The letter encourages the State’s effort to require the Trump Administration to comply with federal and California law
From the Office of Jerry McNerney:
Today, Congressman Jerry McNerney (CA-09) led a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Xavier Becerra alongside Representatives Jared Huffman, Raúl M. Grijalva, Alan Lowenthal, Mike Thompson, and Doris Matsui, expressing support for the State’s legal challenge to the Trump Administration’s scientifically unsound biological opinions for water project operations in the Bay-Delta.In the letter, the Members wrote, “We strongly agree with your Administration’s determination that the Trump Administration’s 2019 biological opinions ‘are not scientifically adequate and fall short of protecting species and the state’s interests.’ That conclusion is consistent with the findings of independent scientific peer reviews of the biological opinions and whistleblowers from federal agencies who publicly disclosed the National Marine Fisheries Services’ July 1, 2019 biological opinion, which concluded that these proposed operations jeopardize the continued existence of endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead in the Bay-Delta.”
The Members continued, “Congress has previously empowered the State of California to require the operations of the [Central Valley Project] to comply with State law, which includes the requirements of the California Endangered Species Act. No one should be above the law. Exempting the CVP from these requirements is unfair to other water users and harms the environment – and the many California communities and thousands of jobs that depend on it.”
A full copy of the letter can be found here.
