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<p class=MsoPlainText><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Obama admin won't relax
ESA to aid Calif. farmers -- Interior official<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>(08/04/2009)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Colin Sullivan, E&E reporter<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>SAN FRANCISCO -- The Obama administration won't ease
enforcement of the Endangered Species Act to help California farmers struggling
with three straight years of drought and decades of water mismanagement, a top
Interior Department official said yesterday in an interview.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Deputy Secretary David Hayes, Interior's point person
on California water issues, said the administration's commitment to the law is
firm despite the intense pressure from the San Joaquin Valley to lift pumping
restrictions ordered to protect salmon and the delta smelt in Northern
California.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>"Compliance with the ESA is obviously something
that's required," Hayes said.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>In a recent town hall-style meeting in Fresno, a
farming community hit hard by the recession, Hayes' boss, Interior Secretary
Ken Salazar, told frustrated workers that rolling back the law would be
"admitting failure" ( Greenwire, June 29).<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>But farmers, water districts and some members of
California's congressional delegation have continued taking shots at the law,
given the state's tough economic conditions, the drought and limited pumping in
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region to restore salmon runs and protect the
delta smelt.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>ESA protections have reduced water deliveries from
lakes Shasta and Oroville through the delta into the state's aqueducts.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Hayes stressed that he is "sympathetic" with
farmers and others suffering from a water supply crisis that by one estimate
has cost the state 35,000 agricultural jobs and $830 million in revenue. He is
leading an Interior task force to address the multiple problems facing the
state, which is also reeling from a collapsed salmon fishing industry to the
tune of $1.4 billion, in addition to acres of fallowed fields, the prospect of
rationing in urban areas and degraded ecosystems.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>"It's important to dial back the rhetoric
here," Hayes said. "The major stakeholders on all sides have
recognized that the status quo is unsustainable."<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><u>Stimulus first<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Hayes, a veteran environmental attorney who worked at
Interior during the Clinton administration before taking a job at Latham and
Watkins, was handpicked by Salazar earlier this summer to plummet into the
worst of the California water maze and start fashioning a federal response.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>How's it going? Until now, Hayes has focused on how to
spend $160 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act earmarked
specifically for the federal Central Valley Project, which is a primary source
of water for farmers and municipalities near the delta.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Interior last week released $40 million in stimulus
funds for a number of infrastructure projects, including the installation of
pipelines, pumps and water wells. Elsewhere, the Bureau of Reclamation has been
busy lining up willing buyers and sellers to move about 250,000 acre-feet of
water around the state.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>"There are a lot of areas in California that are
doing relatively well in terms of water supply," Hayes said. "We've
been working hard on water transfers."<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Hayes added that the department will continue to
identify projects to back financially, to include water reuse and conservation
efforts. In all, stimulus funding for California's drought-related activities
is $391 million.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><u>'Very daunting'<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Looking forward, Hayes admitted that the prospect of
cutting through red tape to bring competing commercial interests,
environmentalists and the suite of government agencies involved to the table to
somehow work toward a solution to California's perennial water problems
couldn't be more difficult.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Add to that mix a surging population and climate
change likely causing decreased snowpack in the Sierra Nevada in the years
ahead.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>"It is very daunting," Hayes said.
"It's the perfect storm of challenging problems."<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Among the solutions often cited in the state are
building more dams to increase storage capacity or constructing a canal around
the delta to avoid having to pump water through from reservoirs and rivers to
the north.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Salazar and others have been cold toward the prospect
of new dams, but the canal idea may have legs, Hayes said.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>"All the analytical work and evaluation work
associated with [the canal] is just getting under way," Hayes said.
"It's certainly premature to have a position."<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Another shorter-term answer is the "Two
Gates" plan, which would drop gates into the delta to prevent the smelt
from getting sucked into the pumps.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Members of Congress have urged Salazar to speed up an
environmental review of the plan, but Hayes said the proposal needs further
examination.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>"That project just appeared on our radar
screen," he said. "We're very interested in it, and we're analyzing
it."<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Looking at the bigger picture, Hayes said, Interior is
working with Gov.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to advance the Bay Delta
Conservation Plan, which aims to improve ecosystem health in the delta while
balancing deliveries to<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>25 million Californians. Hayes said the priority is to
"co-prioritize" and not alienate any interest.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b>"The point is, the system has been operated in a
way that is not sustainable either for reliable water supplies or for the
environment," he said. "There's a structural challenge that needs to
be addressed."<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
cell</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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