KPFK News Interview with C-WIN Director Carolee Krieger

KPFK News Talks to Carolee Krieger about the implications of the recent settlement agreement with the State Water Board

This interview aired on July 30, 2020

Transcript:

KPFK: The settlement stems from a 2015 lawsuit when a trio of environmental and fishing groups sued the State Water Board, arguing the agency failed to provide sufficient water flows to sustain a healthy ecosystem for imperiled fish. The complaint centered on the Public Trust Doctrine, a common law principle dating back to the Roman Empire it requires the State to use natural resources for the benefit of all people. After 5 years of litigation, the Water Board acquiesced, and is agreeing to consider that principle in making water allocation decisions. Carolee Krieger is Director of the California Water Impact Network, one of the groups that brought the legal action:

Carolee Krieger: “There must be a consideration given to the non-market public trust resources, and in this case it’s clean, free-flowing rivers, it’s healthy fish, it’s healthy birds, it’s a healthy environment that we all as residents of California have a public trust vested interest in. The water belongs to the people, it doesn’t belong to anybody else.”

KPFK: The suit blamed the State Water Board for also ignoring California Fish and Game Code Section 5937 which protects fish living below dams. Ground zero is Shasta Dam in Northern California, where maintaining a livable water temperature in the Sacramento River for spawning salmon is critical to their survival. That decision prompted the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance to join forces with the AquAlliance and Krieger’s group, the California Water Impact Network in filing the suit.

CK: “At the height of the drought, in 2014, the State Water Board started to issue these…what are called ‘Temporary Urgency Change Petitions”, and what that means is that they were changing the salinity requirements in the water, they were lowering them so that they could pump more water even though it had more salt in it and what that does is that it harms the environment.”

KPFK: The Water Boards decision increased salinity and elevated water temperatures in the Sacramento River and proved catastrophic for the struggling salmon population. Krieger says the settlement will now require the water board to take environmental protection more seriously in making decisions about the amount and timing of water releases from reservoirs. 

CK: “It’s really important that the State Water Resources Control Board, which is the state agency that the fiduciary responsibility, duty, to grant and revoke water rights permits, starts to really consider what’s really there and to give the environment an economic value so that it has a seat at the table when all these water rights are being claimed by the various agencies and private individuals.”

KPFK: Carolee Krieger contends the Water Resources Control Board will soon have a chance to demonstrate it’s allegiance to the Public Trust Doctrine and the state’s environmental rules when they evaluate the Bay-Delta flow requirements for the Sacramento River in creating the state’s long-term water plan. The Water Board will also be put to the test during the next drought, when water contractors could again apply pressure to lower the salinity and temperature standards in order to get more water.

Vic Bedoian reporting for KPFA News and KFCK in Fresno.

Related:

Settlement Announcement Press Release

A PDF of the Lawsuit Settlement Agreement

A PDF of the Complaint