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class=018332018-01032004><SPAN class=673191119-22032004><FONT size=2>Maybe
Humboldt County should join this lawsuit for their 50,000 af
contract?</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
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size=2>TS</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
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size=2>*************************************************</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><STRONG>BUREAU OF
RECLAMATION</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><STRONG>California water agencies sue
feds</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><STRONG>Attorney says feds 'took the money and
ran'</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><STRONG>Associated Press -
4/22/04</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><STRONG>By Seth Hettena, staff
writer</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT size=2>SAN DIEGO - Two California water agencies are seeking $500
million for a decade's worth of water that they say the federal government
failed to deliver.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Two San Joaquin County water agencies say that since 1993 the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has failed to deliver 37.5 million gallons a year
from New Melones Dam, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in the Court of
Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Much of the water was used to meet state and federal
environmental regulations on salinity and federally protected fish in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, according to the complaint.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Jeff McCracken, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,
said he had not seen the lawsuit and declined to comment.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>The Stockton East Water District and Central San Joaquin Water
Conservation District supply water to more than 320,000 residents and 130,000
acres of San Joaquin County farmland. Stockton East spent $65 million to build
tunnels and aqueducts to carry water it rarely receives.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>"The system is bone dry most of the time," said Kevin Kauffman,
general manager of Stockton East.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Nancie G. Marzulla, the attorney for the water districts, said
the Bureau of Reclamation signed contracts in 1983 to provide the water, got
California to agree to the deliveries and then "took the money and
ran."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>It is the third such case to emerge from California and Oregon
in the Court of Federal Claims in recent years.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Farmers in the Klamath Basin along the California-Oregon border
are seeking $100 million for water the Bureau of Reclamation used in 2001 to
protect endangered suckers and threatened coho salmon.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>In December, a judge awarded $26 million to farmers in Kern and
Tulare Counties for water they lost in an effort in the early 1990s to save two
rare fish. The Justice Department has not said whether it will
appeal.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Critics have called the claims a stealth attack on the
environment.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>"The purpose of these suits is simply a backdoor attack on
environmental laws," said Barry Nelson, a senior policy analyst with the
National Resources Defense Council.#</FONT></P></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>