<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="Street"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="address"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="City"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="State"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PostalCode"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceName"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceType"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="country-region"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PersonName"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoEnvelopeAddress, li.MsoEnvelopeAddress, div.MsoEnvelopeAddress
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:2.0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-element:frame;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black;}
p.MsoEnvelopeReturn, li.MsoEnvelopeReturn, div.MsoEnvelopeReturn
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoAutoSig, li.MsoAutoSig, div.MsoAutoSig
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.EmailStyle19
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:windowtext;
font-weight:bold;
font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none none;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 16, 2008 <br>
<br>
CONTACT: <br>
Mike Sherwood, Earthjustice at 510-550-6700 <br>
Craig Noble, NRDC at 415-875-6100 or 415-601-8235 (mobile) <br>
Zeke Grader, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations at
415-561-5080 ex 224 <br>
Christina Swanson, The Bay Institute at 530-756-9021 <br>
Gary Mulcahy, Winnemem Wintu Tribe at 916-991-8493 <br>
Sejal Choksi, Baykeeper at 925-330-7757 <br>
<br>
Judge Tosses Biological Opinion for Salmon and Steelhead in California <br>
Groups say delta water project operations must protect water supply for fish
and people <br>
<br>
FRESNO, Calif. – A federal judge has invalidated a water plan that would
have allowed more pumping from the San Francisco Bay Delta at the expense of
five species of protected salmon and steelhead trout. Fishing and conservation
groups and a <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
tribe called the ruling a victory for the millions of Californians who depend
on the delta for drinking water, fishing jobs and agriculture. The ruling comes
in the wake of federal fisheries managers’ unprecedented April 10
decision to cancel this year’s salmon fishing season because of a record
decline in spawning fish. <br>
<br>
The decision is the second time the court has ruled that water export plans
would harm the threatened estuary. The court scheduled a conference on April 25
for the parties to address developing interim remedies to protect the fish. <br>
<br>
In his opinion Judge Oliver W. Wanger relied on the National Marine Fisheries
Services’ (NMFS) own finding that diverting water from the bay-delta was
killing huge numbers of salmon. He said, “This morbid projection is
inconsistent, if not irreconcilable” with the agency’s opinion that
the project operations did not jeopardize the survival of the fish. He also
faulted the agency for failing to analyze the effects of global warming on the
fish, calling that failure “arbitrary and capricious.” <br>
<br>
The court also cited NMFS’ findings that “current operations result
in the loss of 42 percent of the juvenile winter-run Chinook population, and proposed
project effects are expected to result in an additional 3 to 20 percent loss of
the juvenile population.” <br>
<br>
NMFS also found that proposed water project operations would kill as many as 66
percent of Central Valley steelhead and 57 percent of juvenile spring run
Chinook salmon – likely leading to the extirpation of the spring run in
the Sacramento River and steelhead in the Central Valley. These findings, the
court ruled, are the “diametric opposite” of the finding that the
projects would not jeopardized listed salmon species. <br>
<br>
“When most of our native fish species are struggling to survive, the
water project’s plans to eliminate habitat, reduce cold water flow
requirements and increase delta exports made no sense,” said Dr.
Christina Swanson, a biologist with The Bay Institute, a plaintiff in the case.
“Ecological collapse in our rivers and in the delta is not just bad for
fish, it’s bad for the millions of people who depend on delta water for
farming and drinking.” <br>
<br>
The plaintiffs challenged a 2004 long-term water plan known as OCAP (Operating
Criteria and Plan) that would have allowed increased exports south of the delta
by reversing many of the decade-old protections credited with saving endangered
winter-run Chinook salmon from extinction, including relaxing cold water flow
requirements and eliminating nearly half of the available spawning habitat in
the Sacramento River. These operational changes have corresponded with
significant declines in protected Chinook salmon populations since 2004. This
year’s salmon run has largely failed to show up. <br>
<br>
“Salmon need cool, clean water,” said Kate Poole, a senior attorney
with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a plaintiff in the case.
“Meeting their needs can keep clean water flowing from our taps as well,
without losing our salmon fishing industry.” <br>
<br>
“We’ve never seen the <st1:City w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City>
salmon return as bad as this year,” said Zeke Grader, executive director
of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Pacific</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> Federation of Fisherman's
Associations, a plaintiff in the case. “California’s water projects
must be operated in a way that helps protect these commercially important
species, rather than driving them to extinction.” <br>
<br>
The court’s ruling follows an August 31, 2007 decision to protect the
delta smelt. In that ruling the court ordered state and federal water managers
to reoperate the giant pumps that draw water from the delta to supply farms and
cities in the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType> and <st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place>.
The fishing and conservation groups say keeping enough fresh water in the delta
is vital to protecting the fragile ecosystem. <br>
<br>
Biologists have grown alarmed in recent years about a cascading series of
crashing delta fish populations; salmon, steelhead, delta smelt, striped bass,
longfin smelt, sturgeon and Sacramento splittail are all in trouble. <br>
<br>
“With his decision today, Judge Wanger has placed salmon survival back at
the center of California’s struggle to protect our natural
heritage,” said Mike Sherwood, an attorney from Earthjustice who
represented the coalition of fishing and conservationists. “There are
several man-made factors that have contributed to the collapse of salmon runs.
One factor is pumping too much of our water from the delta and exporting it
south. This ruling makes it clear that there are biological limits to the
amount of water we can export south.” <br>
<br>
The Delta’s fragile ecosystem and drinking water supplies already face
severe pollution threats from agricultural pesticides and dairy waste,”
said Sejal Choksi, program director for <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San
Francisco</st1:place></st1:City> Baykeeper. “Today’s ruling is a
huge step forward in restoring our Delta to a healthy state.” <br>
<br>
The court will now schedule hearings to establish an interim salmon protection
plan for project operations. Agencies predict that a new Biological Opinion for
salmon will be complete by December 2008. <br>
<br>
Conservationists say water managers could restore the delta by following the
advice of the state’s own master water plan, which identifies
conservation, water recycling and better groundwater management as the biggest,
cheapest sources of untapped water supply. <br>
<br>
BACKGROUND <br>
<br>
Prior to construction of the state and federal delta water pumping systems,
chinook (or “king”) salmon and steelhead were abundant in the <st1:City
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San
Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
systems. Sacramento River salmon were of great cultural and spiritual
importance to the Winnemem Wintu Tribe and remain a major economic contributor
to northern <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>.
<br>
<br>
As a part of the pumping projects, a necklace of dams was constructed up and
down the western slope of the Sierra Nevada on every major river flowing into
the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers blocking the upstream migration of
chinook salmon and steelhead to and from their historic spawning grounds. Of
the 6,000 miles of historic steelhead spawning grounds, today only 300 miles
remain. Friant Dam on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San
Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
resulted in the extinction of the spring-run chinook salmon in that river.
Shasta and Keswick Dams on the <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento River</st1:place>
blocked the winter-run chinook salmon from their historic spawning grounds, forcing
them to spawn in a 40-mile stretch of less favorable river habitat below those
dams. <br>
<br>
Every year the pumping of huge volumes of fresh water out of the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River delta sucks in and grinds up juvenile salmon and steelhead as
they attempt migrate down the rivers and though the delta on their way to the
ocean. As a result, Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley
spring-run Chinook salmon and <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>
steelhead populations have plummeted from historic abundance and all three
species are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. <br>
<br>
In August 2004, federal scientists charged with reviewing the plan to increase
pumping to 8 million acre feet concluded that doing so would illegally
jeopardize protected salmon. However, after political interference, the agency
flip flopped and released a final opinion in October 2004 that concluded that
the project operations plan would not harm listed salmon and steelhead species.
But after several negative independent science reviews and widespread concern
over inappropriate political influences on the opinion, the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> Bureau of
Reclamation and the State Department of Water Resources asked NOAA Fisheries to
reconsider the plan in April/May 2006. Yet the agencies continued to implement
the new plan without any lawful analysis of its impacts to listed fish species
while a new opinion is written. <br>
<br>
The plaintiff coalition that launched the legal challenge includes: Pacific
Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations and the Institute for Fisheries
Resources, The Bay Institute, Baykeeper, California Trout, Friends of the
River, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northern California Council of the
Federation of Fly Fishers, and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. <br>
<br>
Read the decision online here: <a
href="http://www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/salmon-decision-41608.pdf"
title="http://www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/salmon-decision-41608.pdf">http://www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/salmon-decision-41608.pdf</a></span></font></b><b><font
size=2><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray;font-style:italic'>Byron</span></font></i></st1:PersonName><i><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray;font-style:italic'> Leydecker</span></font></i></st1:PersonName><i><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray;font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>Friends of <st1:place
w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place>, Chair</span></font></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray;font-style:italic'>PO Box</span></font></i></st1:Street><i><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray;font-style:italic'> 2327</span></font></i></st1:address><i><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray;font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><i><font size=3
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;
font-style:italic'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></st1:City><i><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray;font-style:italic'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>415 383 4810</span></font></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>415 519 4810 cell</span></font></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>415 383 9562 fax<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'>bwl3@comcast.net<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></font>
<font color=gray><span style='color:gray'>(secondary)<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'>http://www.fotr.org<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <i><font color=blue><span style='color:blue;font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></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>
</div>
</body>
</html>