In the latest war declaration in California’s escalating water battle, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman sent a letter to California Senator Dianne Feinstein Wednesday sharing her opposition to the state’s decision to part ways on a coordinated Delta pumping plan.
Burman said the new operations plan for the State Water Project “recklessly ignored new scientific understanding” while the Newsom administration chose to “embrace the tactics of litigious interest groups.”
Burman added that Reclamation will instead work with the Central Valley Project’s farmers and water contractors on implementing the Trump administration’s new biological opinions.
The letter came after multiple lawsuits against the plan, from water contractors as well as conservation groups arguing the state was not going far enough to protect endangered species.
A group of House Democrats had expressed their support to Newsom and his lawsuit against federal agencies over the federal pumping plan. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt followed that with his own letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein pointing a finger at Newsom for suing first, calling the litigation “ill-founded and potentially unlawful.”
