California signals fight over federal plan to increase Delta water exports
California Attorney General Rob Bonta is “looking at all available options to respond,” his office said Monday in response to the Bureau of Reclamation’s decision last week that updates the Central Valley Project’s operating plan to permit higher water exports from the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta.
“This politically motivated decision creates new risks for water availability, especially for Southern California cities, and the health of California’s waterways, fish, and wildlife,” said a press officer for Bonta in an email to The Sacramento Bee.
On Thursday, the Bureau of Reclamation approved Action 5, revising the long-term operating plan for the Central Valley Project and allowing greater flexibility in Delta operations — a step consistent with the Trump administration’s broader push to increase federal water supplies. The move drew strong resistance from California in President Donald Trump’s first term and again now.
In 2020, then–Attorney General Xavier Becerra sued the Trump administration over its revised biological opinions and the resulting Delta pumping plan, arguing the changes would illegally increase water exports and cause “imminent and irreparable harm” to endangered species.
The state won a partial early victory when a judge temporarily blocked parts of Trump’s new pumping rules. Later, the Biden administration rewrote the federal rules for Delta operations under new biological opinions.
“The Trump administration is putting politics over people — catering to big donors instead of doing what’s right for Californians,” Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office told The Bee following the Thursday update.
All eyes on Newsom
In 2019, a number of environmental groups, including the Golden State Salmon Association and Defenders of Wildlife, also filed their own lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s Delta pumping plan, arguing that it would harm the environment, fish and wildlife.
“These adverse effects include reduced instream flows, reduced Delta outflow, increased salinity levels, increased impingement and entrainment of fish in Delta pumps, habitat loss, reduced survival, and increased mortality,” the joint complaint filed then by the Golden State Salmon Association and Defenders of Wildlife along with other groups read.
Vance Staplin, executive director at the Golden State Salmon Association, criticized the federal government for making a one-sided decision.
“The federal government unilaterally decided that they were going to crank up delta pumps, posing a threat to many people throughout the state,” Staplin said.
“The real response now is with Gavin Newsom. (Californians) from north to south will see spine or not, based on how he counters. Newsom has the legal authority to challenge…the federal action.”
Ashley Overhouse, a water policy adviser at Defenders of Wildlife, said while she could not comment on whether the group might pursue similar litigation but added that the issue “may be a good question to ask the state of California.”
“For salmon and other listed species already suffering due to a lack of consistent freshwater, these actions will exacerbate their decline and further jeopardize the health of the Bay-Delta estuary,” Overhouse said.
“This leaves California in a familiar place - a defender of bedrock environmental protections, and most importantly, state laws like our endangered species and clean water protections. I…welcome further action to protect all Californians from harm.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2025 at 2:33 PM with the headline "California signals fight over federal plan to increase Delta water exports."
