatened and endangered species, recreation areas and popular
camping sites. Its also land that buffers the
headwaters of some of our most important rivers in the
West.
Over 250 million acres of public lands could be eligible for
sale if the President’s budget reconciliation package,
something he has called the “big, beautiful bill,” is passed. A
map and analysis were created by The Wilderness Society using
source data from BLM, USFS, USGS, NPS, and SENR reconciliation
bill text (Senate Energy and Natural Resources) as of June
16, 2025. … The map includes Kiva Beach, much of Fallen Leaf
Lake, Tallac Historic Site, and even ski resorts who lease land
from USFS, including Alpine Meadows, Heavenly Valley, as well
as other treasured acreage through the Sierra and beyond.
… The mandates of the bill call for the sale of .5-.75
percent of each BLM and USFS land across 11 western states, or
about 3.3 million acres. It opens up 250 million acres for
“developers to pick from,” to get to the 3.3 million acres,
according to Oliva Tanager of the Sierra Club.
A special fund set up by the Arizona Legislature and former
Gov. Doug Ducey in 2022 to provide $1 billion to secure new
water supplies in the desert state is once again being raided
to help balance the state budget. The move to use more than $70
million in the Long Term Water Augmentation Fund was called
shortsighted by a representative of the state agency charged
with using the cash to bring new water to the state.
… All that started with 2022 legislation championed by
former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey to set aside $333 million a
year in three successive years so the authority would have $1
billion dedicated to finding and developing new water sources —
mainly from outside of the state. Ducey was intent on having
the state develop a water desalination plant on the Gulf of
Cortez in Mexico and piping the water to Arizona. That plan
fell apart, at least in part because of the secrecy surrounding
it and in part because the Mexican government said it never was
consulted. That has left the WIFA fund with money that
lawmakers decided could be used for something else.
President Donald Trump has tapped longtime water manager Ted
Cooke to be the next commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation. The nomination, submitted Monday to the
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, attempts to
fill a pivotal role at the top federal agency for Western
rivers, reservoirs and dams. If confirmed, Cooke will become
the main federal official overseeing Colorado River matters.
His nomination comes at a tense time for the river. The seven
states that use its water appear deadlocked in closed-door
negotiations about sharing the shrinking water supply in
the future. Cooke will likely try to push those state
negotiators toward agreement about who should feel the pain of
water cutbacks and when. If they can’t reach a deal ahead of a
2026 deadline, the federal government can step in and make
those decisions itself.
Other Reclamation and Colorado River negotiation news:
A recently released opinion from the Justice Department
suggests that the Trump administration may seek to unilaterally
eliminate national monument designations. The administration
has previously expressed interest in shrinking or removing
protections on protected lands to clear the way for resource
extraction or development, and the DOJ opinion would seem to
mark an escalation of those priorities. The stakes are
particularly high here in Arizona, where we have the
second-highest number of national monuments in the country.
Roger Naylor, author of “Arizona National Parks and Monuments:
Scenic Wonders and Cultural Treasures of the Grand Canyon
State,” joined The Show to discuss the implications of this.
… “These are essential places to us, not only for our
recreation, not only for tourism, but just protecting wildlife
corridors and very often protecting
watersheds, keeping our water supply safe as well,”
(says Naylor.)
As the Senate continues to comb through the Big Beautiful Bill,
258 million acres of public land across the western U.S.,
including large swaths of California, could soon be eligible
for sale. A map published by the Wilderness Society, a
nonprofit land conservation organization, reveals which parcels
of land across 11 states would be up for grabs, in accordance
with the land sale proposal detailed by Sen. Mike Lee, a
Republican from Utah and the chairman of the Senate Committee
on Energy and Natural Resources. If the budget is passed
by the July 4 deadline, an estimated 16 million acres in
California are at risk of being sold over the next five years.
Those vulnerable parcels of land include areas adjacent
to Yosemite National Park, Mount Shasta, Big Sur and Lake
Tahoe. … In all, up to 3 million acres across
all states would be authorized to be sold out of 258 million
eligible acres across the West.
Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee introduced 15 water-related bills
Thursday, targeting everything from the length of federal
permitting to the types of water resources protected by the
Clean Water Act. The bills would benefit oil
and gas companies, farming interests, homebuilders, water
utilities and others who say that environmental reviews and
long permitting timelines are stifling development. They were
introduced by Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee
Chair Mike Collins, (R-GA) … Doug LaMalfa,
(R-Calif.) and others. “The Clean Water Act was
intended to protect water quality, support healthy communities,
and balance the demands of economic growth across the United
States,” (Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman
Sam) Graves said in a statement.
On Wednesday, June 11, the U.S. Senate released a provision in
President Trump’s H.R.1 – One Big Beautiful Bill Act that calls
for the sale of approximately 2.2 million to 3.3 million acres
of federal land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service.
… According to the tax and spending bill, lands in
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New
Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming could be sold off
for energy and/or housing development over the next five years.
… The Greater Yellowstone Coalition wrote via press
release that the privatization of federal lands could lead to
the loss of public access, negatively impact local economies
and result in development that harms wildlife habitat and
water resources. “Our national public lands
are not a luxury, they’re our legacy,” Greater Yellowstone
Coalition Executive Director Scott Christensen wrote. “These
are outdoor spaces that connect us to each other, fuel the
economies of western states and provide clean drinking water to
millions of Americans downstream.”
Last year, legislators passed, the governor signed, and
California voters approved, a ten billion dollar climate bond
(the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought
Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, SB 867
(Allen), which appeared on the November ballot as Proposition
4). While the bond act’s full title largely tells the story of
its contents, the water- and resilience-focused spending may
not be what all Californians expected from the state’s first
self-proclaimed climate bond. … The negotiations will
continue to unfold, but in the meantime, it is helpful to look
at the contents of the bond’s legislative language. Some may be
surprised to learn, for example, that the bond primarily
addresses climate adaptation and resilience, rather than
climate mitigation such as clean energy infrastructure. This
post outlines some major areas, projects, and funding within
the language passed in 2024.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee is bringing back a proposal that would allow
the federal government to sell off several million acres of
public land in Utah and other Western states.
… Introduced Wednesday evening, Lee’s amendment to
congressional Republicans’ budget bill, nicknamed the “big,
beautiful bill,” renews an effort initially spearheaded by Rep.
Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, and Mark Amodei, R-Nevada, that sought
to dispose of 11,500 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in
southwestern Utah and some 450,000 acres of federal land in
Nevada. … Though the scope is much bigger, Lee’s
reasoning behind the proposal is the same as Maloy and Amodei’s
— identify parcels of federal land near high-growth areas, and
sell them at market value to local governments to use for
housing, water infrastructure, roads and other
development.
California Democrats tried on Thursday to dissuade Secretary of
the Interior Doug Burgum from cuts to water
infrastructure funding. Instead, they got a clear view
of the Trump administration’s priorities. The water security
programs may be working, but budget cuts are more important,
Burgum told lawmakers during a House hearing on President
Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the Department of the
Interior. … Congress is supposed to have the final say
in federal funding, but the administration’s budget proposal,
which would eliminate WaterSMART, is raising
red flags for some House Democrats, especially given the
approach DOGE has taken to federal funding. Burgum was
responding to Rep. Luz Rivas, who represents the San Fernando
Valley. Rivas said WaterSMART, which funds water management
improvements, drought planning and more throughout the American
West, was successful in mitigating water shortages in her
district. It’s received billions in federal funding since 2010,
with billions more matched by state and local partners.
Senate lawmakers blasted the Trump administration’s fiscal 2026
budget proposal for agencies charged with major water
infrastructure projects, and they vowed to secure more money
for both the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of
Reclamation. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy
and Water Development on Wednesday reviewed proposed budgets
for both agencies, with senators from both parties criticizing
the president’s desired cuts. “We’re probably going to have to
start over with this budget, gentlemen. I’m not telling you
anything that you don’t know,” Louisiana Republican Sen. John
Kenendy, who chairs the subcommittee, said as he ended
Tuesday’s hearing. “It’s just not realistic,” he added,
noting he otherwise supports cuts put forth by the Office of
Management and Budget. “I just know that the appetite for the
work that you all do and the necessity of it. I’m just being
realistic.”
The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to
abolish California’s two newest national monuments, Sáttítla
Highlands National Monument in the state’s far north and
Chuckwalla National Monument near Joshua Tree. The push to
eliminate the designations, issued earlier this year by former
President Joe Biden, was revealed in a U.S. Justice Department
memo this week, responding to legal questions from the
administration about rolling back the California
monuments. Sáttítla Highlands monument was established in
January to protect a remote 224,000-acre volcanic landscape
northeast of Mount Shasta, known for lava beds and caves. The
designation was sought by Northern California’s Pit River Tribe
to prevent geothermal power production at
tribally sacred sites. … In a statement, White House
spokesperson Harrison Fields cited the president’s pledge to
“liberate our federal lands and waters to oil, gas, coal,
geothermal and mineral leasing.”
In celebration of the largest dam removal project in U.S.
history, a group of native youths will embark today on a
kayaking descent of the Klamath River from its headwaters in
Southern Oregon 250 miles to its mouth in Northern California —
the first source-to-sea journey on the newly undammed river.
Decommissioning and razing four of the six dams along the
Klamath, which stood for more than a century and generated
hydroelectric power, took decades of advocacy from
environmentalists, fishing groups and in particular the
region’s indigenous tribes, who regard the mighty waterway,
with its historic salmon runs, as the pillar of life. Two
remaining dams on the river, both in Oregon, are being left
alone due to their importance managing flood water and
supporting agriculture. … Now, to commemorate the
milestone, about 30 young people belonging to tribal
communities across the Klamath River Basin are launching on a
monthlong expedition to see the powerful, freeflowing river in
its entirety.
The Senate is speeding to confirm David Fotouhi for EPA deputy
administrator and Stephen Vaden for deputy Agriculture
secretary this week. Committees are also pushing energy and
environment nominees forward. More than four months after
President Donald Trump took office, Fotouhi is the third of
nine candidates for various EPA posts whose nomination has made
it to the Senate floor. Senate lawmakers voted Monday evening
53-43 along party lines to wind down debate on Fotouhi, a
lawyer who also worked at EPA during Trump’s first term. A
final roll call is scheduled for Tuesday. Fotouhi’s
nomination won approval in March from the Senate Environment
and Public Works Committee on a 10-9 tally, also on party
lines. Before Monday’s vote, committee leaders offered starkly
contrasting portrayals of Fotouhi’s credentials.
The Trump administration wants to unplug a high-powered U.S.
Geological Survey research program whose scientists have helped
protect wildlife, manage forests, thwart pests and illuminate
nature for over three decades. Eliminating the biological
research branch of the USGS, as called for in President Donald
Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal, would accelerate the
administration’s targeting of scientific experts and studies
already shown in layoffs and grant cancellations at the
National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.
… The Ecosystem Mission Area is one of five designated
mission areas within USGS. It received about $293 million for
fiscal 2025. Trump’s proposal would drop it to zero in fiscal
2026. … Other USGS mission areas, such as Natural
Hazards and Water Resources, would get less money but
still survive under Trump’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget.
Other science and environmental research funding news:
On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an 8-0 opinion
that clarifies the scope of environmental effects analysis
under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and requires
substantial judicial deference to federal agencies in NEPA
cases. This decision has broad implications for public agencies
and Tribal Nations involved in infrastructure and economic
development projects, natural resources management, water
supply project operations and other matters where there is a
federal nexus. … For local communities, water agencies,
and Tribal Nations with projects that depend on the NEPA
process, this ruling offers a couple of key takeaways. The
first is straightforward. The scope of environmental effects
analyzed in an EIS will continue to be limited by the authority
of the federal agency. … A more complex implication
relates to judicial deference—particularly deference to a
federal agency’s choice of alternatives and its feasibility
analysis.
Cities across California and the Southwest are significantly
increasing and diversifying their use of recycled wastewater as
traditional water supplies grow tighter.
The 5th edition of our Layperson’s Guide to Water Recycling
covers the latest trends and statistics on water reuse as a
strategic defense against prolonged drought and climate change.
Seeking to prevent the California State Water Resources Control
Board from stepping in to regulate groundwater in critically
overdrafted subbasins, local agencies are working to correct
deficiencies in their plans to protect groundwater. With
groundwater sustainability agencies formed and groundwater
sustainability plans evaluated, the state water board has moved
to implement the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,
or SGMA. … Under probation, groundwater extractors in
the Tulare Lake subbasin face annual fees of $300 per well and
$20 per acre-foot pumped, plus a late reporting fee of 25%.
SGMA also requires well owners to file annual groundwater
extraction reports.
California has unveiled an ambitious plan to help combat the
worsening climate crisis with one of its invaluable assets: its
land. Over the next 20 years, the state will work to transform
more than half of its 100 million acres into multi-benefit
landscapes that can absorb more carbon than they release,
officials announced Monday. … The plan also calls for
11.9 million acres of forestland to be managed for biodiversity
protection, carbon storage and water supply protection by 2045,
and 2.7 million acres of shrublands and chaparral to be managed
for carbon storage, resilience and habitat connectivity, among
other efforts.
Today, Congresswoman Norma Torres and Congressman David Valadao
– members of the House Appropriations Committee – announced the
introduction of the bipartisan Removing Nitrate and Arsenic in
Drinking Water Act. This bill would amend the Safe Drinking
Water Act to provide grants for nitrate and arsenic reduction,
by providing $15 million for FY25 and every fiscal year
thereafter. The bill also directs the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to take into consideration the needs of
economically disadvantaged populations impacted by drinking
water contamination. The California State Water Resources
Control Board found the Inland Empire to have the highest
levels of contamination of nitrate throughout the state
including 82 sources in San Bernardino, 67 sources in Riverside
County, and 123 sources in Los Angeles County.
A much-anticipated water bill brought by one of the most
powerful lawmakers on Capitol Hill became public Thursday.
Senate President Stuart Adams’s SB 211, titled “Generational
Water Infrastructure Amendments,” seeks to secure a water
supply for decades to come. It forms a new council comprised of
leadership from the state’s biggest water districts that will
figure out Utah’s water needs for the next 50 to 75 years. It
also creates a new governor-appointed “Utah Water Agent” with a
$1 million annual budget that will “coordinate with the council
to ensure Utah’s generational water needs are met,” according
to a news release. But combing through the text of the bill
reveals the water agent’s main job will be finding an
out-of-state water supply. … The bill also notes the
water agent won’t meddle with existing water compacts with
other states on the Bear and Colorado rivers.
Last week, Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria introduced AB 2060 to
help divert local floodwater into regional groundwater
basins. AB 2060 seeks to streamline the permitting process
to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in support of
Flood-MAR activities when a stream or river has reached
flood-monitor or flood stage as determined by the California
Nevada River Forecast Center or the State Water Resources
Control Board (SWRCB). This expedited approval process would be
temporary during storm events with qualifying flows under the
SWRCB permit.
… In California, just figuring out who holds a water right
requires a trip to a downtown Sacramento storage room crammed
with millions of paper and microfilmed records dating to the
mid-1800s. Even the state’s water rights enforcers struggle to
determine who is using what. … Come next year, however,
the board expects to have all records electronically accessible
to the public. Officials recently started scanning records tied
to an estimated 45,000 water rights into an online database.
They’re also designing a system that will give real-time data
on how much water is being diverted from rivers and streams
across the state. … Proponents say the information
technology upgrade will help the state and water users better
manage droughts, establish robust water trading markets and
ensure water for fish and the environment.
… Without more investment and regulatory relief,
Californians face a future of chronic water scarcity. Our
system of water storage and distribution is in trouble. We have
depleted aquifers, nearly empty reservoirs on the Colorado
River, and a precarious network of century-old levees that are
one big earthquake away from catastrophic failure. Then there’s
always the next severe drought. Even if the governor
aggressively pushes for more investment in water supply
infrastructure and more regulatory relief so projects can go
forward, the state is again staring down a budget deficit.
Bonds to fund water infrastructure projects are going to have a
hard time getting approval from voters already overburdened
with among the highest taxes in America. - Written by Edward Ring, senior fellow with the
California Policy Center.
Below-average precipitation and snowpack during 2020-22 and
depleted surface and groundwater supplies pushed California
into a drought emergency that brought curtailment orders and
calls for modernizing water rights. At the Water Education
Foundation annual water summit last week in Sacramento,
Eric Oppenheimer, chief deputy director of the California State
Water Resources Control Board, discussed what he described as
the state’s “antiquated” water rights system. He spoke before
some 150 water managers, government officials, farmers,
environmentalists and others as part of the event where
interests come together to collaborate on some of the state’s
most challenging water issues.
This tour traveled along the San Joaquin River to learn firsthand
about one of the nation’s largest and most expensive river
restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
Hampton Inn & Suites Fresno
327 E Fir Ave
Fresno, CA 93720
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
Groundwater provides about 40
percent of the water in California for urban, rural and
agricultural needs in typical years, and as much as 60 percent in
dry years when surface water supplies are low. But in many areas
of the state, groundwater is being extracted faster than it can
be replenished through natural or artificial means.
The bill is coming due, literally,
to protect and restore groundwater in California.
Local agencies in the most depleted groundwater basins in
California spent months putting together plans to show how they
will achieve balance in about 20 years.
California is chock full of rivers and creeks, yet the state’s network of stream gauges has significant gaps that limit real-time tracking of how much water is flowing downstream, information that is vital for flood protection, forecasting water supplies and knowing what the future might bring.
That network of stream gauges got a big boost Sept. 30 with the signing of SB 19. Authored by Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), the law requires the state to develop a stream gauge deployment plan, focusing on reactivating existing gauges that have been offline for lack of funding and other reasons. Nearly half of California’s stream gauges are dormant.
Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona
governor and secretary of the Interior, has been a thoughtful,
provocative and sometimes forceful voice in some of the most
high-profile water conflicts over the last 40 years, including
groundwater management in Arizona and the reduction of
California’s take of the Colorado River. In 2016, former
California Gov. Jerry Brown named Babbitt as a special adviser to
work on matters relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
the Delta tunnels plan.
Groundwater helped make Kern County
the king of California agricultural production, with a $7 billion
annual array of crops that help feed the nation. That success has
come at a price, however. Decades of unchecked groundwater
pumping in the county and elsewhere across the state have left
some aquifers severely depleted. Now, the county’s water managers
have less than a year left to devise a plan that manages and
protects groundwater for the long term, yet ensures that Kern
County’s economy can continue to thrive, even with less water.
Low-income Californians can get help with their phone bills, their natural gas bills and their electric bills. But there’s only limited help available when it comes to water bills.
That could change if the recommendations of a new report are implemented into law. Drafted by the State Water Resources Control Board, the report outlines the possible components of a program to assist low-income households facing rising water bills.
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
Spurred by drought and a major
policy shift, groundwater management has assumed an unprecedented
mantle of importance in California. Local agencies in the
hardest-hit areas of groundwater depletion are drawing plans to
halt overdraft and bring stressed aquifers to the road of
recovery.
Along the way, an army of experts has been enlisted to help
characterize the extent of the problem and how the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act of 2014 is implemented in a manner
that reflects its original intent.
California voters may experience a sense of déjà vu this year when they are asked twice in the same year to consider water bonds — one in June, the other headed to the November ballot.
Both tackle a variety of water issues, from helping disadvantaged communities get clean drinking water to making flood management improvements. But they avoid more controversial proposals, such as new surface storage, and they propose to do some very different things to appeal to different constituencies.
Participants of this tour snaked along the San Joaquin River to
learn firsthand about one of the nation’s largest and most
expensive river restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
A new era of groundwater management
began in 2014 with the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA), which aims for local and regional agencies
to develop and implement sustainable groundwater management
plans with the state as the backstop.
SGMA defines “sustainable groundwater management” as the
“management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be
maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without
causing undesirable results.”
This handbook provides crucial
background information on the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act, signed into law in 2014 by Gov. Jerry Brown. The handbook
also includes a section on options for new governance.
Water conservation has become a way of life throughout the West
with a growing recognition that water supply is not unlimited.
Drought is the most common motivator of increased water
conservation. However, the gradual drying of the West due to
climate change means the amount of fresh water available for
drinking, irrigation, industry and other uses must be used as
efficiently as possible.
As part of the historic Colorado
River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for
thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below
sea level.
The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when
the Colorado River broke
through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years,
creating California’s largest inland body of water. The
Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130
miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe.
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act sets standards for drinking
water quality in the United States.
Launched in 1974 and administered by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the Safe Drinking Water Act oversees states,
communities, and water suppliers who implement the drinking water
standards at the local level.
The act’s regulations apply to every public water system in the
United States but do not include private wells serving less than
25 people.
According to the EPA, there are more than 160,000 public water
systems in the United States.
The California Environmental Quality
Act, commonly known as CEQA, is foundational to the state’s
environmental protection efforts. The law requires proposed
developments with the potential for “significant” impacts on the
physical environment to undergo an environmental review.
Since its passage in 1970, CEQA (based on the National
Environmental Policy Act) has served as a model for
similar legislation in other states.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at some of
the pieces of the 2009 water legislation, including the Delta
Stewardship Council, the new requirements for groundwater
monitoring and the proposed water bond.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at California
groundwater and whether its sustainability can be assured by
local, regional and state management. For more background
information on groundwater please refer to the Foundation’s
Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking,” in California. Much of the information
in the article was presented at a conference hosted by the
Groundwater Resources Association of California.
This issue of Western Water looks at the political
landscape in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento as it relates to
water issues in 2007. Several issues are under consideration,
including the means to deal with impending climate change, the
fate of the San Joaquin River, the prospects for new surface
storage in California and the Delta.
This printed issue of Western Water examines water
infrastructure – its costs and the quest to augment traditional
brick-and-mortar facilities with sleeker, “green” features.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
financing of water infrastructure, both at the local level and
from the statewide perspective, and some of the factors that
influence how people receive their water, the price they pay for
it and how much they might have to pay in the future.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at the energy
requirements associated with water use and the means by which
state and local agencies are working to increase their knowledge
and improve the management of both resources.
This printed issue of Western Water discusses low
impact development and stormwater capture – two areas of emerging
interest that are viewed as important components of California’s
future water supply and management scenario.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study and what its
finding might mean for the future of the lifeblood of the
Southwest.
20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A
Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues related to complex water management
disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances
Fisher.
For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and
California border has faced complex water management disputes. As
relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary
narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range
from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp,
farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists
– all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water.
After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon
settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise
of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the
documentary here.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this
24×36-inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson
River, and its link to the Truckee River. The map includes the
Lahontan Dam and reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming
areas in the basin. Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and
geography, the Newlands Project, land and water use within the
basin and wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant
from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan
Basin Area Office.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law, recognized as
the most thorough explanation of California water rights law
available to non-lawyers, traces the authority for water flowing
in a stream or reservoir, from a faucet or into an irrigation
ditch through the complex web of California water rights.
The 20-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Marketing provides
background information on water rights, types of transfers and
critical policy issues surrounding this topic. First published in
1996, the 2005 version offers expanded information on
groundwater banking and conjunctive use, Colorado River
transfers and the role of private companies in California’s
developing water market.
Order in bulk (25 or more copies of the same guide) for a reduced
fee. Contact the Foundation, 916-444-6240, for details.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the State Water Project provides
an overview of the California-funded and constructed State Water
Project.
The State Water Project is best known for the 444-mile-long
aqueduct that provides water from the Delta to San Joaquin Valley
agriculture and southern California cities. The guide contains
information about the project’s history and facilities.
The Water Education Foundation’s second edition of
the Layperson’s Guide to The Klamath River Basin is
hot off the press and available for purchase.
Updated and redesigned, the easy-to-read overview covers the
history of the region’s tribal, agricultural and environmental
relationships with one of the West’s largest rivers — and a
vast watershed that hosts one of the nation’s oldest and
largest reclamation projects.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater is an in-depth,
easy-to-understand publication that provides background and
perspective on groundwater. The guide explains what groundwater
is – not an underground network of rivers and lakes! – and the
history of its use in California.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Flood Management explains the
physical flood control system, including levees; discusses
previous flood events (including the 1997 flooding); explores
issues of floodplain management and development; provides an
overview of flood forecasting; and outlines ongoing flood control
projects.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
explores the history and development of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery
system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes
the various facilities, operations and benefits the water
project brings to the state along with the CVP
Improvement Act (CVPIA).
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
For more than 30 years, the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta has been embroiled in continuing controversy over the
struggle to restore the faltering ecosystem while maintaining its
role as the hub of the state’s water supply.
Lawsuits and counter lawsuits have been filed, while
environmentalists and water users continue to clash over
the amount of water that can be safely exported from the region.
Passed in 1970, the federal National Environmental Policy Act
requires lead public agencies to prepare and submit for public
review environmental impact reports and statements on major
federal projects under their purview with potentially significant
environmental effects.
According to the Department of Energy, administrator of NEPA:
California has considered, but not implemented, a comprehensive
groundwater strategy many
times over the last century.
One hundred years ago, the California Conservation Commission
considered adding groundwater regulation into the Water
Commission Act of 1913. After hearings were held, it was
decided to leave groundwater rights out of the Water Code.
Federal reserved rights were created when the United States
reserved land from the public domain for uses such as Indian
reservations, military bases and national parks, forests and
monuments. [See also Pueblo Rights].
The federal government passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973,
following earlier legislation. The first, the Endangered
Species Preservation Act of 1966, authorized land acquisition to
conserve select species. The Endangered Species Conservation Act
of 1969 then expanded on the 1966 act, and authorized “the
compilation of a list of animals “threatened with worldwide
extinction” and prohibits their importation without a permit.”
California’s Legislature passed the
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1972, following the passage of the
federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act by Congress in 1968. Under
California law, “[c]ertain rivers which possess extraordinary
scenic, recreational, fishery, or wildlife values shall be
preserved in their free-flowing state, together with their
immediate environments, for the benefit and enjoyment of the
people of the state.”
The legal term “area-of-origin” dates back to 1931 in California.
At that time, concerns over water transfers prompted enactment of
four “area-of-origin” statutes. With water transfers from
Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley to supply water for San Francisco
and from Owens Valley to Los Angeles fresh in mind, the statutes
were intended to protect local areas against export of water.
In particular, counties in Northern California had concerns about
the state tapping their water to develop California’s supply.
It would be a vast understatement to say the package of water
bills approved by the California Legislature and signed by Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger last November was anything but a
significant achievement. During a time of fierce partisan battles
and the state’s long-standing political gridlock with virtually
all water policy, pundits at the beginning of 2009 would have
given little chance to lawmakers being able to reach compromise
on water legislation.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most
significant environmental laws in American history, the Clean
Water Act (CWA). The law that emerged from the consensus and
compromise that characterizes the legislative process has had
remarkable success, reversing years of neglect and outright abuse
of the nation’s waters.
In January, Mary Nichols joined the cabinet of the new Davis
administration. With her appointment by Gov. Gray Davis as
Secretary for Resources, Ms. Nichols, 53, took on the role of
overseeing the state of California’s activities for the
management, preservation and enhancement of its natural
resources, including land, wildlife, water and minerals. As head
of the Resources Agency, she directs the activities of 19
departments, conservancies, boards and commissions, serving as
the governor’s representative on these boards and commissions.
Two days before our annual Executive Briefing, I picked up my
phone to hear “The White House calling… .” Vice President Al
Gore had accepted the foundation’s invitation to speak at our
March 13 briefing on California water issues. That was the start
of a new experience for us. For in addition to conducting a
briefing for about 250 people, we were now dealing with Secret
Service agents, bomb sniffing dogs and government sharpshooters,
speech writers, print and TV reporters, school children and
public relations people.
