Delta
From: Dan Levine, Reuters
A California appeals court sided
with environmentalists over growers on Thursday and upheld federal guidelines
that limit water diversions to protect Delta smelt, in a battle over how the
state will cope with its worst drought in a century.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled that a lower court should not have overturned recommendations
that the state reduce exports of water from north to south California. The plan
leaves more water in the Sacramento Delta for the finger-sized fish and have
been blamed for exacerbating the effects of drought for humans.
From: Scott Smith, Associated
Press
A federal appeals court on
Thursday largely upheld a 2008 plan that called for restrictions on water
deliveries from California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect a tiny,
threatened fish.
In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals panel said that much of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's
2008 biological opinion about the Delta smelt was not arbitrary and capricious
as a lower court judge had ruled.
From: Bettina Boxall, Los
Angeles Times
In a big win for a little fish, a
federal appeals court Thursday upheld delta smelt protections that have cut
deliveries of Northern California water to the Southland and the San Joaquin
Valley.
A panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals concluded in a 2-1 decision that a number of environmental
provisions that federal and state water contractors have disputed as
ill-founded were in fact justified. In effect, the court backed pumping
limits.
From: Staff, KOVR-13
With planting season a month
away, rice farmers in Northern California are worried they may lose half of
their water this season. The unsettled water allocations could mean a much
lower rice harvest with fewer jobs available. "We don't know how much
water we are going to get," said rice farmer Mike Daddow. "In this
district, they've already said we may only get 40 percent of our water.
The northern valley grows 97
percent of the state's rice crop. Cutting farmers' water in half, meaning fewer
seeds are planted.
From: Rick Montanez, KFSN-30
Valley farmers say hope is gone
after a high court ruling continues limits on water allocations.
Farmers on the Valley's
west-side, like those in the Westlands Water District, are angry over the
federal appeals court decision to limit water flow to the valley in order to
protect a small fish species, Smelt, in the Delta.
The war over water flow just hit
a new critical point. Restrictions on pumping to valley farmers will hold firm.
Bay Delta
Conservation Plan
From: Denny Walsh, Sacramento
Bee
A state appellate court dropped a
bomb late Thursday on the early stages of the state's plan to divert fresh
Northern California water under or around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta on
its way to Central and Southern California.
On a 2-1 decision, a three-justice
appeal panel in Sacramento ruled the California Constitution bars the state
from entering private properties to do preliminary soil testing and
environmental studies unless it wants to condemn affected sections of the
parcels through its power of eminent domain.
Water Supply
From: Robert Handa, KTVU-2
Some South Bay farmers Thursday
were expressing concerns about the future after being told they will lose their
surface water supply in a few weeks because of the drought.
Thursday evening the Santa Clara
Valley Water District held a meeting with about a hundred customers who have
permits to use surface water.
Fisheries
From: Staff, Chico
Enterprise-Record
Baby salmon might get a ride down
to the ocean this spring. We're not sure who would be more confused by that -
them or us.
The salmon fingerlings will be
stumped because, well, that's not how it's supposed to work. The recently
hatched fish imprint on the stream where they are born and get swept downriver
by high spring flows, ending up down in the ocean. They return to the place
where they are born three or four years later, spawn and die. If the salmon are
born in the hatchery, that's where they return almost all of the time.
From: Dennis Taylor, Salinas
Californian
A federal court in San Francisco
on Thursday ruled in favor of ongoing environmental protections for endangered
delta smelt, a far reaching ruling that the attorney who litigated the case
said would have implications for any challenges to the protection of steelhead
trout in the Salinas River.
The Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit ruled that a "biological opinion" issued in 2008 to
protect the delta smelt will stand without alteration, safeguarding the habitat
of a species on the brink of extinction. The phrase "biological opinion"
is key, because in the case of the ongoing debate over the practice of clearing
the Salinas River channel of brush, sandbars and debris to prevent flooding,
federal regulators have made clear that plans to continue the practice as
proposed so far will run head-on into the Endangered Species Act.
Salton Sea
From: Antoine Abou-Diwan,
Imperial Valley Press
Progress toward an environmental
solution at the declining Salton Sea may be unbearably slow for some observers.
However, there have been some
important achievements in the last year, said officials at the seventh annual
Renewable Energy Summit at Quechan Casino Resort on Thursday.
For instance, the Imperial
Irrigation District and Imperial County set aside years of litigation and
acrimony to jointly advance a restoration plan for the Salton Sea.
Water Industry
News
From: Nick Rappley, Patterson
Irrigator
After 37 years at the forefront
of West Side water issues, Bill Harrison stepped down as general manager of the
Del Puerto and West Stanislaus Water Districts Feb. 28. In his place, Anthea
Hansen will take over as general manager of the water districts.
Harrison succeeded his father
Lawrence "Lodi" Harrison, who was instrumental in putting together
original water usage contracts for farmers dating back to the 1940s.
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