Salmon Archives

Opinion: Water Board Must Establish a State Water Budget that California Can Afford

September 17, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /CalMattersby Chris Shutes

Former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt writes that a “Grand Bargain” in California water is needed to end the “political culture of deferral” and allow major water projects to advance. On the contrary, what’s needed is an adult regulator that will make hard choices that water users refuse to make.

For at least five years, the state and various water users have postponed balancing the state’s water budget by promising a grand bargain. This promised new grand bargain is not the solution to the aptly named “culture of deferral.” The grand bargain is the current center of deferral.

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Another Washington Dam Removal — and 37 More Miles of Salmon Habitat Restored

August 6, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Seattle Timesby Lynda V. Mapes

PILCHUCK RIVER, near Granite Falls, Snohomish County — Washington’s dam-busting summer is still rolling, with two more dams coming down on the Pilchuck River, opening 37 miles of habitat to salmon for the first time in more than a century.

The $2 million dam removal project is a collaboration between the City of Snohomish and Tulalip Tribes, and will benefit multiple species of salmon, including threatened chinook salmon, crucial food for endangered southern resident killer whales.

It’s the state’s second dam teardown project in two months. In July, the city of Bellingham blew up its Nooksack Diversion Dam on the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River, opening 16 miles of habitat for salmon, including chinook.

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Agency Throws Curveball in Largest U.S. Dam Demolition Plan

July 17, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Associated Press by Gillian Flaccus

Federal regulators on Thursday threw a significant curveball at a coalition that has been planning for years to demolish four massive hydroelectric dams on a river along the Oregon-California border to save salmon populations that have dwindled to almost nothing.

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Opinion: Keep Momentum Going to Remove Klamath River Dams and Restore Salmon Runs

May 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /CalMattersby Frankie Myers

With the outbreak of COVID-19, many Americans are starting to realize how fragile our economy and social safety nets really are.

Many people face economic uncertainty and food shortages for the first time in their lives. For Indians, confronting economic uncertainty and food shortages has been part of life since Europeans arrived in our lands. We have known for a long time that in order to survive, we must prioritize the protection of our salmon, acorns, mushrooms, eels and the hundreds of other sources of food and fiber in our environment.

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Delta Blues: The Battle over Water has been Fought to a Standstill

May 5, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Comstock's Magazineby Eric Johnson

The state had been wrestling with the problem for 15 years, and there were hopes it was about to get pinned to the mat. A decade and a half of meetings, lawyerly and political negotiations, and massive public input had led the State Water Resources Control Board to the brink of a momentous decision: California must leave a lot more water in its rivers and streams in order to save the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay.

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Opinion: California and Federal Government Need to Resolve Differences on Water Supply Issues

April 30, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /CalMattersby Mike Wade

Re “California water war re-ignited”; Dan Walters, April 20, 2020, CalMatters

Dan Walters’ column does a good job describing a potential water battle that all Californians should want to avoid.

The COVID-19 pandemic has rendered uncertain many things we used to take for granted. When can we next go to a restaurant, plan a vacation or go to a baseball game? We can’t afford to add to that list, “will there be food at the grocery store?” Our food supply has been one of the few things we’ve been able to count on in recent months and we need that to continue.

California State Water Board Approves Key Permits for KRRC Dam Removal

April 9, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Herald and Newsby Herald and News

The State Water Board on Tuesday, April 7 issued key documents that move the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) significantly closer to removing four dams and re-opening 360 miles of the Klamath River and its tributaries to imperiled salmon, according to a news release.

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Opinion: From the Pumps to Courtrooms, Trump’s Water Boost is Making Waves

April 9, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Joaquin Valley Sunby Wayne Western, Jr.

How radical are our state leaders and environmentalists in regards to California water? Very.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Dale Drozd, an Obama appointee, denied a temporary restraining order on Delta pumping sought by a cavalry of usual suspects.

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Opinion: What Gov. Gavin Newsom Needs to Do to Protect State’s Water Future

April 6, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicleby George Miller

Today, responding to a global pandemic is every governor’s top priority. When we emerge from this crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom will face a challenge to ensure California’s future economic and environmental health. In this context, his water policies will represent critical decisions. Along with public health, jobs, energy, transportation, education, housing and fire protection, water is a compulsory gubernatorial priority.

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Opinion: Collaboration is the Answer to California’s Fishery and Water Supply Challenges

April 6, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /CalMattersby Roger Cornwell

California has the opportunity to enter a new era in water management. Unprecedented efforts by leaders at the state and national level have led to the kind of cooperation that will provide valuable benefits to water users and the environment.

I know because that’s what we’ve been doing in the Sacramento Valley for many years. The kinds of success we’ve achieved can be replicated in other parts of the state. By working together, we can accomplish much more than can ever be achieved when competing interests are fighting.

California’s current water regulatory system is completely broken. Farms, towns and cities suffer continued cutbacks and threatened fish species continue to dwindle. The only recourse currently available seems to be an ongoing parade of lawsuits that further paralyze the system and help no one.

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