Focus
California Fish and Game Commission approves Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan
Allen Matkins – August 19
The California Fish and Game Commission took final action to approve the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan at its August 13, 2025 meeting. The Conservation Plan sets forth management practices and guidelines for the avoidance and minimization of impacts to Western Joshua trees. Recently approved August 5, 2025 revisions to the Western Joshua Tree Relocation Guidelines and Protocols, which are incorporated into the Conservation Plan, detail tree relocation procedures that may be implemented as conditions to incidental take permits. Though the Conservation Plan does not create new statutory or regulatory mandates, applicants pursuing projects that affect the Western Joshua tree may be required to comply with various aspects of the Conservation Plan as a condition of local, state, or federal approvals.
News
Newsom says California needs to build a water tunnel. Opponents argue costs are too high.
Los Angeles Times – August 20
As Governor Gavin Newsom pushes for building a giant water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, his administration says it is the “single most effective” way for California to provide enough water as a warming climate brings deeper droughts and more intense storms. But environmental advocates and political leaders in the Delta, among others, condemned a new state analysis, released on August 19, that draws that conclusion, arguing the tunnel construction would harm the environment and several types of fish and push water rates much higher for millions of Californians.
DOJ sues California to end enforcement of emissions standards for trucks
CNBC – August 15
In a bid to end the state’s enforcement of emissions standards for trucks, the U.S. Department of Justice filed two complaints last week in federal courts against the California Air Resources Board challenging the state’s enforcement of allegedly preempted emissions standards through its so-called “Clean Truck Partnership” with heavy-duty truck and engine manufacturers. Earlier last week, four major truckmakers, including Daimler and Volvo, also sued the state to block it from enforcing the strict emissions standards that President Trump declared void in June.
Judge overrules state’s request to dismiss oil industry lawsuit
The Bakersfield Californian – August 18
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has cleared the way for an oil industry lawsuit to proceed against a two-year-old California law that bans drilling and related work within 3,200 feet of a home or other sensitive site. Judge Theresa M. Traber ruled on July 25 that the state government and its primary oil regulatory agency, California’s Geologic Energy Management (CalGEM) Division, failed to show why the suit should not proceed.
Plan for California’s largest reservoir in decades gets big funding boost
San Francisco Chronicle - August 20
The effort to build California’s largest new reservoir in decades, the proposed Sites Reservoir northwest of Sacramento, has received a welcome commitment of cash — nearly $220 million — which will help keep the project on track to break ground as soon as next year. The California Water Commission, a state advisory board, decided on the bond allocations at its regular monthly meeting on August 20. While awarding funding to Sites and two other projects, the California Water Commission chose not to provide additional bond money to two other projects, including the proposed expansion of Pacheco Reservoir in southeastern Santa Clara County.
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