For Immediate Release
October 22, 2019
Contact: Kathryn Phillips 916-893-8494 (mobile)
Trump Administration Releases Biological Opinion that Dooms Salmon and Other Fish in California
Sacramento–The U.S. Department of Interior today released a long-awaited biological opinion outlining the impacts that taking increasing amounts of water out of the San Francisco Bay Delta will have on its ecosystem.
The opinion concludes that more water can be removed from the Delta without harming fish and wildlife than most scientists have independently concluded.
An earlier version of the biological opinion was suppressed by the Trump Administration in July after scientists working on the report determined that proposed increases in water diversion from the Delta system would wipe out salmon. The new report was rewritten to accommodate large agricultural interests and the Metropolitan Water District who have been successfully lobbying Trump and his Department of Interior to weaken the federal Endangered Species Act to allow more water to be diverted from the Delta.
A former lobbyist for one of those special interests, David Bernhardt, currently is the head of the U.S. Department of Interior.
Statement from Kathryn Phillips, Director, Sierra Club California:
"This latest “opinion” is just that: an opinion with little link to science or reality.
"The special interests who are determined to take more fresh water out of the Bay Delta estuary system than it can tolerate will stop at nothing to make their case–even if it means cooking the science.
"This latest opinion, if it is adopted by the state as it approaches the Delta issue, will essentially ensure the extinction of wild salmon and smelt in much of California.
"Now we’ll see what the Governor is made of. Will he accept this dreck or will he stand up to Trump and reject this death certificate for the Delta system?
"What is his plan?"
Sierra Club California is the legislative and regulatory advocacy arm of the 13 Sierra Club chapters in California, representing more than 500,000 members and supporters statewide.