In July 2024, the Bureau of Reclamation released a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the long-term operation of the Central Valley Project (CVP) and the State Water Project (SWP) for public comment. The draft document considers revised operations of dams, power plants, and related facilities of the Central Valley Project and Delta facilities of the State Water Project. (More on these documents here.)
Twelve California GOP representatives have written the Bureau of Reclamation, NOAA Fisheries, and US Fish & Wildlife Service, expressing concerns that the preferred alternative analyzed in the documents inappropriately prioritizes environmental goals unrelated to Endangered Species Act compliance at the expense of municipal and agricultural water supplies. They point out that the water projects were constructed for multiple purposes such as irrigation and drinking water, and neither state nor federal law makes the delivery of water for consumptive uses subordinate to environmental uses.
The letter states,
“[T]he current proposed operational approach makes delivering water for consumptive uses, including irrigation, subordinate to the use of water for the protection, restoration, and enhancement of protected fish species in the Delta. We believe the preferred operations (Alternative 2b) evaluated in the Draft EIS LTO on the CVP and SWP are structured to protect native fish species with limited balance to the impacts on the delivery capability of either the CVP or SWP and the associated water supply shortages that will be imposed on the communities reliant on water provided by the Projects. The preferred alternative ignores the equal statutory priority of water use for consumptive purposes and the contractual obligations to optimize deliveries and guard against conditions of shortage.
Moreover, the proposed operations include actions to limit CVP operations that are intended to enable the SWP’s compliance with the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). This state law does not apply to operations of the federal CVP. More importantly, at least some of these actions, such as the FallX2 component of the Summer Fall Habitat Action, are not anticipated to have observable effects on species survival, yet they result in significant water supply reductions. …
The letter also states the proposed operations may violate state and federal laws and that the agencies are rushing to finish the documents and associated biological opinions before the end of the year for ‘transparently political reasons.’
Signatories to the letter: David G. Valadao, John Duarte, Ken Calvert, Jay Obernolte, Young Kim, Vince Fong, Mike Garcia, Tom McClintock, Darell Issa, Michelle Steel, Dough LaMalfa, and Kevin Kiley.
