From its founding in 1902, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation built a lot of dams, especially during the Great Depression and the post-World War 2 years. Think Hoover, Shasta, Grand Coulee, and Friant Dams. Although Reclamation has stated that “the West essentially has been reclaimed,” the political movement for taxpayer subsidized dams has not stopped…

Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) has made quite a name for herself in the U.S. Congress with a number of claims that seem untethered to reality. However, that does not prevent her from introducing bills that in reality are favored by wealthy Reclamation water service contractors…

Bob Hackamack passed away at age 90 in late April of this year. I always called Bob Mr. Tuolumne River for his decades of pioneering work to protect the Tuolumne River…

Several pending dam projects throughout the state have had some slight movement recently. Read Senior Policy Advocate Ron Stork’s report out on current dam happenings.

From bad bills to bad rhetoric, there’s the “traditional bad stuff” happening in Congress right now…

We’ve been talking about the importance of the Clean Water Act in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hydropower dam licensing for years. The Clean Water Act gives states and certain tribes substantial influence related to operations of hydroelectric dams…

Governor Newsom’s Administration continues to push forward Voluntary Settlement Agreements in lieu of updating the decades-late SF Bay/Delta Water Quality Control Plan…

A group of environmental organizations active in hydropower relicensing (including Friends of the River) in collaboration with hydro industry players (collectively, the “Uncommon Dialogue”) have arrived at a set of reforms to the Federal Power Act…

For decades, the Klamath has been severely impacted by a sequence of four PacifiCorp dams near the California-Oregon border. And finally, after decades of work…

Friends of the River, along with a coalition of environmental groups have been beating on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to recognize that the federal draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was fundamentally flawed…

2022–2023 has shaped up to be one of the better high-water water years in California history. Specifically, it felt like 1983 — a high snow pack year.

Friends of the River litigation regarding state authority under the Clean Water Act may reach the Supreme Court…

In February 2022 the State Water Resources Control Board controversially approved a petition to reduce flows to and through the Delta despite nature’s bounty…

The perennially bankrupt PG&E has made a proposal to the California Public Utilities Commission to form a subsidiary with a 49% non-PG&E stake to own its non-nuclear generation assets. The reason — to raise some cash from investors in the new subsidiary…

After a generation of intense work and controversy, the removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River has begun with the initiation of construction staging for the removal of the Copco 1 Dam…

Returns of Chinook salmon from the ocean last year have been bad enough that the major fishing organizations (commercial and guides) have recommended that the 2023 ocean salmon fishery be closed to most fishing.

President Trump’s Clean Water Act rules have been reinstated by the federal 9th Circuit Appeals Court until a trial on the merits…