Mike McKenzie
05-25-2007, 09:19 PM
Another Black Eye for the bureaucrats that thumb their noses at the laws of the land in order pay back the "Contributors" to their Political bosses....I sure hope that this decision forces the BuRec to re-negotiate the irrigation contracts they "renewed" in 2005-6 wherein they allowed Westlands Irrigation District to become "Water Brokers" and profit off of our water, at our expense!!
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 5/25/07
CONTACTS:
Kate Poole, NRDC 415-740-7716 (mobile)
Brian Smith, Earthjustice at 510-550-6714 or 415-320-9384 (mobile)
FEDERAL JUDGE THROWS OUT "BIOLOGICAL OPINION FOR THREATENED DELTA SMELT:
Ruling Means State and Federal Water Projects May Be Required to Reduce Pumping to Protect Fish from Extinction, Say Conservation Groups
FRESNO, CA - A federal judge ruled today that a government assessment of the risk to threatened fish from massive pumps in the San Francisco Bay Delta is illegal and must be rewritten. State and federal water project managers relied on the "biological opinion" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to justify increased water exports to farms and cities south of the delta. Conservation groups sued the agency, arguing that its conclusion that increased pumping wouldn't harm the delta smelt ignored a steep decline in the fish's numbers and was not supported by science.
"The delta smelt population has crashed to the lowest levels ever recorded," said Kate Poole, an attorney with the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC), a plaintiff in the case. "The smelt's dramatic drop coincides with the highest levels of freshwater diversions from the
delta ever. That's not a coincidence. Yet the Fish and Wildlife Service
concluded that increasing diversions even further would not jeopardize
the smelt and other threatened and endangered fish. The agency's opinion doesn't pass the laugh test."
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the federally-owned Central Valley Project (CVP) and the California Department of Water
Resources (DWR), which runs the State Water Project (SWP) used the
wildlife's agency's opinion as justification to increase delta exports
and to renew 25- and 40-year contracts to irrigation districts and urban
water agencies.
But in his ruling, Judge Oliver W. Wanger of the U.S. District Court in Fresno wrote, "The Delta smelt is undisputedly in jeopardy as to its survival and recovery. The 2005 BiOp's 'no jeopardy' finding is arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law.... The agency's failure to reasonably estimate the Delta smelt population and to analyze most recent smelt abundance data make the take limits based on historical data unreliable and unreasonable."
In 2005, delta smelt numbers were the lowest ever measured, just 2.4 percent of the numbers counted when the species was listed under the
state and federal endangered species acts in 1993. Fish surveyors are having trouble finding any smelt at all this year, increasing concern
that the fish are on the brink of extinction.
"The water project operators must decrease pumping," said Andrea Treece, an attorney with Earthjustice, which represented in the plaintiff
conservation groups in court. "That's the commonsense solution to protecting smelt and other threatened and endangered species in the
delta."
Scientists say that smelt are an indicator of the health of the entire bay delta ecosystem, and are representative of a much larger decline in native delta fisheries, including striped bass, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, and others. The delta is the largest estuary on the West Coast. It
functions as the hub of California's water system, as a vital component
in its fishing and agricultural economies, as a recreational mecca, and
as home to millions of Californians.
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\:D/ \:D/ \:D/ :D :D
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 5/25/07
CONTACTS:
Kate Poole, NRDC 415-740-7716 (mobile)
Brian Smith, Earthjustice at 510-550-6714 or 415-320-9384 (mobile)
FEDERAL JUDGE THROWS OUT "BIOLOGICAL OPINION FOR THREATENED DELTA SMELT:
Ruling Means State and Federal Water Projects May Be Required to Reduce Pumping to Protect Fish from Extinction, Say Conservation Groups
FRESNO, CA - A federal judge ruled today that a government assessment of the risk to threatened fish from massive pumps in the San Francisco Bay Delta is illegal and must be rewritten. State and federal water project managers relied on the "biological opinion" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to justify increased water exports to farms and cities south of the delta. Conservation groups sued the agency, arguing that its conclusion that increased pumping wouldn't harm the delta smelt ignored a steep decline in the fish's numbers and was not supported by science.
"The delta smelt population has crashed to the lowest levels ever recorded," said Kate Poole, an attorney with the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC), a plaintiff in the case. "The smelt's dramatic drop coincides with the highest levels of freshwater diversions from the
delta ever. That's not a coincidence. Yet the Fish and Wildlife Service
concluded that increasing diversions even further would not jeopardize
the smelt and other threatened and endangered fish. The agency's opinion doesn't pass the laugh test."
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the federally-owned Central Valley Project (CVP) and the California Department of Water
Resources (DWR), which runs the State Water Project (SWP) used the
wildlife's agency's opinion as justification to increase delta exports
and to renew 25- and 40-year contracts to irrigation districts and urban
water agencies.
But in his ruling, Judge Oliver W. Wanger of the U.S. District Court in Fresno wrote, "The Delta smelt is undisputedly in jeopardy as to its survival and recovery. The 2005 BiOp's 'no jeopardy' finding is arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law.... The agency's failure to reasonably estimate the Delta smelt population and to analyze most recent smelt abundance data make the take limits based on historical data unreliable and unreasonable."
In 2005, delta smelt numbers were the lowest ever measured, just 2.4 percent of the numbers counted when the species was listed under the
state and federal endangered species acts in 1993. Fish surveyors are having trouble finding any smelt at all this year, increasing concern
that the fish are on the brink of extinction.
"The water project operators must decrease pumping," said Andrea Treece, an attorney with Earthjustice, which represented in the plaintiff
conservation groups in court. "That's the commonsense solution to protecting smelt and other threatened and endangered species in the
delta."
Scientists say that smelt are an indicator of the health of the entire bay delta ecosystem, and are representative of a much larger decline in native delta fisheries, including striped bass, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, and others. The delta is the largest estuary on the West Coast. It
functions as the hub of California's water system, as a vital component
in its fishing and agricultural economies, as a recreational mecca, and
as home to millions of Californians.
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