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<h1 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=4 color=black
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black'>Delta
farmers sue to block Delta canal plan<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=4 color=black
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black'>The
Contra Costa Times – 4/13/09<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=4 color=black
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black'>By
Mike Taugher<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=4
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><br>
</span></font></b><font size=4><span fd-type=end fd-id=default><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'>Delta farmers have sued to block plans to build an
aqueduct that would divert <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento River</st1:place>
water around the Delta. <o:p></o:p></span></font></h1>
</span>
<h1 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black;font-weight:
normal'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>It is the
latest in a flurry of about a dozen active lawsuits over California's most
important and fought over source of water, but it appears to be the first to
directly take on new plans to build a peripheral canal like the one voters
defeated in 1982.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>"This is
a life-and-death struggle for us, and we're not giving up," said John
Herrick, a lawyer for the South Delta Water Agency, one of two water districts
that filed the lawsuit last week in federal court in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>At issue is a
mammoth planning effort that seeks, by the end of next year, to have a detailed
plan and permit to build a peripheral canal around the Delta that would also
help conserve fish and other wildlife that are in danger of extinction.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>The plan,
called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, would be the largest and most complex
habitat conservation plan ever under state and federal endangered species laws.
It is also on a schedule that would also make it one of the fastest.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>The lawsuit,
filed late last week in federal court in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City></st1:place>,
says the plan violates planning laws because the environmental review has begun
even though there is no specific plan for critics to analyze.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt'>"Because of that lack of information, the public
and impacted agencies and jurisdictions ... cannot determine what impacts the
(conservation plan) will have <font color=black><span style='color:black'>nor
whether it complies with the law," the lawsuit said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Supporters of
the plan say the urgency is warranted because of the collapse of several fish
populations and the effect of the environmental crisis on water supplies.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>"They
are sort of grasping at straws," said Laura King Moon, assistant general
manager of the State Water Contractors, an association of water agencies.
"We have a huge fishery crisis that needs to be dealt with. We have a
water supply crisis that needs to be dealt with."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>For water
officials, the conservation plan could solve two problems with a single stroke:
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>•
First, water managers would be relieved of traditional regulations under
endangered species laws because the plan is supposed to be a more comprehensive
approach to environmental protection. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>•
Second, by taking the view that building a canal around the Delta would prevent
fish from being killed at Delta pumps, water officials could get regulatory
approval for a highly contested structure.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>The
environmental study of the plan, which would include a canal but also wetlands
restoration and other measures, is underway even though the state has not
detailed proposal for the project.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Delta farmers
have the most to lose from a canal because it would deprive the Delta of fresh
water that now flows from the Sacramento River south to the vicinity of pumps
near <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Tracy</st1:City></st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>If the
Sacramento River water were diverted to a canal, the water used by Delta
farmers would become more polluted with pesticides and salts from irrigation in
the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType>,
along with more salt from inflows from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
That also would affect water quality near the intakes used by the Contra Costa
Water district.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>"We will
go out of business if they build and operate a peripheral canal," said
Herrick. "We will salt up. ... It's simple physics."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>The lawsuit,
filed by two Delta farming districts — the Central Delta Water Agency and
the South Delta Water Agency — also serves notice that the Delta agencies
are preparing another lawsuit that says the conservation plan violates
endangered species laws.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></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>
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style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></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'>, JcT, Chair</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'>Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></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 </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 cell</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="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></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="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a></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">www.fotr.org</a> </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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