Advocates for the Yuba, Bear, and Merced Watersheds are hailing a federal court victory. A panel of judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has overruled the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, re-establishing California’s right to protect water quality. The Executive Director of the South Yuba River Citizens League, Melinda Booth, says it stems from a lawsuit their group and others had filed over the state’s role in re-licensing hydroelectric projects. That includes an NID project…

click to listen to Melinda Booth

Booth says the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission apparently felt the applicants’ failure to complete an environmental review didn’t matter…

click to listen to Melinda Booth

Booth says SYRCL and its colleagues have been working in Commission relicensing on the Yuba River for 15 years. She says it’s a huge relief that the state’s protection will be in force in the decades to come.