<html><head></head><body><div class="ydp4ea000ddyahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"> <div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><h2 style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;vertical-align:baseline;">Ron Stork, FOR: <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">"The Trump victory and
presidency," he said, "let people in Reclamation begin to experience
their inner Reclamation — like it's the '40s and '50s."</span></span><br><span style="font-size:13.5pt;color:#6D9230;text-transform:uppercase;"></span></h2><h2 style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;vertical-align:baseline;"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;color:#6D9230;text-transform:uppercase;">INFRASTRUCTURE</span></h2>
<h1 style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:22.5pt;color:black;">Trump's 'QAnon of water projects': Destined for death?</span></h1>
<p class="ydpa4d46fb8yiv4283921218MsoNormal"><span class="ydpa4d46fb8yiv4283921218authors"><span style="font-size: 9pt; border-color: windowtext; border-style: none; border-width: 1pt; padding: 0in;"><a href="https://www.eenews.net/staff/Jeremy_P_Jacobs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:#555555;">Jeremy P. Jacobs</span></a>, E&E News reporter</span></span></p>
<p class="ydpa4d46fb8yiv4283921218MsoNormal">Published: Thursday, December 3, 2020</p>
<div class="ydpa4d46fb8img-preview-wrapper"><img style="width: 100%; max-width: 800px;" id="ydpa4d46fb8yiv4283921218Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:4Vf3dNh6PQ7bGBrz2hSG" class="ydpa4d46fb8preview" border="0"><span class="ydpa4d46fb8img-dl-btn"></span></div><p class="ydpa4d46fb8yiv4283921218caption" style="margin-right:3.75pt;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:3.75pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;vertical-align:baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-color: windowtext; border-style: none; border-width: 1pt; padding: 0in;">After
the Trump administration announced it would move ahead with raising the
Shasta Dam about 18.5 feet, California officials and conservationists
have a message of their
own: Not so fast. </span><span class="ydpa4d46fb8yiv4283921218credit"><span style="font-size: 8.5pt; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-color: windowtext; border-style: none; border-width: 1pt; padding: 0in;">Walter Bibikow / DanitaDelimont.com Danita Delimont Photography/Newscom</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">The Trump
administration made a splash last month announcing it was moving ahead
with enlarging one of California's largest dams to provide the
drought-stricken state's farmers more water.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">But state officials and conservationists have another message for the outgoing administration: Not so fast.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">The Bureau of
Reclamation on Nov. 20 finished its environmental review of raising the
600-foot Shasta Dam in Northern California by 18.5 feet. It would be the
Trump administration's largest
water infrastructure project, expanding one of the country's biggest
reservoirs by more than 200 billion gallons.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">The highly publicized
announcement, however, led some state officials to scratch their heads
and others to laugh out loud. Opponents say the project is likely
illegal, would require congressional
backing and lacks the appropriate permits. Beyond that, the
billion-dollar price tag will set a high hurdle, and the clock is
running out before the incoming Biden administration takes control.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">"This is the QAnon of
water projects, meaning it's laughably infeasible and just not real,"
said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.). "And yet, the hardcore supporters
just won't let it die."</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">Huffman also <a href="https://twitter.com/JaredHuffman/status/1333850071167746048?s=20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b><span style="color:#990000;">signaled</span></b></a> on
Twitter last night that House Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a major proponent of the project, is
threatening the government funding bill currently under consideration
over a rider related to the Shasta effort.</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">McCarthy's office did not respond to a request for comment at press time.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Shasta Dam impounds the largest
reservoir in California. Its water is funneled into the federal Central
Valley Project, which ships water from the wetter northern part of the
state to its drier south.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Enlarging the dam has long been a
priority for the state's farmers, including the influential Westlands
Water District, the largest irrigation water provider in the country and
a former lobbying client of Interior Secretary David
Bernhardt.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">California Republicans touted the project's benefits in the administration's announcement.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">"Raising Shasta Dam is critical to
helping improve drought resiliency in the state of California, as it
will provide more water for people, fish and the environment," McCarthy
said. "This project is a win all around."</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">But <span style="background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">
Huffman and conservationists pointed out that one important piece of
information was missing from the release: The project is illegal under
California law.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">That's because the new
reservoir behind an enlarged dam would inundate the McCloud River,
which is protected by the state's wild and scenic rivers statute.</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">"They are going to have to invent some
story that they have permission from Congress to do that," said Ron
Stork of the Sacramento-based Friends of the River.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman said the project is the most straightforward solution to the state's water woes.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">"Raising Shasta Dam is one of the smartest and most cost-effective opportunities we have before us," she said in the statement.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">But Stork said
Reclamation would need explicit authorization from Congress for several
reasons. First, raising the dam would require permits under the Clean
Water Act, which would be issued
by the state. As it stands now, the state couldn't issue those permits
because of the wild and scenic rivers law.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">California Attorney
General Xavier Becerra (D) referenced that in recent comments on the
plan in October. He called the gambit a "poorly-cloaked move to evade
the Clean Water Act."</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">If Reclamation were to get past that requirement, other hurdles remain.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">There is also a state
water rights issue. And under a 2016 law, the Water Infrastructure
Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act, Reclamation needs a local
cost-sharing partner; Reclamation
cannot pay for the whole project, which would cost at least $1.3
billion.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">So far, Reclamation doesn't have one,</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;"> and it's unclear whether any water district can sign on because of the state's opposition. Westlands stepped away
from studying the project last year after Becerra sued it (<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1061497817/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><em><b><span style="font-family: sans-serif; color: rgb(153, 0, 0); border-color: windowtext; border-style: none; border-width: 1pt; padding: 0in;">E&E News PM</span></b></em></a>, Nov.
8, 2019).</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Reclamation would have to "just wave
their hands about that they don't have a cost-sharing partner," Stork
said. "They need to make some wild-ass, twisted interpretation to get
around that."</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">There is also a timing issue — including the incoming Biden administration.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Under the National Environmental Policy
Act, Reclamation must wait 30 days from when it issued the announcement
on Nov. 20 until finalizing the record of decision, the next step before
any construction could begin.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">That would push the effort into late December, with only weeks until President-elect Joe Biden takes office.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Asked about timing for next steps,
Reclamation said in an emailed statement that it is "continuing to work
on this high priority project and will provide an update in the coming
weeks."</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">Huffman, the chairman
of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and
Wildlife, said Reclamation seems to be using an "if they build it, they
will come" approach to the project.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">"Reclamation has been
way ahead of its actual legal authorization on this project," he said.
"And they seem to be counting on leading Congress by the nose and
somehow get permission to preempt
California law to build a project that is illegal and has no sponsor."</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">John McManus of the Golden Gate Salmon
Association questioned the timing and the effort behind the release,
especially since it didn't come out until post-Election Day — after it
could have given California Republicans a political
boost.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">"The question might be, why did they even bother with this?" he said.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Stork, of Friends of the River,
speculated that perhaps the Trump administration is trying to play a
long game, setting the table in case Republicans take back control of
the House in 2022 or 2024.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;">But he also said the effort is
indicative of how Reclamation has returned to a mindset in the Trump
administration not seen since the middle of the 20th century, when it
was building dams across the West.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;outline:0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">"The Trump victory and
presidency," he said, "let people in Reclamation begin to experience
their inner Reclamation — like it's the '40s and '50s."</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;"></span></p>
<p class="ydpa4d46fb8yiv4283921218MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; border-color: windowtext; border-style: none; border-width: 1pt; padding: 0in;">Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/GreenwireJeremy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b><span style="color:#6D9230;">@GreenwireJeremy</span></b></a>Email: <a href="mailto:jjacobs@eenews.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b><span style="color:#6D9230;">jjacobs@eenews.net</span></b></a></span></p></div><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>