Category: Delta tunnel

Court Rejects State’s Attempt to Disqualify Sacramento & Stockton’s Lawyers in Delta Tunnel Fight

~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ Leave a comment

On March 27, 2026, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto denied the California Department of Water Resources' motion to disqualify Somach Simmons & Dunn, the law firm that has represented the County of Sacramento, City of Stockton, and other local agencies in Delta Conveyance litigation since 2007. DWR's motion, supported by some 5,000 pages of … Continue reading Court Rejects State’s Attempt to Disqualify Sacramento & Stockton’s Lawyers in Delta Tunnel Fight

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

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

Delta Independent Science Board requests extension on Delta tunnel Draft EIR comments

~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ 1 Comment

On September 2, 2022, Lisa Wainger, the new Chair of the Delta Independent Science Board, sent a letter to the Department of Water Resources Director, Karla Nemeth, asking for a 30 day extension of time to comment on the Delta Conveyance Project Draft EIR. The DISB Chair's letter gave the following reasons for asking for … Continue reading Delta Independent Science Board requests extension on Delta tunnel Draft EIR comments

Delta tunnel — Inconvenient truths about sea level rise and salinity intrusion

Polar ice sheet melting
~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ 2 Comments

The Delta tunnel Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) has a new Sea Level Rise Study in Technical Appendix 5A-F. The study was done with Bay-Delta SCHISM, a 3-D hydrodynamic model of the San Francisco Bay and Delta. The new SCHISM study has limitations, in that it assumes that Delta levees are raised to keep up … Continue reading Delta tunnel — Inconvenient truths about sea level rise and salinity intrusion

Consideration of climate change in the Delta tunnel project

~ Deirdre Des Jardins ~ 1 Comment

The Department of Water Resources will be holding a webinar on consideration of climate change for the Delta tunnel project on August 25, 2021.  The following discussion is from my testimony in 2016 for Part 1A of the WaterFix Water Right Change Petition hearing. It explains some key problems with the consideration of shifts in … Continue reading Consideration of climate change in the Delta tunnel project