President Barack Obama on Friday quietly signed and bequeathed to President-elect Donald Trump a massive infrastructure bill designed to control floods, fund dams and deliver more water to farmers in California’s Central Valley. While attempting to mollify critics’ concerns over potential harm to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Obama signed the $12 billion bill in a […]
Public water agencies throughout California are looking to spend billions of dollars in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to address a fundamental physical reality: The existing water system in the southern Delta poses an intractable environmental problem. The only solution is to construct a new, sufficiently sized conveyance system to move water supplies. State and federal […]
As feared, Sen. Dianne Feinstein has cut a deal with Congressional Republicans on legislation that will take much-needed water from Northern California’s fragile waterways — and its vulnerable fish — and hand it over to farmers and businesses in the Central Valley. To make matters worse, the deal was attached to a politically popular bill […]
A pre-winter storm drenched California with rain and dumped nearly three feet of snow to help bolster the vital Sierra Nevada snowpack but also triggered mud flows, street flooding and the dramatic rescue Friday of two homeless women and 10 dogs from a river island near Los Angeles. With thousands of acres of wildfire burn […]
A multistate agreement aimed at shoring up Lake Mead can’t be finished until California finds a way to solve two major, long-simmering environmental fights. That was the message from top water managers Thursday gathered in Las Vegas for the annual conference of the Colorado River Water Users Association. For the past 18 months, Nevada, California […]
Hope blossomed last spring in Washington, D.C., when federal money appeared headed to the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan. Sadly, with the approach of winter, those hopes have been put on ice, at least for this year. Back in April, largely through the bipartisan efforts of Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the […]
Obama Signs California’s Massive Water Bill, But Trump Will Determine Its Future
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Michael DoylePresident Barack Obama on Friday quietly signed and bequeathed to President-elect Donald Trump a massive infrastructure bill designed to control floods, fund dams and deliver more water to farmers in California’s Central Valley. While attempting to mollify critics’ concerns over potential harm to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Obama signed the $12 billion bill in a […]
OPINION: California WaterFix Is The ‘Grand Compromise’ For The Delta
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Terry ErlewinePublic water agencies throughout California are looking to spend billions of dollars in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to address a fundamental physical reality: The existing water system in the southern Delta poses an intractable environmental problem. The only solution is to construct a new, sufficiently sized conveyance system to move water supplies. State and federal […]
OPINION: President Obama Should Veto This Harmful Water Bill
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa)As feared, Sen. Dianne Feinstein has cut a deal with Congressional Republicans on legislation that will take much-needed water from Northern California’s fragile waterways — and its vulnerable fish — and hand it over to farmers and businesses in the Central Valley. To make matters worse, the deal was attached to a politically popular bill […]
Big Storm Hits California, Chopper Saves Homeless and Dogs
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Associated Press as published by ABC Newsby John Antczak and Kristin J. BenderA pre-winter storm drenched California with rain and dumped nearly three feet of snow to help bolster the vital Sierra Nevada snowpack but also triggered mud flows, street flooding and the dramatic rescue Friday of two homeless women and 10 dogs from a river island near Los Angeles. With thousands of acres of wildfire burn […]
Problems in California Complicate Negotiations To Boost Sinking Lake Mead
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Las Vegas Review-Journalby Henry BreanA multistate agreement aimed at shoring up Lake Mead can’t be finished until California finds a way to solve two major, long-simmering environmental fights. That was the message from top water managers Thursday gathered in Las Vegas for the annual conference of the Colorado River Water Users Association. For the past 18 months, Nevada, California […]
OPINION: Congress Drops Ball On Basin Water Plan
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Yakima Herald (Wash.)Hope blossomed last spring in Washington, D.C., when federal money appeared headed to the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan. Sadly, with the approach of winter, those hopes have been put on ice, at least for this year. Back in April, largely through the bipartisan efforts of Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the […]