No one should have been surprised when the giant Westlands Water District voted Sept. 19 against joining the state’s equally imposing $17-billion water infrastructure project. After all, the Central Valley district — at 600,000 acres the largest agricultural water district in the nation — had been signaling its uneasiness about the California WaterFix for months. […]
Some chilly winter weather is in store for the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, with January threatening to bring the coldest air of the season. Although however cold, low temperatures will pale in comparison to those in the northern Plains where the mercury is set to dip to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit at times. Meanwhile, the southern […]
/in California and the U.S./by Mike Lee /Chico Enterprise Record (As published by, the San Jose Mercury News)by Risa Johnson
The wide-open middle section of the Oroville Dam spillway is 70 percent filled, with the deadline for this season’s work fast approaching. The contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. remains on track to have the 3,000-foot spillway ready to pass flows of 100,000 cubic-feet per second by Nov. 1, said Jeanne Kuttel, chief of engineering for […]
With two key California WaterFix votes looming, Gov. Jerry Brown expressed confidence Thursday that water agencies will commit to enough funding to sustain the massive project. Brown was in Los Angeles to lobby for the $17-billion proposal, which would re-engineer the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the hub of California’s complex waterworks. “I’m just trying to put […]
Clifornia’s water managers appear to have violated state law when they hired a consultant to help plan Gov. Jerry Brown’s $16 billion project to build two massive water tunnels, state auditors said Thursday. The audit also faulted the state Department of Water Resources for not finishing a cost-benefit analysis as the price of the tunnels […]
California’s mammoth $17 billion plan to overhaul the West Coast’s largest estuary took another hit Thursday, after state auditors revealed that a combination of skyrocketing costs and shaky oversight plague the contentious water project. In a much-anticipated financial report of the California WaterFix, state auditors said planning costs have ballooned to $280 million and that […]
Blocked By Old Contracts and Modern-Day Infighting, California’s Big Water Project Staggers To Its Deathbed
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles TimesNo one should have been surprised when the giant Westlands Water District voted Sept. 19 against joining the state’s equally imposing $17-billion water infrastructure project. After all, the Central Valley district — at 600,000 acres the largest agricultural water district in the nation — had been signaling its uneasiness about the California WaterFix for months. […]
US Winter Forecast: La Niña To Fuel Abundant Snow In Rockies; Bitterly Cold Air To Blast Midwest
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Accuweatherby Jillian MacMathSome chilly winter weather is in store for the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, with January threatening to bring the coldest air of the season. Although however cold, low temperatures will pale in comparison to those in the northern Plains where the mercury is set to dip to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit at times. Meanwhile, the southern […]
Oroville Dam: Spillway Is 70 Percent Filled With One Month To Go
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Chico Enterprise Record (As published by, the San Jose Mercury News)by Risa JohnsonThe wide-open middle section of the Oroville Dam spillway is 70 percent filled, with the deadline for this season’s work fast approaching. The contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. remains on track to have the 3,000-foot spillway ready to pass flows of 100,000 cubic-feet per second by Nov. 1, said Jeanne Kuttel, chief of engineering for […]
Gov. Brown Visits L.A. to Lobby for the $17-Billion Delta Water Project
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles TimesWith two key California WaterFix votes looming, Gov. Jerry Brown expressed confidence Thursday that water agencies will commit to enough funding to sustain the massive project. Brown was in Los Angeles to lobby for the $17-billion proposal, which would re-engineer the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the hub of California’s complex waterworks. “I’m just trying to put […]
Audit Delivers Another Hit to California Tunnels Project
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles TimesClifornia’s water managers appear to have violated state law when they hired a consultant to help plan Gov. Jerry Brown’s $16 billion project to build two massive water tunnels, state auditors said Thursday. The audit also faulted the state Department of Water Resources for not finishing a cost-benefit analysis as the price of the tunnels […]
Audit Blasts California’s Handling of Delta Tunnels Project
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Courthouse News Service (Pasadena)California’s mammoth $17 billion plan to overhaul the West Coast’s largest estuary took another hit Thursday, after state auditors revealed that a combination of skyrocketing costs and shaky oversight plague the contentious water project. In a much-anticipated financial report of the California WaterFix, state auditors said planning costs have ballooned to $280 million and that […]