Governor Gavin Newsom just announced two key water appointments today when he appointed Joaquin Esquivel as Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board and Laurel Firestone as a new member of the Board.
Under pressure from San Joaquin Valley agribusiness interests, Newsom failed to reappoint the current chair of the board, Felicia Marcus, who supported increasing flows from the San Joaquin River into the estuary to preserve Delta fish species and Delta farmland.
“We have a big state with diverse water needs. Cities that need clean water to drink, farms that need irrigation to keep feeding the world, fragile ecosystems that must be protected,” said Governor Newsom in his State of the State address. “We need a portfolio approach to building water infrastructure and meeting long-term demand. To help bring this balance, I’m appointing a new chair of the California water board, Joaquin Esquivel.”
Joaquin Esquivel, 36, of Sacramento, has been designated Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, where he has served since 2017. Esquivel was assistant secretary for federal water policy at the California Natural Resources Agency from 2015 to 2017.
He served in the Office of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer from 2007 to 2015 as a research assistant, legislative aide, and legislative assistant for water and agriculture issues, and as director of information and technology. Prior to that, he was a center youth manager at Gay Associated Youth from 2002 to 2004. Esquivel was confirmed by the California State Senate to the State Water Resources Control Board in 2018 and the compensation is $158,572. Esquivel is a Democrat.
Laurel Firestone, 40, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the State Water Resources Control Board. Firestone has been co-founder and co-director of the Community Water Center since 2006. She previously served as the director of the Rural Poverty Water Project at the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment from 2004 to 2006.
She served on the Tulare County Water Commission from 2007 to 2012, and co‐chaired the Governor’s Drinking Water Stakeholder Group from 2012 to 2014. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $153,689. Firestone is a Democrat.
Janet McCleery, Past President of the Save the California Delta Alliance, was very disappointed with the failure of Newsom to reappoint Felicia Marcus to the water board.
“We are greatly concerned that Felicia Marcus was not reappointed to the State Water Resources Control Board,” said McCleery. “Political expediency must not drive the determination of the flows that the Delta needs. The new appointees lack Marcus' understanding of the Delta, the flow needs, and have not been involved in the past three years of testimonies concerning the WaterFix project.”
San Joaquin Valley agribusiness interests are pleased with the change in the board and Newsom’s decision to not reappoint Marcus.
“With the change in the board, we’re hopeful we’ll see movement to more flexibility in meeting our water supply and ecosystem needs,” Mike Wade of Modesto, executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition, told the Modesto Bee.
Read more here: https://www.modbee.com/news/article226167515.html#storylink=cpy