[env-trinity] SacBee editorial: "By working for Westlands, Wanger puts legacy in doubt, " further muddies water conflicts

Thu Dec 1 11:02:48 PST 2011

sacbee.com

This story is taken from Sacbee <http://www.sacbee.com> / Opinion 
<http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/index.html> / Editorials 
<http://www.sacbee.com/editorials/index.html>

  Editorial: By working for Westlands, Wanger puts legacy in doubt

        Published Thursday, Dec. 01, 2011

Of all the federal judges who have recently presided in California, none 
has had more impact on California water issues than just-retired U.S. 
District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger of Fresno.

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991, Wanger was at the 
center of highly contentious rulings on federal water contracts, 
endangered species protections and disputes over toxic drainage.

On numerous occasions, the Westlands Water District -- the nation's 
largest agricultural district by value of crops -- was a party in those 
cases, and several times Wanger issued rulings favorable to this 
powerful water agency.

Last December, for instance, Wanger invalidated a federal biological 
opinion intended to protect Delta smelt but opposed by Westlands and 
other contractors because of its proposed limits on water pumping from 
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Westlands praised Wanger in a press 
release, saying his "balanced and carefully articulated ruling marks 
another impact victory for good science and public interest."

Wanger retired at the end of September, but not before verbally blasting 
federal scientists from the bench, calling one a "zealot" and suggesting 
that the other distorted the truth. His ruling in that case, which threw 
out a biological opinion intended to protect salmon, delighted water 
contractors, with Westlands General Manager Thomas Birmingham stating, 
"the court got it right again."

Now we learn that Wanger, two months after stepping down from the bench, 
is going to work for Westlands. He will serve as the water district's 
lawyer in a case where environmental groups are claiming that interim 
water contracts for Westlands and other contractors violate state 
environmental law.

Technically, Wanger does not appear to be in violation of ethics rules 
for ex-judges by agreeing to take this case. That's because the lawsuit 
doesn't involve a case he previously ruled upon. It involves alleged 
violations of a state statute, as opposed to the federal statutes that 
were heard in Wanger's court. Nonetheless, his decision to work for 
Westlands throws into question his past impartiality, since he was at 
the center of so many cases involving this water district and previously 
ruled on similar lawsuits involving federal statutes.

It also doesn't help that on Oct. 3, just three days after Wanger left 
the bench, a major Westlands landowner emailed an invitation to growers 
announcing that Wanger would be the guest speaker at a political event 
for a local supervisor who used to clerk for Wanger. "Judge Oliver 
Wanger has been key in supporting Valley agriculture and its lawful 
access to essential water!," said the flier sent by Westlands grower 
Mark Borba.

To be sure, in his 20-year career, Wanger issued rulings that went 
against Westlands, particularly one in late 2007 that determined that 
federal agencies had failed to adequately protect Delta smelt. That 
ruling resulted in a reduction of water pumping from the Delta during an 
already dry year, creating hardship and protests in the San Joaquin 
Valley and new rounds of litigation.

Still, if he were truly interested in protecting his legacy as a judge, 
Wanger would have shied away from work with Westlands, environmental 
advocates or any group that previously appeared regularly before him. By 
taking a case for this water district, which already has several other 
former federal employees on its payroll, he has undermined the 
credibility of many of his past court decisions.

Given that credibility was already in short supply as state and federal 
officials try to resolve water conflicts in the Delta, Wanger hasn't 
done Californians any favors.

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