Trump administration approves plan to export more water out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

The Trump administration yesterday released a draconian plan to divert more Delta water that will go into effect today, posing an extreme threat to already imperiled salmon, steelhead and other fish populations and Delta and tribal communities in California.

The plan released by the federal Bureau of Reclamation follows through on a federal order issued in January aimed at increasing agribusiness water deliveries to the valley south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the largest and most significant estuary on the West Coast. 

The Bureau of Reclamation Record of Decision for Action 5 updates the long-term operations of both the federal Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP).  

“With the signing of this Record of Decision, we are delivering on the promise of Executive Order 14181 to strengthen California’s water resilience,” gushed Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “This updated operations plan reflects our commitment to using the best available science to increase water deliveries while safeguarding the environment and honoring the legacy of the Central Valley Project’s 90 years of service.” 

Under this plan, the CVP may increase annual water deliveries by between 130 to 180 thousand acre-feet, and the State Water Project by 120 to 220 thousand acre-feet, “depending on hydrologic conditions and subject to the State’s adoption of Action 5,” according to Reclamation.

The Westlands Water District and other agribusiness interests celebrated the signing of the plan, while California officials, environmental groups and fishing groups  condemned the move, warning it could jeopardize water supplies for millions of residents and accelerate the collapse of salmon, steelhead, sturgeon and other endangered species in the Delta.

In a statement, Allison Febbo, General Manager of Westlands Water District, applauded the action.

“These changes will help ensure that our growers have the water they need to support local communities and the nation’s food supply, while also protecting California’s wildlife,” Febbo  said. “Action 5 is a testament to what can be accomplished with a data-driven, results-focused adaptation to water supply operations.” 

She also claimed that Trump’s Executive Order 14181, directing federal agencies to maximize water deliveries, adheres to Executive Order 14303, implementing the “Gold Standard of Science.” In addition, she claimed that Action 5 is “also consistent with the direction in Executive Order N-16-25, issued by Governor Newsom to state agencies to maximize water supplies.”  

For CVP South-of-Delta agricultural contractors like Westlands, Action 5 is expected to deliver an average of 85,000 acre-feet per year of “additional water,” according to Febbo.

California officials called foul on the move by Trump’s Bureau of Reclamation, calling it “putting politics over people.”

“As per usual, the emperor is left with no clothes, pushing for an outcome that disregards science and undermines our ability to protect the water supply for people, farms, and the environment,” Newsom Administration spokesperson Tara Gallegos said in a statement in an AP News article.  

Delta advocates noted that increased pumping from the Delta would kill more Delta smelt and juvenile salmon, degrade water quality, and promote harmful algae blooms with severe ecological and economic consequences, according to a statement from Restore the Delta.  

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, underscored the stakes involved in Trump’s plan.

“When you destroy water quality and divorce it from land, you are also destroying property values. Nobody wants to live near a fetid, polluted backwater swamp,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. 

She also discussed the impact of Action 5 on current state and federal operations in the Delta.

“Action 5 disrupts the coordinating operating agreement between the state and federal governments for the CVP and SWP and increases fish entrainment in the Delta pumping facilities. It has a real bearing on the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) water permit hearing by the State Water Resources Control Board because voluntary agreements are part of the operations plan for the DCP,” she stated.

“The state no longer has a reliable federal partner,” added Barrigan-Parrilla. “This strengthens the case against the Delta Tunnel. I believe it’s a case of either death by a thousand cuts now or soon with the voluntary agreements. If the Newsom Administration really cares about the estuary and not just water exports for the State Water Project, then they need to get busy in litigation to reinstate protections for the Delta.”

Vance Staplin, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association (GSSA), is urging Governor Gavin Newsom to file a lawsuit against Reclamation’s plan.

“This administration’s rollback of already weak protections for salmon, steelhead and other imperiled species is disastrous, especially in dry years,” said Staplin. “As a result of past attacks on salmon protections, several salmon runs that depend on this water are close to extinction. 

“When people talk about job loss, we must remember that a healthy salmon industry generates $1.4 billion and 23,000 jobs annually in California,” Staplin observed. “The state’s commercial salmon fishery has already been shut down for three straight years. Weakening protections even further would be devastating.”

“In fact, this decision is so reckless that the state Department of Water Resources has concluded that it could reduce water supply for 23 million Southern Californians – all to steer more water to a handful of rich Central Valley growers.  We urge Gov. Newsom to file a lawsuit to challenge this unlawful federal move,” he stated.

Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader for the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, also condemned the Trump plan, noting that the plan slashes protections for Winter Run Chinook Salmon.

 “Our Tribe is working hard to restore healthy Central Valley salmon runs and return salmon to the McCloud River, the Tribe’s homeland,” said Sisk. “This new decision by the Bureau of Reclamation to cut protections for Winter Run Chinook salmon threatens a salmon run that is at the heart of the Tribe’s history, religion and culture.

“The State of California has worked hard to help us find a way to return salmon to the McCloud River. We urge the State to fight this federal decision that threatens salmon in the Sacramento River and in the Delta.  We can’t successfully return salmon to our river above Shasta Dam if the federal government kills those same salmon below Shasta Dam,” Sisk concluded.

Action 5 includes an assortment of actions that environmental and fishing groups say will harm Bay-Delta fish populations.

• Removal of the Delta Smelt Summer and Fall Habitat Action (Fall X2)
• Elimination of Early Implementation Measures for Healthy Rivers and Landscapes/Voluntary Agreements
• Updated Delta Operating Criteria  
• Revised Governance Structure.  

The release of the plan takes place at a time when the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ecosystem is in its worst-ever crisis. No Delta smelt have been found in the Delta in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fall Midwater Trawl Survey for seven years. Other species, including longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon, white sturgeon, striped bass and threadfin shad, are in a state of collapse, due to massive water exports out of the Delta, toxics, pollution, invasive species and other factors.

While there was a very limited recreational salmon fishing season this year on the ocean and a restricted recreational salmon on the American, Feather and Mokelumne rivers, the Sacramento River was closed to sport salmon fishing and California ocean waters were closed to commercial salmon fishing for the third year in a row. 

While I applaud the Newsom Administration’s opposition to Trump's plan to export more water south from the Delta, the Governor is at the same time promoting the Delta Tunnel, a project that would also take more water out of the estuary to benefit his Big Ag donors like the Resnicks. Newsom is also pushing the voluntary agreements, along with the construction of the Sites Reservoir, that would greatly hurt struggling salmon and other fish populations.