Monday September 8, 2025
Daily Kos —
Sacramento, Calif — Tribal leaders, environmental justice advocates, environmental groups and Delta farmers rallied for the imperiled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta at West Steps of the State Capitol on the refreshingly cool morning of Friday, Sept. 4.
As they held signs proclaiming “Pro Delta Means No Tunnel” and “Stop the $100 Billion Delta Tunnel,” they called on lawmakers to defend California’s water rights, environmental protections, and public due process as Governor Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders attempt to pass environmentally destructive trailer bills that would facilitate the diversion of more Delta water to Big Ag and south of the Delta water agencies.
The rally followed a day of advocacy where dozens of advocates from Tribes, Delta communities, environmental justice groups, fishing groups, and conservation organizations held more than 100 meetings at the State Capitol to express their collective opposition to the Delta Conveyance Project and Water Quality Plan CEQA Exemption trailer bills, according to Restore the Delta.
Advocates expect the reintroduction of Delta Tunnel trailer bills to be imminent as the deadlines to introduce bill language on Sept. 8 and the end of session September 12 draw near. Groups remain committed to opposing what they see as an ”alarming push to override public participation in order to prioritize special water and agricultural interests.”
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta, moderated the event.
Malissa Tayaba, the Vice-Chair of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians and Director of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, provided the welcome and opening comments, exposing how the proponents of the Delta Tunnel were trying to coopt the language of a bill they sponsored.
“My tribe was displaced from our ancestral villages along the Sacramento River and Delta waterways, but we have not and will not abandon our role as guardians of the water,” said Tayaba. “For the past two years, we have sponsored legislation to give tribal water uses the same legal protections as other water uses in the state. Each year our bill was held due to unreasonable fiscal estimates.”
“However, a few days ago we learned that proponents of the Delta Conveyance Project were trying to co-opt our bill language to gain support for the trailer bills the Governor has been pushing since May,” she stated.
Then she set the record straight. “We are vehemently opposed to the trailer bills and categorically reject any attempt to use our bill language in any deal,” she said. “Anyone claiming that we would support either trailer bill if our bill advances is lying. Passage of either trailer bill would undermine our ability to maintain our cultural traditions and sovereignty.”
“The CEQA trailer bill would eliminate the opportunity for analysis and review of tribal cultural impacts in water quality control plans — it is an erasure of the commitments the Governor and the legislature have made to repair relationships with California tribes. CEQA is a critical element to inform policy choices regarding Bay-Delta management. Without CEQA analysis, much of the Delta Reform Act becomes meaningless,” Tayaba said.
“We urge the legislature to stand with us against these proposals to fast-track a destructive Delta tunnel and deregulate the Bay-Delta Plan. Our people and our region are not a sacrifice zone. We will continue to speak out to protect and maintain our culture,” Tayaba concluded.
Gary Mulcahy, Government Liaison with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, pointed out how the Delta Tunnel would benefit only corporate agribusiness interests and big water agencies.
“There is nothing about the Delta Tunnel Project that significantly benefits anyone except Big Ag and south of the Delta water agencies, while putting endangered species, tribal cultural resources, and disadvantaged communities and the viability of the S.F Bay-Delta itself at risk. CEQA exemptions continue to attempt to erase Tribes from water governance,” said Mulcahy, who referred to Governor Newsom as “Donald Newsom” for pushing Trump-like water policies.
“California water policy sucks,” Mulcahy summed up. “It’s not just about the Delta Tunnel. It’s all about taking water from the north and sending it south.”
Keiko Merz, Policy Director of Friends of the River, spoke next, discussing the long history of the attempts by politicians to build a tunnel that would divert even more water from Delta.
“For half a century, politicians have tried to repackage the Delta Tunnel as the solution to our water challenges,” said Merz. “From the peripheral canal to WaterFix and now this tunnel, every version has been defeated not by accident, but because Californians know a bad deal when they see it. Now instead of listening, the Governor is trying to take away our tools to say no by gutting CEQA and cutting the public out of the process.”
“Californians deserve better than political shortcuts and backroom deals. These trailer bills are an attempt to silence the public, sideline science and push and push through bad ides that the people of California have rejected time and time again,” she continued.
“The Water Quality Control Plan exemption would undermine the protections that keep rivers flowing into the Bay-Delta estuary. It is designed to weaken protections because that’s the only way to move bad policy forward,” she stated.
“The legislature needs to resist efforts by Governor Newsom and special interests that would fast track boondoggles like the Delta Tunnel, and rob citizens of the chance to ensure that new projects actually solve our economic and environmental challenges,” Mertz concluded.
Tribes, environmental groups, fishing communities, and Delta residents said they remain united in opposition, warning that the Tunnel would devastate the region’s ecosystem, displace communities, and undermine both economic and cultural livelihoods at the time that Bay-Delta is in its biggest ever ecological crisis.
Commercial salmon fishing has been closed for the past three years, due to the collapse of the Sacramento River and Klamath River fall-run Chinook salmon populations. The Delta Smelt, once the most abundant fish on the Delta, is functionally extinct in the wild, due to massive water exports from the estuary, pollution and other factors.
Participants noted that the Delta is home to 4 million people and supports a $7 billion annual economy, including $5 billion in agriculture, $1.5 billion in commercial salmon fishing, and $780 million in recreation. At the rally, speakers highlighted the urgent need to revitalize the ecosystem and protect Delta communities and Tribes as the path forward for true climate resilience and prosperity.
“The outcry from Delta communities, Tribes, and local elected officials is clear: attempting to push the Delta Tunnel project through the legislature at the last minute would be an effort to bypass public due process,” said Cintia Cortez, Policy Program Manager at Restore the Delta. “Organizations and Tribes are ready to push back against any attempts to fast track proposals that would be detrimental to Delta communities, ecosystems, and California’s water future.”
“California cannot afford to backslide, and to see the Newsom Administration propose to do so through profoundly disappointing budget trailer bills sets the course for disaster in the Bay-Delta Estuary,” said Defenders of Wildlife Water Policy Advisor Ashley Overhouse. “If these legislative proposals become law, environmental reviews are off the table in an already overallocated water system with decades of outdated quality standards. We ask the Legislature to reject these unlawful proposals and stand up for our state’s natural heritage, our wildlife and our communities.”
Bob Wright, lawyer for Sierra Club California and other groups, and Jason Foster, Delta advocate, also spoke at the rally.
In addition, representatives of the farming community participated in the event.
“Members of our farm community with us today are the grown children of Delta farm leaders who beat back the peripheral canal in 1981. Yes, Californians voted down this idea 40 years ago, but that state does not believe that it has to listen to the will of the people,” Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla said.
“We have had enough. Our collective anger is righteous and historical. And because of what has been done this summer through the repeated bullying, manipulation, and outright lies put forward by those leading the water system – well, let’s just say they have ignited the beginning of a water revolution in California,” Barrigan-Parrilla concluded.