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<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></strong></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Plan to release more <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> delta water stirs controversy </span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Associated Press - 11/30/04</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>By Juliana Barbassa, staff writer</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'>FRESNO</span></font></st1:City><font size=4><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'> -- A plan to increase fresh-water pumping from the
San Joaquin-Sacramento river delta is pitting <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place> farmers who want the water for their crops against
environmentalists and delta farmers who fear the move will undermine years of
fishery and water quality restoration efforts.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
proposal would increase the amount of water pumped out of the delta, a fragile
ecosystem that already supplies water for 22 million Californians as far south
as Los Angeles and irrigates millions of acres of Central Valley farmland.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
increased flow would help stabilize the amount of water delivered to farmers in
the western half of the <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>, giving
them the ability to better plan for long-term or higher-value crops, farmers in
the region said. Those farmers, who have had their water flows limited over the
past decade as water was diverted to wildlife refuges, say it is time they get
the water they were promised.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>But
environmentalists say the move could reverse years -- and millions of dollars
worth -- of ecosystem restoration work. Reducing fresh water flows to the delta
could affect its water quality by increasing salinity and temperature, possibly
threatening the salmon that have been slowly returning to the region's rivers,
advocates say.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Opponents
to the plan also say it undermines a decade of cooperation under CalFed, a
state-federal water management program designed to balance the water supply
demands of urban and rural users with environmental considerations.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"This
is an old-fashioned water grab," said <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Barry
Nelson</st1:PersonName> of the Natural Resources Defense Council.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Since
1992, CalFed has overseen the spending of about $500 million in state and
federal funds to reverse some of the damage that 150 years of mining and water diversion
did to the delta. The effort has helped restore the delicate balance between
fresh water from the mountain rivers and salt water from the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
that is essential to salmon and other species of marine and plant life.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
restoration effort has brought back a naturally reproducing salmon population
that had almost disappeared. In the early 1990s, only a few hundred winter-run
Chinook salmon were making their way through the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Golden
Gate</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bridge</st1:PlaceType>, through
the delta and up Sierra Nevada rivers like the Tuolumne, <st1:City w:st="on">Merced</st1:City>
and <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City>.
Now, thousands of fish fight the currents to make their way up the rivers every
winter.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>At the
center of the current controversy is the state-operated Harvey O. Banks pump,
nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills near <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Tracy</st1:place></st1:City>. The linchpin in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s Byzantine plumbing system, it
currently sucks more than 4 billion gallons of water a day out of the delta.
The proposal would increase its pumping limit by up to 25 percent.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>For the
past 12 years, water agencies that serve farmers in the <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place> have endured federally mandated water cutbacks so that
water quality could be improved and fisheries could be restored, said Tupper
Hull, a representative of Westlands, an agency that delivers delta water to
nearly 600,000 acres of farmland.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Growers
working about 1 million acres in the western valley have been getting only
between 40 percent and 70 percent of their water allotment, while nearly 1
million cubic feet of water they had relied on annually was used for wildlife
restoration.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"The
impact of that was felt down in the <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>,"
said Jeff McCracken, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Reclamation.
"It's been very hard to give them the water they need."</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Now,
farmers are pointing to the increased numbers of salmon swimming up <st1:place
w:st="on">Sierra Nevada</st1:place> rivers, and saying it's time for state and
federal agencies to send them their share of water.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>An
increased flow of fresh water from the delta would give <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place> farmers a more reliable water supply, they say.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"It
would let us do better planning, and it would give us more confidence to invest
in higher-value crops," said Jean Errotabere, who farms 3,500 acres of
lettuce, almonds, garlic and other crops in the Westlands.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"It
would help us plan better. When we make investments, we can't have uncertainty
be a part of it," said Dan Errotabere, who farms 3,500 acres of lettuce,
almonds, garlic and other crops in the Westlands. He is the irrigation
district's chairman.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>But
environmental groups and farmers who work the low-lying islands inside the
delta's meandering canals want the water cutbacks to <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place> farmers to remain in place. They worry that the increased
pumping will affect the delicate ecological balance of the delta.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>That
could degrade water quality, kill thousands of endangered fish and further
alter river flows, said Nelson of the NRDC.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Water
quality is "absolutely a question of survival" for delta farmers,
said Dante John Nomellini, who represents the Central Delta water agency. The
agency serves about 120,000 acres of farmland in western <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>It
doesn't make sense to take more water out of the delta while water quality is
still a worry for farmers, urban users and environmentalists in the region,
Nomellini said.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"We
could blend this into a workable solution that could be beneficial to the
exporters, the people in the delta and the fish and wildlife," he said. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"But
there's a lot of work to be done."</span></font><o:p></o:p></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>
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