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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>More on <u>pigs can fly</u>, or <u>take
care of political influential friends</u> “decision making.” And
the decision was made ON THE DAY on which final comments were due. So
much for public input.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>More Delta Water May Head South</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'>Reversal of findings that changes in the Shasta Dam
system could harm salmon has some in Congress charging political interference.</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
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Los
Angeles</span></font></b></strong></st1:place></st1:City><strong><b><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'> Times -
10/23/04</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 Bettina Boxall, 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'>The
National Marine Fisheries Service issued an opinion Friday that opens the door
to increased water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
agency concluded that additional pumping from the delta, as well as changes in
dam operations, would not seriously harm endangered or threatened salmon
species. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>That
reversed earlier draft findings by its biologists that could have stymied plans
to send more water south to the farms of the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San
Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType> and
the cities of <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'>In an
August draft letter, never publicly released but leaked to the media, the
agency said that increased pumping and other proposed changes in the federal
water system were "likely to jeopardize the continued existence" of
the Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
agency's regional administrator also had written to county officials in
Northern California saying the agency was concerned that a significant amount
of spawning grounds would be lost if water managers moved ahead with plans to
alter Shasta Dam operations.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The draft
revisions, made after a consultation with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, was
overseen by Jim Lecky, the Marine Fisheries' assistant regional administrator
for protected resources. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>He said
Friday the earlier findings that salmon would be jeopardized had been based on
faulty analysis.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"I'm
pretty familiar with the system and the fish in the system, and my guys didn't
a do a good job," said Lecky, a career biologist with the agency.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>But the
reversal of opinion, also leaked in advance to the media and made official
Friday, has sparked congressional allegations of political interference.
Earlier this month, Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) and 18 other members of
Congress asked the inspectors general of the Interior and Commerce departments to
investigate whether federal political appointees had played a role in
overriding the initial findings. In response, the offices have launched a
review.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Environmentalists
have also decried the reversal, saying it was done to ease the way for
potentially massive water exports to powerful Central Valley farm interests and
<st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place> water agencies. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Taking
more water from the delta, they warn, will undermine the fragile gains that
have been made with salmon runs.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"This
administrative revision is an outrageous and despicable sacrifice of sound
science on the altar of expediency," contended Bill Jennings of the
environmental group DeltaKeeper. "It's disheartening to see a trustee
agency succumb to political pressure and reject the expert opinions of its own
scientists in issuing a biological opinion that it knows may push endangered
species over the brink of extinction."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Lecky
rejected the suggestions of political tinkering. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"That's
just blatantly not true," he said, describing the agency's consultation
with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as routine. "We have to come to a
common understanding of the project. It requires frank discussions and
exchanging documents." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Lecky
said his biologists had erred in assuming the Shasta Dam operation changes
would substantially reduce spawning habitat for the winter-run chinook.
Although water managers would no longer be required to maintain certain
temperatures in a portion of the river, that would not prevent the fish from
using it.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"It
affects [the habitat] </span></font><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>—</span></font><font size=4><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'> that's much different from a total loss," Lecky
said. "When we corrected that analysis, the argument for jeopardy was no
longer [valid]."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Tina
Swanson, senior scientist with the Bay Institute, countered that when <st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento River</st1:place> temperatures rose during a 1970s
drought, the salmon population crashed.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"It's
extremely clear you have to maintain these conditions to keep the fish
alive," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Although
the number of winter-run Chinook has climbed from a low of 211 in the early
1990s, the population has yet to top 10,000. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>It
reached 9,757 last year, and state fish and game biologists estimate this
year's population at about 9,000.<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'>Water plan gets agency approval</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 - 10/23/04</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'>The
federal agency responsible for protecting <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>'s
imperiled salmon and steelhead gave its approval Friday to a sweeping plan that
helps clear the way for water agencies to increase pumping of Delta 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'>The
document says that continuing to operate the dams and pumps in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s two largest
water projects will not drive salmon or steelhead to extinction.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>More
importantly, perhaps, the document removes a major obstacle to two hotly
contested initiatives: a new batch of 25-year federal water contracts for some
of the state's biggest farm districts and other water users, including the
Contra Costa Water District; and plans to boost the pumping capacity of the
Delta's state-owned pumps by more than 25 percent.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
report by the National Marine Fisheries Service already has come under fierce
criticism because earlier, leaked versions concluded water operations would
jeopardize some salmon runs. Later versions of the report showed the agency
reversed those conclusions and determined the projects pose less risk to salmon
and steelhead.<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 members of Congress, led by Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, charged
federal agencies with politically manipulating the biologists' conclusions. In
response, the offices of inspector general in two federal departments are
investigating.<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 in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Long Beach</st1:place></st1:City> who ordered the changes and issued
the final document on Friday, defended the final report and said the earlier
versions had serious shortcomings.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"This
was just an issue of an inadequate analysis," Lecky said, adding he
ordered corrections. "When they did (the corrections), the rationale for a
jeopardy opinion was not sustainable."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Critics
say the revisions are reminiscent of changes to water operations in the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Klamath</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">River basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> during the last several
years, where they claim politically motivated changes to help water users
resulted in dramatic salmon kills.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"What's
very clear is the Bureau of Reclamation is trying to bring Klamath-style water
operations into the <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>," said
Barry Nelson, a water policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
document issued Friday amounts to a final approval for an otherwise obscure
document called the "Operations Criteria and Plan" for the federal
government's Central Valley Project, which includes Shasta Dam and other north
state reservoirs, Delta pumps and canals to San Joaquin Valley farms. The
project also serves the comparatively small Contra Costa Water District.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
document spells out how that project is run now and how it will run in
conduction with the State Water Project, which includes Oroville Dam and other
reservoirs, larger Delta pumps and a 444-mile canal that primarily serves urban
southern <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
cooperation between the two projects became highly controversial because
details were negotiated privately last fall in a way that primarily benefits
large water users, critics say. Representatives of the Contra Costa Water
District, environmental groups and Delta farm districts were not included in
those talks, which resulted in a package of proposals known as the Napa
Agreement.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"It's
water supply at the expense of everything else -- make decisions in the back
room and freeze out everybody else," said Nelson.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>With the
plan now approved, federal water managers can move forward with issuing new
25-year water contracts for their customers. Miller, who has authored
legislation that reformed Central Valley Project operations in 1992, has
accused the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation of proposing contract terms that defy
the intent of his legislation.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"It's
unfortunate -- but not at all surprising -- that this important document was
released after business hours on a Friday," Miller said in a statement.
"I have not yet had a chance to read the opinion, but we'll be taking a
careful look at it. If the Department has not appropriately addressed the
concerns that political interests have been allowed to override scientific
evidence, further investigation may be required."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Miller
and others are concerned because in an earlier draft of the report, federal
biologists concluded the water operations would threaten the existence of
spring-run chinook salmon and <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>
steelhead.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The final
version concludes those runs would not be jeopardized. The difference is
important because when federal biologists declare jeopardy, they gain the
ability to require major changes in how much water is released from dams, when
pumps can be run and how hard and any other aspect of the project they deem
critical.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The lack
of a jeopardy finding means the Bureau of Reclamation can proceed with its
plans without substantial modification.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>In
addition, federal water managers sought, and received, approval to do away with
a requirement that they hold 1.9 million acre-feet of water in Shasta Dam over
the winter to ensure there is enough cold water for spawning winter-run salmon.
Water officials said that requirement is no longer needed because a device has
been installed that allows them to more easily release cold water.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
agency also received approval to shorten the length of the <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento
River</st1:place> that must be kept cold.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Lecky
said by keeping a shorter stretch of river at low temperatures, water managers
can save cold water for use later in the year for spring-run chinook. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<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
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<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>
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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
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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>
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