After passing the House last week, H.R. 23, San Joaquin Valley Republican David Valadao’s “Gaining Responsibility on Water” Act was received by the Senate this week. This bill would prevent California from managing its own rivers, fisheries, and public trust resources – even going so far as to specifically prohibit the application of the Endangered … Read more
H.R. 23 Would Preempt California State Water Law & Supersede Federal, State Environmental Statutes Quite understandably, the attention of the media, environmental organizations and the general public has been focused on the myriad misadventures of the Trump Administration, now rumbling and stumbling through its fifth month. And, as recounted on Legal Planet since mid-January, those contretemps include … Read more
In 1967, the US Army Corps of Engineers unveiled a proposal to construct the largest dam and reservoir project in California’s history: the so-called “Dos Rios Dam” on the Middle Fork of the Eel. In addition to being 730-feet-high, the dam would have flooded a 40,000-acre area for its reservoir, equal in size to the Shasta and Oroville reservoirs combined.