[env-trinity] Ninth Circuit Trinity Decision - Eureka Times Standard

[Byron]

TRINITY RIVER

Appeals court won't reconsider Trinity decision 

Eureka Times-Standard - 11/10/04

By John Driscoll, staff writer

A federal appeals court refused to hear again the Westlands Water District's
suit against a restoration plan for the Trinity River. 

None of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' active judges voted to hear
the case again. The decision is the latest victory for the Hoopa Valley
Tribe and fishing and environmental interests that have fought for years to
cut diversions from the Trinity to the Sacramento River, where Westlands and
other irrigation districts get their water. 

Westlands said it hasn't decided whether to seek a U.S. Supreme Court
review. Some say the Supreme Court is unlikely to hear the matter given last
week's ruling. Westlands, however, said there are unresolved issues that
need to be addressed. 

The suit by Westlands and the Northern California Power Agency has led to
extensive delays in putting in place a congressionally supported plan
authorized by former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in 2000. It calls for
just under half the Trinity's water to remain in the river. The 9th Circuit
earlier this year ordered the program to move forward. 

"It was clear to us from the beginning that the economic interests that have
been draining this river for profit did not care about keeping the river and
its fishery alive," said Hoopa Tribal Chairman Lyle Marshall. "They have
been stealing our water for decades and we knew they would not let go of it
easily."

Up to 90 percent of the Trinity's water above Lewiston Dam has been sent to
the Sacramento since the diversion project was built in the 1960s. A
collapse of the once spectacular salmon runs in the river can be traced to
that time. 

Westlands spokesman Tupper Hull said the district is disappointed in the
decision, but said developments like the reauthorization of CalFed -- a
program to restore the Sacramento Delta and shore up water supplies -- and
other collaboration between state and federal water project contractors is
promising. 

"The outlook for farming on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley is
probably better today than in a long time," Hull said. 

Marshall said the tribe can now pay more attention to problems on the
Klamath River, into which the Trinity flows. In 2002, between 34,000 and
68,000 salmon died in the lower Klamath, claiming most of the Trinity's fall
run of chinook salmon.

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

Consultant, California Trout, Inc.

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 ph

415 519 4810 ce

415 383 9562 fx

bwl3 at comcast.net

 <mailto:bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org> bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org
(secondary)

http://www.fotr.org

http://www.caltrout.org

 

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