Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
July 21, 2008
1. Top Items -
Judge delivers vindication but no relief for imperiled salmon, steelhead
A federal judge says
Salmon threatened with extinction, judge says
Contra Costa Times
Delta diversion threat to salmon, judge rules
San Francisco Chronicle
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Judge delivers vindication but no relief for imperiled salmon, steelhead
A federal judge says
By Eric Bailey,
U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger of Fresno said in a 118-page opinion that the Central Valley's winter- and spring-run salmon as well as the remnants of its once-thriving steelhead population are being threatened by the dams and aqueducts that store and move water around California.
The water projects' operations "appreciably increase jeopardy to the three species," Wanger concluded, saying it is "undisputed" that water exports will in the short term continue to kill eggs, fry and juveniles while reducing the abundance and distribution of the fish and the chances of long-term recovery.
But the judge denied several remedies suggested by environmental attorneys with the Natural Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice, such as storing more water behind Shasta Dam to be released for migrating salmon and opening a pivotal diversion dam's gates to allow the fish to reach spawning grounds.
Fishermen who have seen this year's salmon season canceled because of a historic slump in returning fish gave the ruling a tepid review.
"It's a mixed bag," said Zeke Grader of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Assns., one of the plaintiffs. "It verified what we've been saying all along -- that the fish are in jeopardy. But he did nothing to fix it."
Wanger's decree stems from a long-running battle over a 2004 biological study by the National Marine Fisheries Service that was used to justify boosted water exports from
Citing the threat to salmon and steelhead, environmentalists successfully sued last April. Federal officials plan to wrap up a new biological study by March spelling out operational changes needed to keep the state's water system functioning without endangering the fish.
Wanger, meanwhile, held a series of hearings over five weeks in June and early July, letting both sides argue about whether short-term changes were needed to safeguard the fish in the meantime.
During those hearings, state and federal water agencies voluntarily agreed to some operational changes to better protect the fish, such as earlier opening of a diversion dam and increased water flows down a key tributary. But environmentalists and fishermen wanted more.
The judge's ruling Friday forcefully sided with environmentalists on the peril facing the fish, even spelling out a worst-case scenario in which the entire population of winter-run salmon in 2009 could be wiped out if officials fail to hold back enough cold water in Shasta Dam.
But he said a "scientific and evidentiary dispute" undercut the merits of environmentalists' proposed changes. He set a hearing Wednesday to hear further arguments.
Wanger's latest decision comes nearly a year after he ordered a pivotal shift in water operations because of concerns about Delta smelt, a tiny endangered fish that lives only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. That ruling has resulted in a 30% cutback in Delta water exports this year.#
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-salmon19-2008jul19,0,414089.story?track=rss
Salmon threatened with extinction, judge says
Contra Costa Times – 7/18/08
By Mike Taugher, staff writer
A federal judge has concluded that
The order, issued late Friday by U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger in
Although they did not win immediate measures to protect the fish, the judge's conclusions mean regulators will be forced to impose more protective conditions when they issue a new permit in March, lawyers said.
"It's a clear signal that business as usual in the Delta is not going to be acceptable," said Kate Poole, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
At issue is how water is stored in Northern California and delivered through the Delta to parts of the Bay Area,
The order addressed winter-run salmon, spring-run salmon and steelhead. It did not address fall-run salmon, the backbone of the state's commercial salmon fishery that collapsed last year and forced the state's first-ever closure of the salmon season. Fall-run are not covered by endangered species laws.
"The system is badly broken,"
Environmentalists and fishers sought more cold water for
The judge denied those requests but scheduled a hearing next week to chart a course for other requests, if environmentalists decide to pursue them.
"The conflict continues," said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies.
The ruling follows Wanger's order in April that, for the second time in a year, struck down an endangered species permit for the state's Delta-centered water system.
A year earlier, Wanger blocked a permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that was supposed to implement limitations to prevent Delta smelt from going extinct.
Wanger followed up that order by sharply curtailing Delta pumping.
The April order struck down a similar permit issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service that is meant to protect winter-run salmon, spring-run salmon and steelhead from extinction.
That permit had been issued in 2004 under unusual circumstances.
Although biologists in the federal agency concluded that issuing the permit could push the fish to extinction, that conclusion was overturned by James Lecky, at the time a regional boss but now the Bush administration's top official overseeing marine endangered species.#
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9926985?nclick_check=1
Delta diversion threat to salmon, judge rules
San Francisco Chronicle – 7/19/08
By Peter Fimrite, staff writer
A federal judge in
It was the latest in a string of rulings ordering state and federal regulators to fix a water system that supplies millions of Californians with water but is all but dysfunctional when it comes to protecting fisheries and the environment.
U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger told the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources to come up with ways to protect salmon and steelhead trout, but declined to order any immediate remedies.
Wanger's 118-page ruling was issued as a result of a lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and several other environmental organizations accusing the government of endangering salmon and steelhead. The plaintiffs had asked the judge to immediately curtail water diversions.
"We are frustrated that the court denied our requests," said Doug Obegi, a lawyer for the council. "We want to assure that the water projects are operated to sustain fisheries and farming. The court's decision shows that management has not achieved that balance. The system is really out of balance, and the court's opinion recognizes that what's happening right now puts salmon and steelhead in danger of extinction."
The plan now is to hold more court hearings on what to do about the problem before March 2009, when the bureau is required to issue a new "biological opinion" outlining its plans to deliver water and at the same time protect winter- and spring-run chinook and steelhead trout in the
Wanger had ruled in April that water regulators failed to consider the effects of global warming and other environmental issues related to the decline of
The decision invalidated the original biological opinion that said the salmon would not be adversely affected by pumping.
The report comes amid a statewide fisheries crisis. The number of salmon in the ocean plummeted this year, prompting a ban of fishing all along the
Some marine biologists claim the problem resulted from a lack of nutrients in the ocean caused by global warming, but most fisheries experts believe the biggest impact is from dams, diversions and development along the
However, curtailing water diversions means cutting back on the flow of drinking water for 25 million Californians and irrigation for 750,000 acres of cropland.
Still, even those who have interests in water rights and support diversions admit the state's water distribution system is in turmoil.
"Everyone is realizing the delta is broken and there needs to be some kind of fix that will meet the needs of the citizens who receive water as well as for the environment," said Sarah Woolf, spokeswoman for the Westlands Water District, an agricultural area representing farmers who produce 60 commodities, including most of the state's lettuce, almonds, tomatoes, pistachios and grapes.
"We need some sort of conveyance around the delta," Woolf said. "Everything is pointing to a peripheral canal as the solution."
The water fight started in February 2005 when environmentalists sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after the agency issued an opinion saying delta smelt would not be harmed by water diversions. The council and its co-plaintiffs challenged the biological opinion for salmon and steelhead a couple months after the delta smelt lawsuit was filed.
The Natural Resources Defense Council urged Wanger to require the bureau to open the gates of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam earlier than normal. The dam is usually closed on Memorial Day to create a lake for boat racing and other festivities. Water from the lake is then diverted for farmers and other users through an irrigation channel.
Obegi said juvenile salmon heading downstream get caught behind the dam and are eaten by predatory fish.
"When the dam is in, the fish get concentrated," he said. "They go down the fish ladders on the side and the predators know exactly where the fish are coming and wait there. It's like serving them up on a dinner plate."
Environmentalists also wanted Wanger to impose minimum stream flows on Clear Creek to store more water in Lake Shasta to make sure there is adequate flow year-round and to increase the amount of spawning habitat by releasing colder water farther downstream.
The judge apparently decided not to grant the council's requests because the defendants already had agreed to some operational changes, including opening the Red Bluff Diversion Dam slightly earlier than originally planned and increasing flows on Clear Creek, near Red Bluff, to better protect salmon and steelhead.
The latest hubbub comes in the wake of a ruling last year to protect the endangered delta smelt. That decision was attacked by lobbying groups for 400 agencies that deliver the state's water. They claimed cropland would go fallow and cities in the Tri-Valley,
Drought conditions have combined with the water situation to make some of those concerns a reality.
"We've abandoned thousands of acres of crops, and hundred of jobs have been lost for farmworkers this year," Woolf said.
The ruling
"Project operations through March 2009 will appreciably increase jeopardy to the three species. ... All three testifying experts ... conclude that the three salmonid species are not viable and are all in jeopardy of extinction. Based on two drought years, with critically dry hydrologic conditions in 2008, and the presently unpredictable risk of a third dry year, the three species are unquestionably in jeopardy."#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/19/MN9811RINQ.DTL
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