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<p class=MsoNormal><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><b><font size=4
face=Arial><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>SAN
FRANCISCO</span></font></b></st1:place></st1:City><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'> <br>
Lawsuit challenges plan to increase pumping from delta</span></font></b><b><font
size=6 face=Arial><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:
bold'><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=author1><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><!-- START WRITER CREDIT--><span
style='font-size:7.5pt'><a href="mailto:begelko@sfchronicle.com"><!-- END HEADLINE/DECK & SUBHEADLINE/SUBDECK -->Bob
Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=date1><font size=1 color="#cc3333" face=Arial><span style='font-size:
7.5pt'>Wednesday, February 16, 2005</span><!-- END WRITER CREDIT--></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Environmental groups sued the Bush
administration Tuesday over a plan to increase water shipments from the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>
farmers, saying it would harm the delta and threaten the delta smelt with
extinction. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>The suit, filed in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> District Court in <st1:City w:st="on">San
Francisco</st1:City>, challenges an opinion issued in July by the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> Fish and
Wildlife Service that said planned changes in federal and state water project
operations posed no risk to the smelt, listed as a threatened species since
1993. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>The opinion, the suit said, failed to take
into account plans by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to sign new 25-year
contracts with growers in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, starting as
soon as this month, that would greatly increase pumping out of the delta. It
also said the population of the delta smelt, a finger-size fish considered an
indicator of the health of the delta system, is at its lowest level in 35
years. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>The Fish and Wildlife Service opinion is
"based on political expedience rather than sound science'' and relies on
speculation that unproven measures will be taken to protect the delta, said the
suit, which seeks to invalidate the opinion and effectively block the new water
contracts. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>"From delta smelt to Chinook salmon,
fish in the delta and the Central Valley are in serious trouble, and the
federal and state governments are making the problem worse,'' said <st1:PersonName
w:st="on">Hal Candee</st1:PersonName>, a lawyer with the Natural Resources
Defense Council. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>The other plaintiffs are California Trout,
Baykeeper, Friends of the River and the Bay Institute. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Al Donner, spokesman for the Fish and
Wildlife Service in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City>,
said the federal agency considered the effect of increased pumping from the
delta in its evaluation last July. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>"We think that the biological opinion
is an adequate assessment of the impacts and it sets a reasonable and prudent
standard for protecting the delta smelt,'' Donner said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>The suit is the latest of several related
disputes over Bush administration water policy in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>. Environmentalists have accused
the administration of trying to help farmers strip the delta smelt of its
Endangered Species Act protection and criticized the administration for
refusing to appeal a ruling that required the government to pay growers $26
million for water that was held back to protect the smelt and the Chinook
salmon in the early 1990s. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Tuesday's suit involved the impact of new
operating plans for the federal Central Valley Project and the State Water
Project, which control water storage and north-south shipments. The suit
alleged that the Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place> Project, pressured the Fish and Wildlife Service to issue a
hasty opinion that would clear the way for renewed long-term contracts
providing increased volumes of subsidized water to major farmers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>"This was done to push through a multitude
of ill-conceived water contracts in an arbitrary rush to appease agricultural
users,'' said Laura Robb, an Earthjustice attorney representing the
environmental groups. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/16/BAGDLBBHO61.DTL">http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/16/BAGDLBBHO61.DTL</a>
<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><em><i><font color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, </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'>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, Californiua Trout, Inc.</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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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>
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<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>
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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
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:blue'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></u></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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</u></span></font><font color=black><span style='color:black'>(secondary)</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></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>
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