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<h2><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>See last
two paragraphs in bold<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<h2><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><b><font size=5
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:18.0pt'>U.S.</span></font></b></st1:country-region></st1:place>
Agrees to Pay for Diverting Water to Aid Two Rare Fish<o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'></NYT_HEADLINE><NYT_BYLINE version="1.0" type=" ">By
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS </span></font></b></strong><br>
</NYT_BYLINE><img width=1 height=5 id="_x0000_i1025"
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<font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:
Arial;color:black'>Published: December 23, 2004</span></font><br>
<br>
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<NYT_TEXT>
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src="cid:image002.gif@01C4E8D2.CFB04B30" align=left alt=S border=0 v:shapes="_x0000_s1026"><![endif]><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman">ACRAMENTO, Dec. 22 - The federal government has
agreed to pay four <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State> water districts
$16.7 million for water that the government diverted a decade ago to help two
rare fish in the <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>, officials
said Tuesday. <o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
settlement came after a federal judge awarded $26 million to the water
districts a year ago. The debate over appealing that decision or settling the
case grew into a larger debate over the Endangered Species Act and privacy rights.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Some
politicians, including Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, urged
the government last week to fight the decision, while the chairman of the House
Resources Committee, Representative Richard W. Pombo, Republican of California,
urged the government to agree with the judge's ruling that the water districts
were entitled to money for water they had lost.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Environmental
groups feared that the ruling would force the government to pay millions of
dollars each time it reserved water to help threatened wildlife.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But the
water districts argued, and the judge ruled, that they deserved compensation
under the Fifth Amendment, which protects private property from government
seizure.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The water
districts said in a statement that Senior Judge John Wiese of the Court of
Federal Claims had carefully safeguarded states' rights to make water
allocation decisions even as he protected property rights.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The four
agencies are the Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District, the Kern County
Water Agency, the Lost Hills Water District and the Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa
Water Storage District. They will get their legal costs on top of the water's
market value for water diverted to aid endangered winter-run Chinook salmon and
threatened delta smelt.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Senator Feinstein said the decision "could seriously
harm <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s
historic water rights system."<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>"This precedent could make it impossible for the state
and federal agencies to protect and manage the San Francisco Bay-Delta, the
heart of the state's water system," without vastly increased expenditures,
she said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
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Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
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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>
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<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
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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'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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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>
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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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