Governor Newsom: Respect Tribal Rights and Salmon, Rescind Order Suspending Environmental Laws

This week Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order that legalizes the State Water Board’s waiver of water quality objectives in the Bay-Delta and pressures the State Water Board to approve violations of minimum environmental flows. It effectively gives the State Water Project and Central Valley Project a “get out of jail free” card for stealing water from the Bay-Delta environment – water that the two massive water projects promised to the environment decades ago.. For the thousands of fishers, Tribes, and communities that depend on a healthy Bay-Delta and care about its health, this executive order is an unambiguous signal that the State of California is unwilling to protect salmon and the Bay-Delta environment.

The executive order ignores Tribal water and fishing rights and was done with no Tribal consultation, failures which run directly counter to Governor Newsom’s apology to California Native people and the formation of the state Truth and Hearing Process. In June 2019, Governor Newsom signed Executive Order N-15-19 which formally issued an apology from the state to California’s Native American Tribes for the racist policies and violent treatment against them. It also established the Truth and Healing Council which is supposed to guide relations with California Tribes “in the spirit of truth and healing.” This new executive order is contrary to the spirit of truth and healing for not only Delta Tribes but all Tribes that have a connection to the Bay-Delta. The Delta is the gateway to many river systems and watersheds that provide habitat for culturally significant fish, wildlife, and plants. Moving forward with this executive order shows complete disregard for Tribal cultural resources that survive on the river flows that will be cut. This is especially troubling as California is still operating under a water rights system from the early 1900s, a time when women and people of color could not own land and Native people were not considered citizens or protected from violence, exploitation, and dispossession. This system allows a couple of land owners to divert a whole watershed, even if entire towns or rivers are left without water.

For more than a decade, the State Water Board has repeatedly concluded that the existing Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan, which establishes minimum water quality and flow objectives to protect farms, cities and the environment, is inadequate to protect the health of the Delta. Yet instead of strengthening the existing 1995 water quality control plan and implementing stronger environmental flows consistent with the best available science, the State Water Board has repeatedly weakened and waived the environmental rules they themself have acknowledged are inadequate. Right now the State Water Board is considering implementing Voluntary Agreements for the Bay Delta Plan instead of going forward with Phase II and following administrative procedures that would allow for proper input from concerned Tribes and communities about the lack of environmental protections.

This executive order is part of a pattern of Governor Newsom pushing the state to violate or ignore environmental law and uphold it through only voluntary regulation with agribusiness. Fisheries are now extinct and cities such as Stockton face massive toxic algal blooms due to the governor’s and the federal government's actions. This executive order is another attempt to avoid proper regulations on the Bay Delta and will cause massive environmental damage. The waiver of Delta outflow standards means that the already vulnerable Chinook salmon and Delta smelt populations will suffer due to inadequate flows which leads to higher water temperatures and lower dissolved oxygen. 

Last March Governor Newsom stated, “Too often, California Native American tribal communities are overlooked and suffer many of the worst impacts of climate change. The California way is not to hide from our past, but to embrace it with a commitment to build upon our values of inclusiveness and equity for everyone who calls this state home.” This executive order is once again the state government overlooking Tribal communities in its actions. The state must take their commitment to rebuilding its relationship with Tribes and protecting environmental resources seriously.

Main Points 

This order contradicts the Racial Equity Plan and Goals of Truth and Healing - The executive order ignores the concerns of Tribes and communities of color whose lives, safety, and sustenance are tied to a healthy Bay-Delta, thereby contradicting the recently created Racial Equity Action Plan and exacerbating issues of environmental injustice.

Tribal rights and uses are not protected - The order did not include Tribal consultation or traditional tribal knowledge. The lack of protection for Tribal rights and Tribal Beneficial Uses in this order harms Native people.

The Clean Water Act and Water Quality Standards protect drinking water for millions of Californians - Suspending environmental laws for water quality in the Delta can impact millions of people's drinking water. Flows must go through rivers and into the San Francisco Bay and Bay-Delta to flush out chemicals and waste so water does not stagnate and create warm conditions for toxic algal blooms to thrive.

This order will help drive suffering endangered species into extinction - Fish populations are only hanging on due to good water years where pollution and baby salmon make it out of the ocean. With rising temperatures due to climate change, flows are more important than ever for regulating water temperature and quality for the health of fisheries.