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<P class=MsoNormal><STRONG><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">CENTRAL VALLEY PROJECT /
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">TRINITY</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">RIVER</st1:PlaceType></st1:place></SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><STRONG><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Snubbed: Interior Department
ignores Humboldt's request for Trinity water </SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><STRONG><B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Eureka</SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG></st1:place></st1:City><STRONG><B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">
Times-Standard - 8/4/04</SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><STRONG><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">By <st1:PersonName w:st="on">John
Driscoll</st1:PersonName>, staff writer</SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt">The U.S.
Interior Department essentially chose not to answer <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Humboldt</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType>'s request for water promised as part of the
project that diverts part of the <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place>
south.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt">The
county has been trying to secure some 50,000 acre feet -- 16 billion gallons --
it is allotted as part of the 1955 Trinity River Division Act. An April letter
to Interior Secretary Gale Norton was answered last week by Duncan Brown of the
Office of the Executive Secretariat. It dodges the question.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt">Brown
replies that since a July decision by the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals fully implements a restoration plan for the river, more water
will flow down the Trinity anyway. Flows will increase under the plan to help
restore the river's salmon, but the additional water will be sent down the river
in the spring. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt">Some 53
percent of the river's flows above Lewiston Dam will still be sent to the
Sacramento River, where it's withdrawn by <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place> irrigators. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt">"This
proposal will undoubtedly improve the habitat fish need to survive and
multiply," Brown wrote. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt">But
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Humboldt</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType> officials hope to use the water in case an
emergency arises on the <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place> in the
fall. The water could be used to raise and cool the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">lower Klamath</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, where in 2002 between 34,000 and
68,000 chinook salmon died. State and federal studies have pointed to low flows
as a key element that perpetuated the salmon-killing diseases.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt">The
Interior Department is in the process of buying the same amount of water, 50,000
acre feet, from <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place> water
contractors, for that purpose. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt">Longtime
environmental law attorney Michael Jackson said that the Bush administration,
already knee-deep in western water conflicts, probably isn't willing to take up
anything new before the November elections.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt">"They're
just flat out at 100 percent," <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Jackson</st1:place></st1:City> said. "I presume they just don't want
to think about it."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt">Jackson</SPAN></FONT></st1:place></st1:City><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt"> said the county may now need to go
directly to the State Water Resources Control Board, which could order the
contract be honored.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>