<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487389" dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.recordnet.com/news/20161109/what-president-trump-might-mean-for-delta" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487620">http://www.recordnet.com/news/20161109/what-president-trump-might-mean-for-delta</a><br></div><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Oswald, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.33em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.68311em; font-size: 2.75em; display: -webkit-box; max-width: 100%; width: 937.375px; max-height: 4.09em; -webkit-line-clamp: 3; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-align: center;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487595">What 'President Trump' might mean for Delta</h1><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487492"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; color: rgb(104, 104, 104); display: block; font-family: 'Roboto Condensed', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487493">By <span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487494"><a href="mailto:abreitler@recordnet.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; color: rgb(105, 128, 150); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487495">Alex Breitler</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487496">Record Staff Writer<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487497"><span style="color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"><br></span></span></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; display: block; line-height: 20px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487493"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487644">The joke on social media after Donald Trump’s victory early Wednesday was that the tears of liberal Californians would refill the state’s reservoirs and end the drought.</span></span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487500">Since that doesn’t seem to have worked, it’s now a matter of waiting to see what policies the president-elect might push after Inauguration Day.</div><div data-gh-lazy-ad-loaded="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487501"><div data-gh-lazy-ad-bucket-targeting="{"keyword":"Environment,Happening Now,Top Stories","ad-type":"standard","slot":"Base Med Rec","sov":"Base ROS"}" data-dimensions="[300,250]" data-google-query-id="CK22ptfQntACFQR9AQodF8gHBA" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.2138em 0px 1.2138em 1.2138em; width: 300px; min-height: 250px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); float: right; clear: right;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487502"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0pt none; display: inline-block; width: 300px; min-height: 250px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487503"><iframe frameborder="0" src="http://tpc.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-5/html/container.html#xpc=sf-gdn-exp-1&p=http%3A//www.recordnet.com" title="3rd party ad content" name="" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="300" height="250" data-is-safeframe="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487504"></iframe></div></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487505">And on that front, Delta advocates aren’t holding out much hope.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487506">Trump hasn’t said much about California water, but he did <a href="http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/san-joaquin-river-delta/2016/05/31/drought-not-so-easily-defined/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; color: rgb(105, 128, 150); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487507">tell a Fresno audience</a> at a rally in May that there is no drought at all, and that the water that farmers should have received was flushed out to sea in an effort to protect “a certain kind of 3-inch fish,” a reference to the imperiled Delta smelt.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487508">“Believe me, we’re going to start opening up the water so that you can have your farmers survive,” Trump said at the time.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487509">“Opening up the water” implies increasing the volume of water exported south from the Delta, exports that are blamed in part for the long-term decline of the fragile river estuary west of Stockton. The Delta ecosystem suffers from a kind of perpetual drought because more than half of its fresh water historically has been diverted for human use.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487510">On Wednesday, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/trump-energy-team-mike-mckenna-myron-ebell-228672" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; color: rgb(105, 128, 150); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487511">Politico reported</a> that an attorney who represented the Westlands Water District on litigation involving the Delta and the Endangered Species Act will head Trump’s transition team for the new Department of Interior, which oversees federal water and wildlife management in the Delta.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487512">Westlands, the nation’s largest water district, faces frequent water shortages south of the Delta and has used its political clout for many years to lobby for a more reliable share of Delta water.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487513">With Trump in power and a Republican-controlled Congress, the stars could align for an amendment of the Endangered Species Act that could lead to more pumping.</div><div data-gh-lazy-ad-loaded="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487514"><div data-gh-lazy-ad-bucket-targeting="{"keyword":"Environment,Happening Now,Top Stories","ad-type":"standard","slot":"View Plus Med Rec","sov":"Standalone"}" data-dimensions="[300,250]" data-google-query-id="CM71-L3UntACFYZ7YgodSEwJIg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.2138em 0px 1.2138em 1.2138em; width: 300px; min-height: 250px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); float: right; clear: right;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487515"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0pt none; display: inline-block; width: 300px; min-height: 250px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487516"><iframe frameborder="0" src="http://tpc.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-5/html/container.html#xpc=sf-gdn-exp-2&p=http%3A//www.recordnet.com" title="3rd party ad content" name="" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="300" height="250" data-is-safeframe="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487517"></iframe></div></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487518">“If you assume that there’s the possibility of changes in the way that the Endangered Species Act is implemented, or changes in the law itself, then that changes the dynamics of the Delta controversies,” said Barton “Buzz” Thompson, senior fellow with the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487519">The impact on the Delta tunnels is unclear. The tunnels must be permitted by federal agencies before they can be built; a Trump administration could loosen the terms of those permits and may be more inclined to pitch in federal funding, Thompson said.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487520">On the other hand, water users might see relaxation of the endangered species rules as a preferable alternative to paying for the giant tunnels, he said.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487521">The potential for change doesn't stop with the Delta and the tunnels. The federal government also is funding the restoration of the San Joaquin River, which south Valley interests repeatedly have tried to kill over the past decade.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487522">Of course, state officials can pass laws, too.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487523">“To the degree that a Trump administration becomes more conservative on environmental issues, the state can certainly step in in most situations and enact its own protections,” Thompson said.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487524">Stockton-based Restore the Delta doesn’t get involved in political campaigns for office, executive director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla said Wednesday.</div><div data-gh-lazy-ad-loaded="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487525"><div data-gh-lazy-ad-bucket-targeting="{"keyword":"Environment,Happening Now,Top Stories","ad-type":"standard","slot":"View Plus Med Rec","sov":"Standalone"}" data-dimensions="[300,250]" data-google-query-id="CKWk8-_UntACFVdCAQodtnwMBg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.2138em 0px 1.2138em 1.2138em; width: 300px; min-height: 250px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); float: right; clear: right;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487526"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0pt none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487527"><iframe title="3rd party ad content" name="google_ads_iframe_/11564835/recordnet.com/news_4" width="300" height="250" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487528"></iframe></div></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487529">“But we can say where candidates stand on the issues,” she said. “(Trump’s) stance on the Delta smelt, on the Endangered Species Act, on climate change, on pumping water from the Delta and the <a href="http://www.fec.gov/disclosurep/PState.do" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; color: rgb(105, 128, 150); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487530">amount of money he’s taken</a> from Westlands growers and other growers in the San Joaquin Valley is very problematic for the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary.”</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487531">Westlands spokesman Johnny Amaral said it was too soon to say exactly what policy changes his district might recommend to the incoming administration, but said that after three years without receiving any water from the federal Central Valley Project, growers were hoping for a return to some sort of normalcy under Trump.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487532">"When you start talking about project operations, people start getting nervous and lobbing bombs and allegations about what your intentions are," Amaral said. "Our intentions are to bring balance and fairness to how the projects are operated. Period. We're not asking for anything beyond that."</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487533">He downplayed the involvement of attorney David Bernhardt in Trump's transition team, saying "there are a lot of people involved."</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487534">Tuesday’s presidential vote put some conservative Delta farmers in an interesting position. Third-generation grower Mike Robinson, who opposes the tunnels, is leery that Trump will fast-track the project because the new president will want to “repay” financial supporters in the south Valley.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487535">But Robinson voted for Trump anyway, calling it less a vote for Trump than a vote against Hillary Clinton. He said he hopes Trump will be open to other views on water.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487536">“I am unselfish enough to look at the big picture of the national interest,” Robinson said. “I look at what is best for the country rather than what is best for me or my pocket.”</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px;" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487537"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487538">— Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or abreitler@recordnet.com. Follow him at <a href="http://recordnet.com/breitlerblog" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out; color: rgb(105, 128, 150); text-decoration: none;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487539">recordnet.com/breitlerblog</a> and on Twitter @alexbreitler.</em></div><div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487388"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478365709681_487403"><br></div></div></div></body></html>