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<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Trinity
advocates watch <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place> contracts</span></font></b></strong>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=articlebyline><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>By </span></font></span><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><strong><b><font
face="Times New Roman">John Driscoll</font></b></strong></st1:PersonName><strong><b><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></b></strong><span class=articlebyline>The
Times-Standard</span> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Northern California interests are lining up to protest the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's plans to forge long-term water contracts with
irrigators in the Central Valley -- pacts Trinity River advocates believe
threaten the river's source of cold water. <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'>Humboldt and Trinity counties, fishing and environmental
groups and the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
Environmental Protection Agency are among those who have lodged complaints
about the environmental documents drafted for the 25-year contracts for the <st1:place
w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place> Project. Specifically, the groups focused
on contracts for the San Luis Unit, which include eight water contractors in
the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Western</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
<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'>Essentially, the groups say that the document doesn't explore
just how Reclamation will supply promised water to the unit while cutting
exports from the Trinity River, as cleared in a case won by the Hoopa Valley
Tribe in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court One longtime expert, Trinity County Senior
Planner <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Tom Stokely</st1:PersonName>, believes the
water in part will have to be pulled out of Trinity Reservoir. If the lake were
drawn down further than typical in the fall, more water from winter rains and
snow could be stored before spilling over <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lewiston</st1:place></st1:City>
Dam, he said. That could allow more water to be exported to the Sacramento
River, from where water is sent to <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>
irrigators. <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'>"It's the only way they can send more water to these
districts," Stokely said. <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'>It could also deplete the cold water available in the fall
for salmon in the Trinity and the <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place>,
which it flows into. <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'>Among the districts whose contract is up in 2007 is Westlands
Water District, the nemesis of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Hoopa</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> Tribe during the
five-year legal battle and 30-year war over the river's water. Westlands in
January conceded its case to the tribe, clearing the way for higher flows and
fish restoration efforts on the river. <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'>In recent years, the state and federal water pact called
CalFed has provided Westlands with between 55 percent and 70 percent of its
contracted deliveries. The 2000 federal decision to restore the river --
cleared through the circuit court -- calls for a reduction in that amount, to
50 percent. <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'>But a Dec. 23, 2004, letter to Congressman George Miller from
Reclamation Commissioner John Keyes III suggests that the agency intends to
deliver the full amount to its contractors by 2025. In Westlands' case, it's
difficult to know where that water would come from. The district is the primary
beneficiary of Trinity water as laid out in the 1955 legislation that
authorized the Trinity project. <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'>Bureau spokesman Jeff McCracken said a number of studies are
underway that look at increasing the yield of the <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place> Project, a vast array of reservoirs and canals. The
assumption that 100 percent of the water could be delivered is from projections
that new or improved storage will come on line, McCracken said, and that
increased yields can be gained from the system's reservoirs. <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'>"To meet all our environmental needs we use water from
our reservoirs," McCracken said, "and in order to meet all our
contractual needs we would use all of our reservoirs." <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'>But in allocations for 2005 released Tuesday, Reclamation is
allowing for 65 percent of water deliveries for agriculture south of the
Sacramento River Delta, including the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
<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'>Stokely can't see how that figure can be reached, since the
Trinity restoration plan calls for a reduction in water exports to 50 percent.
The water would have to come from storage -- including <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Trinity</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>,
he said -- since none of the bureau's long-term projects have been realized. <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'>Nearly half of Westlands requires drainage service that it
doesn't have, and some districts in the area are waterlogged and contaminated
with boron and salt. Providing for drainage could cost billions. <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'>The draft document for the San Luis Unit doesn't look at a
range of alternatives including not renewing the contracts; doesn't address
reducing water deliveries to waterlogged lands; or consider how contaminated
runoff will be drained from those areas, Humboldt County's letter to
Reclamation reads. <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'>The EPA called the document "inadequate" since it
doesn't deal with the environmental impacts of full water deliveries or those
deliveries' effects on drainage. <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'>A slate of environmental groups like Friends of the Trinity
River and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
Trout ask that the draft document be tossed out. It never addresses the
benefits of retiring land in the <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>,
or deals with the toxic drainage issue, the groups wrote. <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'>It also only casually references the bureau's trust
responsibilities to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Hoopa</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> and Yurok Tribes. <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'>In its comments, the Hoopa Tribe claims Reclamation is
looking at the contract renewals in a vacuum, without considering the needs of
the Trinity. Reclamation must consider reductions in water exports as a
possibility, the tribe wrote. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></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><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>
<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'>415 383 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>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><u><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
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>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a><u>
</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>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a href="http://caltrout.org">http://caltrout.org</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'> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
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12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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