Endangered Species Law & Policy

On February 19, 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued a Record of Decision (ROD) on the reinitiation of consultation on the coordinated long-term operations of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project.  At the same time, the President signed a memorandum on developing and delivering more water supplies in California. The Department of the Interior issued a press release describing these actions. 

The execution of the ROD signals the shift from operations of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project under the biological opinions issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service in 2008 and 2009, respectively, to updated biological opinions issued in 2019.  In the moments before the Trump Administration took these actions, the Sacramento Bee reported that the Newsom Administration announced it will be challenging the 2019 biological opinions in short order.