VOL.39 • ISS. 20
Sept 25, 2020
25
Reclamation Announces
Extension of Shasta
Dam Raise Comment
Period to Oct. 5
T
he Bureau of Reclamation
today announced a “virtual
open” house website for the controversial
Shasta Dam raise proposal
EIS, officially known as the Shasta
Lake Water Resources Investigation
Draft Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement, Additionally, the
public comment period is extended
to October 5 to allow more time for
public engagement.
Go to: http://www.virtualpublicengagement.com/usbr_shasta/index.
html.
Reclamation has been pushing the
dam raise proposal for years to deliver
more Sacramento River water to the
Westlands Water District and other
corporate agribusiness interests in the
San Joaquin Valley. The Winnemem
Wintu Tribe, other California Tribes,
environmental groups and fishing
organizations are opposing the
proposal because it would result in the
destruction of imperiled salmon and
steelhead populations and result in the
inundation of the remaining sacred
cultural sites of the Winnemem Wintu.
In an enormous conflict of interest
David Bernhardt, the Secretary of
Interior, is a former lobbyist for the
Westlands Water District, the main
proponent of the dam raise proposal.
“Website visitors will be able to
learn more about the project, review
summaries of Draft Supplemental EIS
chapters, and submit comments,” the
Bureau announcement claimed.
Reclamation released the Draft
Supplemental EIS in accordance with
the National Environmental Policy
Act on August 6. The report includes
updated project information relevant
to Clean Water Act 404(r), revised
modeling reflective of operational
changes from the 2019 Biological
Opinions, and updated analysis on
effects to the McCloud River. The
original 45-day comment period is
extended by two weeks and will close
on October 5.
Providing irrigation water to the
Westlands Water District and other
corporate agribusiness interests so
By Dan Bacher
they can grow almonds and other
crops for export “is the sole purpose
of exporting more water that the
north state cannot afford to ship from
mountain streams and rivers,” said
Caleen Sisk, Chief of the Winnemem
Wintu Tribe. “Especially when
there are no efforts to help maintain
the high mountain streams, rivers,
meadows, and trees. You have already
taken all that can be taken without
now DRYING UP the source. Get rich
some other way!”
The dam raise, in conjunction with
the construction of Sites Reservoir,
would not only sacrifice water,
salmon and the Delta to the greed
of agribusiness barons, according
to dam raise and Sites Reservoir
opponents. The dam raise would
also inundate or impact sacred sites
integral to the Winnemem Wintu’s
culture and history. Sites that would
be flooded include Children’s Rock
and Puberty Rock, vital sacred sites
for the Winnemem Wintu’s Puberty
Ceremony for young women.
The Winnemem Wintu, who held
war dances at Shasta Dam against the
raising of dam in 2004 and then again
in 2014, call the dam raise a “Weapon
of Mass Desecration.”
“How would you feel if someone
was coming to burn down your
house, everyone knew it was going
to happen, but no one — not even
the people who are supposed to
protect you — cared enough to stop
it,” said Marine Sisk, Chief Caleen
Sisk’s daughter, on Winnemem sacred
sites that would be drowned by the
proposed raise of Shasta Dam.
The Draft Supplemental EIS is
available at: https://www.usbr.gov/
mp/nepa/nepa_project_details.
php?Project_ID=1915. Submit
comments by close of business on
October 5 to David Brick, Bureau
of Reclamation, CGB-152, 2800
Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825,
via telephone at 916-202-7158
(TTY 1-800-877-8339); via email at
dbrick@usbr.gov; or via the virtual
open house website.
Army Corps Posts Public Notice for Delta Tunnel Permit
n August 20, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers Sacramento ODistrict posted the public notice for
a key permit required by the Gavin
Newsom Administration to build the
controversial Delta Tunnel under the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta:
www.spk.usace.army.mil/Media/
RegulatoryPublicNotices.aspx.
You can sign this petition to register
your opposition to the permit; http://
chng.it/5RvrRMy5
In spite of massive opposition from a
wide array of Californians, the California
Department of Water Resources
(DWR) has applied for this permit to
place dredged and fill material and/or
work in waters of the U.S., resulting in
“permanent impacts to approximately
247.44 acres of waters, temporarily
impacts to 87.17 acres of waters, and
subsurface crossings under 16.88
acres of navigable waters,” according
to the Corps.
The Corps used the following
paragraph to describe the Delta
Tunnel project: “The applicant would
construct two water intakes and
setback levees along the Sacramento
River, 14 underground waterway
crossings, including the Stockton
Deep Water Ship Channel (SDWSC),
thirteen tunnel shafts, a barge landing
in the SDWSC, construction of south
forebay facilities and connection to
the existing State Water Project (SWP)
Banks Intake Canal,” the Corps stated.
Also on August 20, a report released
at the Delta Conveyance Design and
Construction Authority (DCA) on-line
meeting revealed that the cost estimate
for Governor Gavin Newsom’s Delta
Tunnel is up to $15.9 billion.
The estimate is based on a single
tunnel with a total capacity of 6,000
cfs. with two intakes of 3,000 cfs.
The project would feature 42 miles
of tunnels and associated shafts,
Southern Complex Facilities with
a Pump Station and Forebay, and
connections to the existing California
Aqueduct of the State Water Project
(SWP).
A large coalition of recreational and
commercial fishermen, Tribal leaders,
scientists, subsistence fishermen,
family farmers, Delta business
owners, boaters, environmental justice
advocates, Southern California water
ratepayers, elected officials and the
people of California strongly opposed
the Delta Tunnel.
If built, critics say the project will
hasten the extinction of winter and
spring run Chinook salmon, Central
Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin
smelt and other state and federal
listed fish species. The enormously
expensive project would also imperil
the salmon and steelhead populations
on the Trinity and Klamath rivers that
the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley
tribes have been fishing for since time
immemorial.
Regina Chichizola, co-director of
Save California Salmon, criticized the
Newsom Administration for collaborating
with the Trump Administration
to build the environmentally destructive
Delta Tunnel in the midst of the
global coronavirus pandemic.
“That Gavin Newsom and California
Natural Resources Secretary Wade
Crowfoot are working with Trump to
push this through during a pandemic,
while many of the people that will be
impacted can’t engage, shows disrespect
for Native Americans and other
rural and salmon dependent communities,”
emphasized Chichizola.
”The Trump/Newsom alliance
to divert, store and export more of
our river’s water is clear, since this
comment period is also scheduled
during the Shasta Dam Raise federal
comment period. Neither project will
have any public hearings. It is time
to kill these terrible water stealing
projects,” stated Chichizola.
The approximately 4,565-acre
project site is located in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta, from the
Sacramento River (latitude 38.38531°,
longitude -121.51519°) approximately
45 miles to the existing south Delta
pumping facilities (latitude 37.81358°,
longitude -121.60311°), within Sacramento,
San Joaquin, Contra Costa, and
Alameda Counties, California.
SUBMITTING COMMENTS:
Written comments, referencing Public
Notice SPK-2019-00899 must be
submitted to the office listed below on
or before October 20, 2020.
Zachary Simmons, Project Manager
US Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento
District 1325 J Street, Room
1350 Sacramento, California 95814-
2922 Email: Zachary.M.Simmons@
usace.army.mil
The Corps says it “is particularly
interested in receiving comments
related to the proposal’s probable
impacts on the affected aquatic environment
and the secondary and cumulative
effects. Anyone may request,
in writing, that a public hearing be
held to consider this application.
Requests shall specifically state, with
particularity, the reason(s) for holding
a public hearing. If the Corps determines
that the information received in
response to this notice is inadequate
for thorough evaluation, a public
hearing may be warranted. If a public
hearing is warranted, interested parties
will be notified of the time, date, and
location. Please note that all comment
letters received are subject to release
to the public through the Freedom of
Information Act.”
If you have questions or need
additional information please contact
the applicant or the Corps’ project
manager Zachary Simmons, (916)
557-6746, Zachary.M.Simmons@
usace.army.mil.