Sites Reservoir Project passes environmental review

Nov. 17—The Sites Project Authority recently certified its final environmental impact report and approved the Sites Reservoir Project, officials announced on Friday.

As one of the largest reservoir projects in California, the Sites Reservoir is an off-stream water storage project north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It will be located in Sites Valley, 10 miles west of Maxwell where Colusa and Glenn counties meet. Officials have previously said it could provide 1.5 million acre-feet of additional water storage capacity in an attempt to offer a unique water supply and environmental benefits during the state's dry periods, including extended droughts.

Approving the project marks an important milestone in increasing the reliability of statewide water supplies for environmental, agricultural, and urban uses. With this certification, the Sites Project Authority will be working to move the project forward through the final planning stages and on to construction, officials said.

"Over the last six years, we conducted one of the most comprehensive environmental analyses ever done for a water supply project to design a project that can meet the needs of California's communities, farms, and environment," Fritz Durst, chair of the Sites Project Authority Board of Directors, said in a statement. "Sites Reservoir is a new way of managing water designed to provide resiliency and reliability amid our changing climate."

The final environmental impact report evaluates the environmental effects and proposed mitigation measures associated with construction and operation of the Sites Reservoir Project. It includes updates to previous environmental impact reports to reflect changes in the project and address public concerns. The report contains revised modeling results, but no new or substantially greater impacts were identified, officials said.

However, some environmental groups — Friends of the River, the Sierra Club, and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance — said Friday that they strongly oppose the Sites Reservoir Project's quick approval. The final environmental impact report was reportedly approved by the Project Authority two weeks after giving the public access to the documents.

These three conservation groups have formed a coalition, claiming the project does not meet the criteria for Senate Bill 149, which was signed earlier this year in an effort to streamline projects such as Sites Reservoir to avoid months or years of litigation delays through the California Environmental Quality Act.

The coalition also claims that Sites Reservoir will have significant impacts to disadvantaged communities, it will continue to damage the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystems and has shown that it will not prioritize water for ecological benefits.

"Despite the appearance of unanimity and kind words about teamwork and environmental benefits in today's meeting, the environmental community continues to oppose the Sites Reservoir project due to countless harms," Friends of the River Policy Director Keiko Mertz said in a statement. "The project is an expensive boondoggle that won't provide net environmental benefits or meaningful increases in water supply. While today's vote was never in question, it is still disappointing to see this project escape public scrutiny at every turn."

The coalition said it will continue to work to stop the "environmentally destructive Sites Reservoir Project and offer sustainable solutions for California's water future."

Officials with the Sites Project Authority previously commended and thanked California Gov. Gavin Newsom for "wasting no time in acting on the legislation enacted earlier this year to expedite critically important infrastructure," noting that Sites is the first project to receive the governor's Senate Bill 149 certification.

"Sites Reservoir is truly a product of collaboration. The Project would not be possible without the support of our participants and government partners, who all recognize the unique benefits of Sites Reservoir," Sites Project Authority Executive Director Jerry Brown said in a statement. "During the multi-year environmental process, we also considered and incorporated feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders, and we have a better project because of it. It's allowed us to put forward a project that is affordable, permittable, and buildable — one that will benefit all of California."