California Governor Gavin Newsom reduced delays caused by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by signing Senate Bill 149. According to the Governor’s Office, this was to accelerate critical infrastructure projects to ensure safe drinking water, boost the state’s water supply and modernize the transport system. Governor Newsom signed this late last year, and now an appellate court rejected the CEQA lawsuit against the Sites Reservoir Project less than 270 days after it was filed. Executive Director, Regina Chichizola said because of the law passed by Governor Newsom, Save California Salmon and CEQA lost the lawsuit against Sites Reservoir. Chichizola said the lawsuit had to do with water pollution issues, low river flows, and inundating lands that are critical to Native American People. Chichizola expressed her concern, saying the reservoir could pull millions of acres of water from the Sacramento River where the salmon population is already down 60 to 80 percent.