Emerging union opposition to the Sites Reservoir Project erupted into public view last month, as construction contractors blasted the project authority for considering an out-of-state company. With labor interests dominating Sacramento politics, the threat of an escalating conflict could further delay the construction timeline, complicate permits and fracture the water coalition behind a project long framed as central to California’s drought resilience.
At the heart of the carpenter union’s concern is the authority’s apparent movement toward awarding a construction contract to a Montana-based firm with little experience in hiring union-represented workers in California.
Sites Reservoir is one of California’s longest-running water-storage proposals, designed to create a 1.5 million-acre-foot off-stream facility near Maxwell in Colusa and Glenn counties. The reservoir would capture Sacramento River flows during high-runoff periods, storing water for farms, cities and environmental uses during drought.
The joint-powers Sites Project Authority has advanced the project for more than a decade, completing environmental review in 2023 and securing state and federal support, including a funding boost this year under the 2014 Proposition 1 water bond to offset inflationary construction costs.
The project is facing growing schedule delays, with key federal approvals and major contract timelines now slipping well into 2026, according to the California Water Commission. The federal record of decision under the National Environmental Policy Act has been pushed back about three months.
Delays are also rippling through agreements, with draft public benefit contracts with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Department of Water Resources now projected for April. Benefits and obligations agreements with project participants — a prerequisite for final state funding — have slipped about six months as well.
Don’t miss a beat! It’s easy to sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! For the latest on what’s happening in Washington, D.C. and around the country in agriculture, just click here.
The project authority had to resubmit Clean Water Act permit applications to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State Water Resources Control Board after earlier filings were deemed incomplete, effectively restarting key regulatory review clocks.
While the commission recently authorized additional early funding for Sites, final allocations cannot occur until water rights permits and major contracts are secured. The shifting timeline raises risks of higher costs and construction setbacks.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has helped to streamline permitting and fast-track the litigation process, but the project remains a target of environmental opposition. Tribal groups, fishing organizations and conservation advocates have criticized the reservoir’s potential impacts on salmon migration, river temperature management and Sacramento River timing flows.
John Belperio, Nor Cal Carpenters Union (LinkedIn photo)“Sites Reservoir is going to do irreparable harm to Native American ceremonial sites, to creeks and to the Sacramento River,” Regina Chichizola, executive director of Save California Salmon, told the commission at a hearing last month. “Salmon populations are facing extinction and the water quality supply for more than 28 million Californians is threatened.”
Chichizola has challenged the water rights application for Sites, arguing the reservoir could increase dry-season diversions and stress endangered species — criticisms that have added delays for Newsom’s Delta tunnel project.
The prospect of new labor opposition now adds a second powerful front of organized resistance.
Labor warns of risks in reservoir build
John Belperio, vice president of the Nor Cal Carpenters Union, warned the commission that the labor organization is prepared to publicly challenge the direction of the project.
Belperio said the top construction firm in the bidding process “has no ties to the local community” and had told him directly that “they don’t work with the unions unless they absolutely have to.” Its only previous California work involved 10 carpenters more than 14 years ago.
“With any mega project done in Northern California — and probably the entire state — over a billion dollars, you're going to see a union general contractor or construction manager on those projects,” he said. “You need those connections with the local apprenticeships, the training programs and the unions in order to staff a project that size, especially one of a complex nature, such as Sites.”
Belperio raised alarms over the authority planning to discuss the contract in closed session — something he said he has never seen for a large public works project.
“We’re going to be there and demand answers,” he said.
Along with Belperio’s union, the powerful California Labor Federation also represents Northern California carpenters and has strongly weighed in on other agricultural issues. The federation brought United Farm Workers under its umbrella in 2022, giving a dramatic boost to the farmworker group’s push for controversial card check legislation to reform union elections, tapping then-President Joe Biden and other national allies to pressure the governor into signing the bill.
For several years, the federation has led efforts to block industry attempts to ease California’s ag overtime law as well as a driverless tractor ban at Cal/OSHA — when the head of the agency’s governing board was a labor leader representing Northern California construction unions.
Though it has not stepped into the Sites Reservoir conflict, the labor organization could deploy a similar influence campaign that rapidly changes the political dynamic behind the Newsom-backed project, potentially escalating costs and delays.
Commissioners raise transparency, safety questions
Yet Belperio did not need the federation for his concerns to gain traction with the commissioners.
Daniel Curtin, the only commissioner who has served since Proposition 1 passed, has voiced the strongest pushback against any commission moves that could raise further hurdles and delays for Sites, which is the last surface storage project eligible for the water bond funding after half of the initial eight projects stalled. Yet Curtin — an influential labor leader as the longtime president of the California Conference of Carpenters —elevated the criticism of his Northern California colleagues, saying he was very surprised to learn about the contracting issue.
“Sites is the keystone project here,” he said. “To see, at this stage, this level of concern is disappointing.”
Curtin argued that an out-of-state contractor would lack the relationships “that are absolutely critical” to a project of this size, adding that “this is not a project where you build a building and then leave. This is a seven-year project and $6 billion.” He said about half of the workers must be hired locally. Since “Northern California is not a high-density construction area for workers,” the union has been establishing apprenticeship programs to develop the workforce, he explained, noting his involvement in the effort.
Daniel Curtin (California Water Commission photo)“We were hoping that there would be … contractors that are experienced in California delivery,” he said.
Commissioner Alexandre Makler also pushed more scrutiny of the contracting, calling for the project authority to come before the commission to respond to the allegations.
“A significant amount of taxpayer money is going to support this project, and, of course, a lot of attention,” said Makler.
Chair Fern Steiner worried the labor issue could disrupt construction and potentially shut down the project. She reasoned the threat of another project collapsing would grant the commission the authority to investigate the issue further — though staff cautioned the commission cannot order the authority to change contractors.
Sites authority defends process
Jerry Brown, executive director of the Sites Project Authority, assured the commission, “This is just one of several elements to be contracted.” He said the authority’s workforce policy requires it to hire local workers through labor agreements.
Brown also rebutted Belperio’s allegations of backroom dealmaking, explaining that the authority recently reviewed and ranked the project proposals but has not selected a bidder and has yet to enter negotiations with the firms. The authority’s board was using a closed-door session to discuss the negotiating parameters but not to take any actions on a contractor. He expects at least another month to negotiate the contract before a board vote.
“A training program associated with local hire would be mission critical,” responded Curtin, pressing the issue further with Brown. “You're going to have a hard time finding that workforce without an experienced contractor who's managed to do those projects.”
The commission pressed Brown to return early next year to address the concerns in more detail.
