Central Valley Water Plan Gets A Changeup From Federal Government

KQED, San Francisco’s PBS affiliate, reports that the Trump Administration’s plan for diverting Delta water to Central Valley farmers, which has gotten plenty of opposition from conservationists,  has created new controversy.

Here’s KQED’s Lauren Sommer with more on a new panel will evaluate the situation as both farmers and environmentalists debate how to allocate the water rights:

Just days before federal biologists were set to release new rules governing the future of endangered salmon and drinking water for two-thirds of Californians, the administration replaced them with an almost entirely new group of lawyers, administrators and biologists to “refine” and “improve” the rules, according to an email obtained by KQED.

Environmental groups said the Department of the Interior is interfering with the science and that bringing in a new team to re-write the scientific documents was, to their knowledge, unprecedented.

“This is an outrageous assault on California’s fish and wildlife, and the thousands of fishing jobs that depend on their health,” said Doug Obegi of the Natural Resources Defense Council.