Gov. Gavin Newsom touts controversial water projects as defense against climate change
Gov. Gavin Newsom touted his administration’s plans Tuesday to build the first reservoir in decades in Northern California as the solution to maintaining the state’s water supply as extreme weather becomes a more regular occurrence.
Newsom spoke at Davis Ranches in Colusa, near the site of the planned Sites Reservoir in Maxwell. The governor argued the planned water storage project is critical to maintaining supply as drought becomes more common.
He fast-tracked the $4.5 billion project via legislation passed last year that expedites legal challenges filed under the Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
“We now want to expand that streamlining…to ground water replenishment as well,” Newsom said Tuesday. “It’s about above groundwater, and we’re going to get Sites done, and we’re going to continue to advocate for federal resources.”
He called the reservoir’s construction a “critical” part of the state’s climate adaptation strategy, citing the Malibu Franklin wildfire, which began Monday and had engulfed 1,300 acres as of Tuesday morning.
The Sites Reservoir would divert water from the Sacramento River by flooding almost 14,000 acres of ranchland in Glenn and Colusa counties via a system of dams, pipelines and a bridge.
Environmental groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club say it would threaten fish populations and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta’s ecosystem.
The courts sided with the state after a host of environmental groups filed legal challenges last summer. On Tuesday, the Golden State Salmon Association became the latest to criticize the state’s “destructive and failed water policies.”
“We are in the second consecutive year of a salmon fishing season shutdown because our rivers lack the cold water flows fish need to survive,” executive director Scott Artis said in a statement. “Proposed solutions are 1950s-style water projects that will divert even more water from already suffering rivers – obliterating the salmon fishing industry, thousands of small businesses, and tens of thousands of families.”
The state must still obtain myriad federal and state permits before it can break ground on the reservoir, prompting Newsom to call for the White House’s support.
“Donald Trump, this is your kind of project,” he said. A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Newsom also heralded the awarding of $141 million for the $20 billion Delta Conveyance tunnel project as a “major milestone” in a statement. At the Colusa press conference, he admitted he was not hopeful the project would break ground before he left office in 2027, but that he was “committed” to removing “as many barriers as I can.”
“This project, if it’s not completed, we will pay a huge price,” Newsom told reporters.
The Metropolitan Water District for Southern California later voted Tuesday afternoon to approve the funding for project, which would create a 45-mile tunnel system to divert water from the Sacramento River underneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and through a Tracy pumping station.
This story was originally published December 10, 2024 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Gov. Gavin Newsom touts controversial water projects as defense against climate change."
