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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>This is from more than a week ago, but I’ve been gone (aren’t
you’re lucky). It is significant to the Trinity River as well as all
other <st1:place w:st="on">Northern California</st1:place> rivers. It’s what
I’ve been haranguing you about for a long time. It is <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>IMPORTANT</span></b>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>FISHERIES PROTECTION</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 size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Dems demand inquiry into salmon study</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 size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Contra Costa Times - 10/9/04</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 size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>By Mike Taugher, staff writer</span></font></b></strong><font
size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>More than
a dozen congressional Democrats called for an investigation Friday into
allegations that an analysis of how <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
salmon might be affected by the state's water system was politically
manipulated.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
300-page study examines how politically charged plans to rejigger operation of
dams and pumps that deliver water through the Delta from Northern California to
<st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place> will affect several
species of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
lawmakers said they feared there was an ongoing "catastrophic failure of
oversight" that could drive salmon and steelhead toward extinction.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"I
would hope the inspectors general would investigate these allegations
immediately," said Rep. George Miller, one of 19 members to seek the
investigation. "There is a great deal at stake."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Miller,
D-Martinez, was reacting to the differences between two versions of the salmon
report: one written late this summer by biologists at the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's fisheries office and a second version that
contained revisions by the agency's managers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
latter version, if made final, would make it far easier to renew long-term
water contracts in the Central Valley and boost the capacity of Delta pumps
that deliver water to <st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Although
the study, called a "biological opinion," has yet to be finalized,
the Times obtained portions of the earlier draft and a full copy of the most
recent draft.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
versions have key differences, most notably that the earlier version says water
operations will jeopardize the continued existence of some fish species, and
the later draft does not. The differences were first reported in the Sacramento
Bee last week in a story that prompted the congressional letter.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>In
addition, the earlier draft contains a requirement that would have forced the
Contra Costa Water District to shut down one of its water supply canals for six
months a year. The revised report says only that the agency must monitor salmon
caught in the canal.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>A Contra
Costa water official said the earlier version was in error because biologists
had wrongly assumed the canal at Rock Slough was used for all of the district's
water supply, an assumption that led them to conclude more fish were being
killed there than actually were.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"That
was a goof," said Contra Costa Water District assistant general manager
Greg Gartrell.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Jim
Lecky, the assistant regional administrator at the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration who oversees the salmon report, said there were
other errors.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"I
reviewed my staff's work and I didn't think they did a good job," Lecky
said. "There were a bunch of errors in their assumptions about the
project."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
congressional letter is the latest in a series of efforts by Miller to slow
down and examine plans by federal water managers in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>. For weeks, he has been trying to
get the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to reconsider plans to renew dozens of
long-term water contracts for farmers and others throughout the <st1:place
w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place> that Miller considers unduly favorable to
water users.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>In
addition, water officials are looking to increase the capacity of pumps that
move water from the Delta to <st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Both the
contract renewals and the increased pumping hinge on the salmon study, which
technically is a review of a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation document called the
"Operations, Criteria and Plan" that describes how the state's two
largest water delivery projects, the Central Valley Project and the State Water
Project, will be operated.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
congressional letter suggests the bureau, "in its haste to finalize water
contracts in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>,
has improperly undermined the required NOAA fisheries environmental review
process."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Reclamation
Bureau spokesman Jeff McCracken said his agency had no improper influence on
the biological opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"We
never saw the earlier draft that had the alleged different opinion in it,"
McCracken said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Earlier
in the week, state Sen. Mike Machado, D-Stockton, asked for an independent
scientific review of the biological opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Lecky
said the issue was being blown out of proportion.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"This
is a typical consultation process," he said. "It's nothing out of the
ordinary."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/9877179.htm"
title="http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/9877179.htm"><font
size=4
title="http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/9877179.htm"><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'>http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/9877179.htm</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Consultant, California Trout, Inc.</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 ph</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810 ce</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 9562 fx</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><em><i><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='text-decoration:none'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></font></i></em></a><em><i><font
face="Times New Roman"> (secondary)</font></i></em><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.fotr.org">http://www.fotr.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'><a href="http://www.caltrout.org">http://www.caltrout.org</a></span><o:p></o:p></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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