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<H1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Court
to consider further steps to curtail water deliveries, help
salmon<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Contra
Costa Times – 6/5/08<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">By
Mike Taugher<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR><!--subtitle--><!--byline-->A federal judge today
will begin considering whether to further restrict the flow of water to
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>
farms and cities in a state already parched by
drought.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger has already ruled that
permits meant to prevent water managers from driving fish extinct are failing
and illegal.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Last year, he ordered Delta pumping reductions of as
much as 30 percent because Delta smelt are vanishing. The hearing in <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fresno</st1:place></st1:City>, which may extend
into next week, could lead to further restrictions to protect salmon and
steelhead, which are also in decline.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">"This isn't going to solve the salmon crisis but it can
help quite a bit," said Zeke Grader, who represents commercial salmon fishers
who joined with environmentalists to bring the
lawsuit.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Most observers do not expect a court order as dramatic
as the one Wanger issued last year. In part, that is because salmon and
steelhead do not appear to be as threatened as Delta smelt, which are facing the
possibility of imminent extinction. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">"There was common agreement with the Delta smelt that it
was disappearing from the system," said Chris Scheuring, a water lawyer for the
California Farm Bureau. "The salmon and steelhead are in a little more hopeful
situation than the Delta smelt."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><STRONG><U><EM>Instead, environmentalists and anglers
are asking water managers to maintain colder temperatures in spawning beds, save
more water behind dams and take other measures that would have a more subtle
effect on water supplies. <o:p></o:p></EM></U></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><STRONG><U><EM> </EM></U></STRONG></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Today's testimony will focus on the status of salmon and
steelhead runs and whether court intervention is needed. If so, it will likely
take several days of testimony before the judge reaches decisions on what
protective measures to order.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">At issue is a permit issued in 2004 by the National
Marine Fisheries Service that controls cold water releases from dams, Delta
water pumping and many other pieces of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s plumbing system.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Federal investigators earlier found the permit was
approved under unusual circumstances. Although biologists concluded water
deliveries could threaten fish with extinction, they were overruled by a
manager, James Lecky, who gave the water plan the agency's blessing and was
later promoted to become the Bush administration's top official overseeing
marine endangered species.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">In April, Wanger found the permit did not meet the
requirements of the Endangered Species Act. Last year, he made a similar ruling
on a permit issued by another federal wildlife agency that was supposed to
protect Delta smelt.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Wanger was not alone. An <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Alameda</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> judge ruled last year that the
state water resources department's Delta pumps were running illegally because
state regulators never issued a permit or certified the federal permit, as
required by the state endangered species law.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">The multiple violations of endangered species laws in
the two major water delivery systems — one of which is run by the state water
resources department and the other by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation — come at a
time when Delta fish are in deep peril.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Delta smelt are believed near extinction and longfin
smelt are being considered for endangered species
status.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Winter-run salmon, which rebounded during the 1990s from
extremely low population levels, dropped sharply last year to the point where
fewer than 2,500 fish returned to the <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento
River</st1:place> to spawn. That represents a decline of two-thirds from the
previous generation, which spawned three years
earlier.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Spring-run salmon and steelhead also are foundering, and
even previously abundant fall-run salmon — the backbone of the state's
commercial salmon fishery — have collapsed to the point where regulators took
the unprecedented step of closing the entire California coast to salmon fishing
this year.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">In all cases, most researchers say there are other
contributing factors to the fish declines, including pollution, invasive species
and fluctuations in ocean conditions.#<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><U><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=blue
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: blue"><A
href="">http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_9493504</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></U></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN class=headingstory><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN class=headingstory><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>