<html><head></head><body><div class="ydp76c8f69cyahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;"><div><div><a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-california-trump-water-rollbacks-20190326-story.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="">https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-california-trump-water-rollbacks-20190326-story.html</a><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-family: FBKisDisplay; font-size: 44px;">How California is defying Trump’s environmental rollbacks</span><br></div></div><div><span><div class="ydpf997dc45wrapper ydpf997dc45clearfix ydpf997dc45full ydpf997dc45pb-feature ydpf997dc45pb-layout-item ydpf997dc45pb-f-article-header" data-pb-name="Article Header" data-pb-curated="curated" id="ydpf997dc45f4I3D42XrdhThr"><div class="ydpf997dc45card"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-footer ydpf997dc45flex-container-row ydpf997dc45flex-mobile-column ydpf997dc45align-items-center" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px; 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line-height: 12px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;">MAR 26, 2019 </span><span class="ydpf997dc45timestamp ydpf997dc45spaced ydpf997dc45spaced-sm ydpf997dc45spaced-left ydpf997dc45spaced-right" style="font-family: Benton Medium; line-height: 12px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px;">|</span> <span class="ydpf997dc45timestamp ydpf997dc45timestamp-article" style="font-family: Benton Medium; line-height: 12px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;">3:00 AM </span></div></div></div><span class="ydpf997dc45sharebar ydpf997dc45align-right ydpf997dc45flex" style="text-align: right;"><button class="ydpf997dc45button ydpf997dc45button-icon ydpf997dc45button-icon-hover-accent" data-arctrack="socialShareTwtr" data-referrer="" style="margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; cursor: pointer; font-size: 16px; 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width: 40px; min-height: 40px;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="ydpf997dc45fa ydpf997dc45fa-share ydpf997dc45button-icon-inset-accent" style="display: inline-block; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 32px; font-family: FontAwesome; width: 32px; color: rgb(255, 104, 89); min-height: 32px;"></span></a></span></div></div></div><div class="ydpf997dc45pb-container"></div><div class="ydpf997dc45wrapper ydpf997dc45clearfix ydpf997dc45full ydpf997dc45pb-feature ydpf997dc45pb-layout-item ydpf997dc45pb-f-utilities-lead-art" data-pb-name="Lead Art" data-pb-curated="curated" id="ydpf997dc45f0MUVW5XrdhThr" style="margin-top: 0px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45card-captioned"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45full-width ydpf997dc45img-container ydpf997dc45aspect-ratio-no-aspect" style="width: 500px; min-height: 281.3333435058594px;"><img class="ydpf997dc45full-width" alt="How California is defying Trump’s environmental rollbacks" src="https://www.latimes.com/resizer/fmIj4_rZmZDYUAjj0i2qn6TptGI=/800x0/www.trbimg.com/img-5c894e6d/turbine/la-1552502378-ycb8g548zk-snap-image" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; max-width: 800px;"></div><div>California agencies say they won't grant the federal government permits to raise Shasta Dam because the project would drown state-protected portions of the McCloud River. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)</div></div></div></div><div class="ydpf997dc45wrapper ydpf997dc45clearfix ydpf997dc45full ydpf997dc45pb-feature ydpf997dc45pb-layout-item ydpf997dc45pb-f-article-body" data-pb-name="Article Body (Elements)" data-pb-curated="curated" id="ydpf997dc45f0aYpgiXrdhThr" style="margin-top: 0px;"><div></div><div class="ydpf997dc45collection ydpf997dc45collection-cards" style="list-style: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p data-page="1" style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">California is building walls at its borders — they’re just not the kind President Trump has in mind.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">As the Trump administration continues its assault on environmental regulation, state officials are throwing up legal barriers to some high-stakes attacks.</p></div></div><div class="ydpf997dc45trb_ar_ora" style="max-width: 400px; margin: 24px auto;"><div class="ydpf997dc45trb_ar_ora_w" style="position: relative; padding-top: 300px;"></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">They are preparing to strengthen safeguards for waterways that are about to lose federal protections in <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-clean-water-20181211-story.html" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">a major rollback</a> of the Clean Water Act.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">They are refusing to issue permits the federal government needs to build a controversial <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-shasta-dam-trump-20180315-story.html" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dam project</a> that would drown portions of a Northern California river renowned for its wild trout fishery.</p></div></div><div class="ydpf997dc45desktop-nativo ydpf997dc45mobile-yieldmo ydpf997dc45inline-ad" data-inline-ad-count="2" style="margin: 16px 0px 22px;"><span class="ydpf997dc45hidden-mobile"><div class="ydpf997dc45wrapper ydpf997dc45clearfix ydpf997dc45full ydpf997dc45pb-feature ydpf997dc45pb-layout-item ydpf997dc45pb-f-ads-nativo" data-pb-name="Nativo Ad" data-pb-curated="curated" id="ydpf997dc45fyenC61bSFcSlr" style="text-align: center; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45hidden-mobile"><div id="ydpf997dc4517260" data-nativo-id-desktop="1081108" class="ydpf997dc45desktop-nativo-ad ydpf997dc45trb_ar_nt"></div></div></div></span></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">And they can use state water quality standards to limit Washington’s ability <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-trump-water-20181019-story.html" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">to boost irrigation supplies</a> for Central Valley agriculture by relaxing federal safeguards for endangered fish.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">“The state can stand up against the federal government on every single one of those issues,” said <a href="http://www.ifrfish.org/aboutus/staff/" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Noah Oppenheim</a>, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Assns.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">Armed with some of the strongest environmental laws in the nation, California has been a leader in the Trump resistance.</p></div></div><div data-type="interstitial_link" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><span class="ydpf997dc45roadblock"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-clean-water-20181211-story.html" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 32px; color: rgb(80, 172, 205); font-size: 19px; font-weight: 400;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Trump administration unveils major Clean Water Act rollback »</a></span></span></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">As governor, Jerry Brown repeatedly clashed with the White House over Trump’s policies on climate change and vehicle fuel economy standards. Since <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-governor-gavin-newsom-inauguration-20190107-story.html" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">taking office</a> in January, Gov. Gavin Newsom has continued the fight.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">That became clear one week after Newsom’s inauguration, when representatives of three state agencies reiterated that the dam project is illegal under California law.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">The $1.3-billion proposal would raise the 602-foot-tall <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.php?id=241" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Shasta Dam</a> near Redding another 18½ feet. Doing so would increase the storage capacity of Shasta Lake, California’s largest reservoir, by roughly 14%.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">But it would inundate a stretch of the McCloud River, which is protected under <a href="https://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia/california-wild-and-scenic-rivers-act" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">California’s Wild and Scenic Rivers Act</a>.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">“We are prohibited by state law” from permitting the Shasta project, said Andrew Sawyer, assistant chief counsel of the State Water Resources Control Board. <a href="https://www.friendsoftheriver.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/WQC_NFisch.JKSahota.-Comments-on-Shasta-Dam-Raise-Project.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The water board</a>, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the State Lands Commission outlined their objections on Jan. 14 in letters to the <a href="https://wwd.ca.gov/" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Westlands Water District</a> in Fresno, the state’s largest irrigation district and primary backer of the proposal.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">Westlands did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">California authorities say the Shasta plan is clearly subject to a section of the <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/contracts/Legislation.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">1902 Reclamation Act</a> that requires federal irrigation projects in the West to comply with state laws that relate “to the control, appropriation, use, or distribution of water used in irrigation.” Exceptions can be made only if Congress directly exempts a project from that mandate.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">In 2017, the GOP-dominated House approved legislation that attempted to do that for operations managed by the federal Central Valley Project, including Shasta Dam.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">But concern for states’ rights killed the bill in the Senate, where the proposal never got out of committee. And with Democrats now in control of the House, any similar efforts in the new Congress are all but doomed.</p></div></div><div data-type="interstitial_link" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><span class="ydpf997dc45roadblock"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-trump-bernhardt-20170517-story.html" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 32px; color: rgb(80, 172, 205); font-size: 19px; font-weight: 400;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Trump's pick for a top Interior post has sued the agency on behalf of powerful California water interests »</a></span></span></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">On another front, the state water board will vote next month on a package of rules that would counter Trump administration plans to cut wetlands protections.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">In December, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave notice that it is dropping Obama-era regulations that broadened the Clean Water Act’s coverage of wetlands and seasonal streams, which are common in California and the arid West.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">The law allows states to adopt regulations that are more stringent than the federal standards. California’s water board has been considering tougher wetlands protections for more than a decade, ever since the U.S. Supreme Court issued a set of decisions that left authorities confused about which waters were covered under the act.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">The board’s efforts have taken on a new urgency in the wake of the EPA’s move.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">“The threat of the Trump administration rollback has really amplified interest and concern about a need for developing state-level protection,” said <a href="https://www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/julia-e-stein/" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Julia Stein</a>, a supervising attorney at UCLA’s environmental law clinic.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">The <a href="https://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia/sacramento-san-joaquin-delta" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta</a>, the center of California’s water system, is another Trump-California battleground.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">Westlands and other San Joaquin Valley irrigation districts have long fought protections for endangered fish that limit water exports from the delta. Under Trump, they have a major ally at the Interior Department: acting Secretary David Bernhardt, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-trump-bernhardt-20170517-story.html" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">a former lobbyist for Westlands</a> who is in line <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-interior-secretary-david-bernhardt-20190204-story.html" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">to succeed</a> Ryan Zinke in the agency’s top post.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">Last month, the <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/mp/bdo/lto.html" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">U.S. Bureau of Reclamation</a> <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/mp/bdo/lto.html" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">released documents</a> that justified loosening the restrictions on the grounds that habitat restoration and other measures would help imperiled populations of delta smelt and migrating salmon.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">Federal fish and wildlife biologists have until this summer to issue a new set of delta export rules. If the regulations are weakened, environmentalists will almost certainly mount a challenge in the courts, which blocked a similar effort by the George W. Bush administration.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p data-page="2" style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">California has its own endangered species law, but it is unclear whether those protections fit into the category of state laws that the federal reclamation bureau must adhere to.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">Still, state standards for salinity levels in the delta and for the volume of water that flows through delta habitats to the ocean will restrict the Trump administration’s ability to boost exports, said <a href="https://www.law.berkeley.edu/our-faculty/faculty-profiles/holly-doremus/" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Holly Doremus</a>, an environmental law expert at UC Berkeley.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px 24px 0px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">Another leverage point lies in the linkage of state and federal water operations in the delta. The California Department of Water Resources can, for example, refuse to let federal water managers use the state-owned California Aqueduct to convey delta supplies if the state believes the water shipments would hurt protected fish.</p></div></div><div data-type="text" class="ydpf997dc45card ydpf997dc45collection-item" style="line-height: 19px;"><div class="ydpf997dc45card-content" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 26px; font-size: 18px; padding: 24px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">“The state retains primary regulatory authority over its water, period,” Doremus said. “It has always been bluster for the feds to run around saying … that they are going to make California do whatever.”</p></div></div></div></div></span></div></div></body></html>