Stretched Thin: Protestant Attorneys Face Overlapping Delta Conveyance Project Hearings

~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ Leave a comment

The week of February 23-27 presents attorneys representing Delta communities with an impossible calendar. The State Water Board's Delta Conveyance Project water rights hearing has added February 23, 24, and 25 as hearing days. The Delta Stewardship Council has scheduled its appeal hearing on DWR's certification of consistency with the Delta Plan for February 26 … Continue reading Stretched Thin: Protestant Attorneys Face Overlapping Delta Conveyance Project Hearings

DWR’s Selective Conflict: It Applies in Court, But Not Before the Agencies

~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ Leave a comment

On Monday, February 9, 2026, Administrative Hearing Officer Nicole Kuenzi denied Somach Simmons & Dunn's motion to stay the Delta Conveyance Project water rights hearing pending resolution of DWR's disqualification motion in Sacramento Superior Court. The hearing will continue as scheduled, with most of the protestants' rebuttal case likely to conclude before the March 20 … Continue reading DWR’s Selective Conflict: It Applies in Court, But Not Before the Agencies

Court Grants Stay in Delta Conveyance CEQA Cases — Judge Questions DWR’s Position

~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ Leave a comment

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto today granted Somach Simmons & Dunn’s motion to stay the consolidated Delta Conveyance Project CEQA cases through March 27, 2026. He set a hearing on DWR’s motion to disqualify the firm as counsel for Sacramento County and the City of Stockton for March 20, 2026. From the bench, … Continue reading Court Grants Stay in Delta Conveyance CEQA Cases — Judge Questions DWR’s Position

State Tries to Sideline Sacramento & Stockton’s Lawyers — Court Hears Stay Request

~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ Leave a comment

On January 23, 2026, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) filed a motion in Sacramento County Superior Court seeking to disqualify the law firm of Somach Simmons & Dunn, longtime counsel for the County of Sacramento, the City of Stockton, in three of the ten consolidated cases challenging DWR’s approvals of the Delta Conveyance … Continue reading State Tries to Sideline Sacramento & Stockton’s Lawyers — Court Hears Stay Request

Response to Jay Lund’s “Nine California Water Rites”

~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ 2 Comments

Jay Lund published a clever satire of California water rhetoric today, and he's right that policy-based evidence-making occurs in our water debates. I worked with Jay and other Delta Independent Science Board members in 2021 to save the Delta Independent Science Board from defunding, and I value his truthtelling. But Jay's framing misses something critical … Continue reading Response to Jay Lund’s “Nine California Water Rites”

Delta Stewardship Council attempting to empower Chair to “limit or preclude” oral comments at meetingsp

Save the California Delta Alliance members and bus
~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ Leave a comment

Save the California Delta Alliance members chartered a bus to the 2017 Delta Stewardship Council meeting considering adoption of regulations amending the Delta Plan to incorporate Delta Conveyance. On Thursday, May 22, the Delta Stewardship Council is planning to adopt regulations on public participation in council meetings. The draft regulations include the following: Section 5000.15. … Continue reading Delta Stewardship Council attempting to empower Chair to “limit or preclude” oral comments at meetingsp

Hearing Officer Blocks DWR’s Attempt to Maintain “Inchoate Right to Object” to Delta Conveyance Proceeding

~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ Leave a comment

In what may be the most significant California water rights proceeding since Decision 1275 granted the original State Water Project permits in 1967, Hearing Officer Nicole L. Kuenzi has issued a procedural ruling to protect the integrity of the Delta Conveyance Project hearing process. The May 2, 2025 ruling directly addresses the Department of Water … Continue reading Hearing Officer Blocks DWR’s Attempt to Maintain “Inchoate Right to Object” to Delta Conveyance Proceeding

History: Water Board ruled against delaying twin tunnels CPOD hearing for Bay-Delta Plan update

~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ Leave a comment

In 2015, the Department of Water Resources filed a petition for Change in Point of Diversion with the State Water Resources Control Board for the WaterFix / twin tunnels project. Environmental, fishing, and Delta groups strongly protested the Water Board proceeding with the hearing before the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan Update. But the Hearing … Continue reading History: Water Board ruled against delaying twin tunnels CPOD hearing for Bay-Delta Plan update

Comments to the NAS Panel on Review of the Long-Term Operations of the CVP and SWP

Observed vs modeled Tropical Pacific warming patterns
~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ 2 Comments

Good afternoon, committee members. My name is Deirdre Des Jardins.  I’m a consultant to the Institute for Fisheries Resources and the Pacific Coast Federations of Fishermen’s Associations on climate change and modeling, as well as the Director of California Water Research. My research background is in nonlinear dynamics and complex systems theory. I did research … Continue reading Comments to the NAS Panel on Review of the Long-Term Operations of the CVP and SWP

Governor’s new salmon strategy ignores existing biological goals

Picture of a Chinook salmon leaping
~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ 1 Comment

Governor Newsom's new salmon strategy breathlessly commits to the following: By 2025, begin to use biological indicators, referred to as biological goals, to inform decision making during implementation of the updated Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan. (SWRCB). But biological goals for salmon have been part of the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan since the 1995 … Continue reading Governor’s new salmon strategy ignores existing biological goals