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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
lang=EN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-ansi-language: EN"><FONT
color=#008000>SAN JOAQUIN RIVER:</FONT> <FONT
color=#008000><EM><FONT size=2>thanks Mike...<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></FONT></EM></FONT></SPAN></FONT></B></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
lang=EN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-ansi-language: EN">Some
see a deal to get river rolling; A long-sought pact for dry San Joaquin could
become reality after Monday hearing<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
lang=EN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-ansi-language: EN"><FONT
color=#ff0000>Sacramento Bee – 6/17/06<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
lang=EN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-ansi-language: EN">By
Michael Doyle -- and Mark Grossi -- Fresno Bee</SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">WASHINGTON
-- The dried San Joaquin River might flow again, along with lots and lots of
money, under a historic deal coming closer by the hour.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">Long-warring
parties who beat the odds to become negotiating partners will march once again
before a federal judge in Sacramento on Monday. In their hands could be an
accord that reshapes California's water future. </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">"The
agreement is there," said Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">Attorneys
for farmers and environmentalists quietly concur, though the final haggling
could well last all weekend. Negotiators are motivated. </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">They know
that if they fail, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton will impose his own
unpredictable solution -- which might hit farmers hard.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">"The
negotiators believe that it is possible to reach agreement in principle on the
few remaining issues before June 19, and will continue to work between now and
the status conference," attorneys advised Karlton on
Thursday. </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">Details are
cloaked and negotiators tight-lipped. Still, any deal will be heard loud and
clear throughout the West. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">It will be
ambitious, as officials revive the San Joaquin for the first time since Friant
Dam began constraining the river in the 1940s. </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">It will be
far-reaching, with water users as far north as the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta waiting nervously to see the plans. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">It will be
expensive, with San Joaquin River restoration costs estimated at a minimum of
$100 million and possibly much more, depending on how the river is
restored. </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">It will also
quickly become congressional business. Federal authorization will be required
for the levees, streambed improvements and other work required to enliven the
seasonally dry river with about 200,000 acre-feet of water annually.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">An acre-foot
is the amount of water needed to cover an acre to the depth of 1 foot, or about
326,000 gallons. </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">"If there's
an agreement, we will come together to write the enabling legislation," said
Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">Last
September, urged on by Radanovich and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the
Friant Water Users Authority and the Natural Resources Defense Council began
quietly conferring on how to settle a San Joaquin River lawsuit first brought in
1988. </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">The lawsuit
challenges contract renewals for Friant, which represents 15,000 east San
Joaquin Valley farmers. Arguments quickly turned to the loss of the river's two
salmon runs in the late 1940s when two large stretches of the river dried up.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">State law
requires dam operators to provide enough downstream flow to keep fisheries
going. Nonetheless, state officials squelched complaints from their own
Department of Fish and Game and allowed the federal government to dry up the
river. </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">Then-Gov.
Edmund "Pat" Brown agreed with federal officials who wanted to irrigate highly
productive land. Friant's lawyers have always maintained this is what Congress
intended. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">But in 1997,
Karlton invalidated 14 contracts, ruling environmental reviews were not properly
conducted. After the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, the two sides
spent more than three years trying to settle. They wound up back in federal
court by 2003. </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">In August
2004, Karlton decided the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation broke state law by drying
up the river and wiping out the salmon runs. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">He has been
poised since February to craft a solution unless a settlement is
reached. </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">The politics
are as complex as the litigation. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">The
congressman who represents most of the Friant district on the Valley's east
side, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, bluntly distrusts environmentalists. Nor does
he want to release water from Friant for the purpose of saving the long-dry San
Joaquin; at most, he indicated, he "may not oppose" the final
deal. </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">Downstream
water users in Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties worry they might be
hurt. For instance, some fear they will shoulder new Endangered Species Act
burdens in order to protect the spring run of the chinook salmon enraptured by
the San Joaquin River's new flow. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">"I'm hopeful
that we'll come up with a solution that works for everyone," said Rep. Dennis
Cardoza, D-Merced. </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">On the other
hand, a revived river would help water quality downstream, where
environmentalists derisively talk of <FONT color=#000000><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: red; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">the "lower
colon of the San Joaquin River." </SPAN></B><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">A healthy
San Joaquin would mean higher water quality in the Delta, the source of drinking
water for about 23 million Californians. </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">But, back on
the Valley's west side, another third party worries about what will happen if
the river is restored. The westside farmers who once used the San Joaquin for
irrigation have instead taken water from the Delta for years. They farm more
than 200,000 valuable acres along the dried and withered sections of the river.
A live river will inevitably spill out onto surrounding land, Central California
Irrigation District officials fear. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">"Most of the
big expense of restoring the river will take place right in this stretch," said
district manager Chris White. </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN">Friant and
the Natural Resources Defense Council neared an agreement several months ago.
The struggle ever since has been to brief groups like Central California,
Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts and to tinker as necessary with the
final language</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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