From the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance:
Three California environmental nonprofits secured a landmark settlement agreement with the California State Water Resources Control Board to uphold the common law Public Trust Doctrine and other legal protections for imperiled fish species in the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay/Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta Estuary.
The lawsuit, filed in 2015 by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (“CSPA”), the California Water Impact Network (“CWIN”), and AquAlliance, brought sweeping claims against the State Water Board. It alleged that the agency’s management of the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay-Delta displayed an overarching pattern and practice of:
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- failure to comply with the Public Trust Doctrine;
- failure to implement Sacramento River temperature management requirements;
- failure to ensure that fish below dams be maintained in “good condition”; and
- acceptance of water quality below minimum Clean Water Act standards.
“The Water Board’s long-standing pattern and practice of inadequately implementing
foundational environmental laws has brought the Central Valley aquatic ecosystem to the brink
of collapse. This settlement agreement is a major step forward, compelling the State Water
Board to fulfill crucial legal requirements it had previously ignored,” said Bill Jennings, CSPA
Executive Director.
Read/download the full press release below:
CSPA et al PP Settlement Press Release 21July20
