Broke California Unveils Fish-Saving Boondoggle

California’s political leaders believe that their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases will slow climate change around the globe. Now they want to tackle a Herculean environmental task in their own backyard.

In March, Governor Jerry Brown and state water officials released the first four chapters of an emerging plan that promises not only to resolve California’s traditional water-supply conflicts, but to restore the largest estuary on the West Coast, changing the flow of the huge Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and reviving 57 endangered wildlife species.