From the San Francisco Baykeeper:
Yesterday, the California Water Resources Control Board (Board) issued a new draft of its water rights permit for the proposed Sites Reservoir project. The project plan consists of two major dams that would form a reservoir north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for the purpose of diverting large volumes of fresh water out of the watershed. The main proponents of the project are corporate agriculture interests and water utilities in Southern California.
In March of this year, the Board’s Administrative Hearing Office (AHO) sided with the Sites Project developers, granting their request for a new water right, but required compliance with numerous conditions designed to better protect fish, wildlife, and water quality to reduce the environmental harms the project would cause. The AHO judge made this decision following an extensive two-year hearing process, including 34 days of testimony and cross-examination of 60 witnesses, a two-day site visit, and over 1,600 exhibits…