<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:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" 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 12 (filtered medium)">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:windowtext;
font-weight:bold;}
span.storyheadline
{mso-style-name:story_headline;}
span.storybyline
{mso-style-name:story_byline;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p><span class=storyheadline><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Current SWRCB
Water Permits granted the Bureau allow it to divert 90 percent of Trinity's
water. They need to be amended to reflect flows contained in the ROD - a
53 percent diversion of Trinity water with 47 percent returned to Trinity
River.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p><span class=storyheadline><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Byron<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p><span class=storyheadline><span style='font-size:18.0pt'>County protests
water rights request </span></span><br>
<span class=storybyline><b>BY SALLY MORRIS THE TRINITY JOURNAL </b></span><br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><b>Trinity County supervisors voted 5-0 last week to hire well-known
California water attorney Michael Jackson of Quincy to file a protest on the
county's behalf concerning Trinity River water rights hearings currently
pending before the State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>The Bureau of Reclamation has petitioned the State Water Board for an
extension to the year 2030 on certain Central Valley Project water rights
permits, including seven on the Trinity River, allowing more time to put the
water allocated under the permits to what it calls "full beneficial
use." <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Originally granted to Reclamation in 1959, but never developed, the
Trinity River permits in question promise allocations amounting to millions of
acre-feet of water in addition to what is already diverted to the CVP for
irrigation, municipal and industrial deliveries, fish and wildlife enhancement,
water quality control and power generation. An acre-foot is enough water to
cover an acre of land to a depth of 1 foot. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>A notice of the petition for time extension on the permits was published
Sept. 3 and with a deadline of Oct. 5 for the filing of any protests, the
Trinity County Board of Supervisors met in a special session last week in order
to take timely action. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>In a closed session, board members voted to protest the requested
extension of CVP water rights filed by Reclamation. They then agreed to retain
attorney Michael Jackson to file the protest on the county's behalf. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Jackson is an environmental lawyer who has spent many years specializing
in Northern California water rights, serving as legal counsel to the Regional
Council of Rural Counties, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and
numerous other government and environmental entities including the nonprofit
advocacy group California Water Impact Network. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>County Administrative Officer Dero Forslund estimated the county's legal
fees to initiate the protest will amount to approximately $5,000. If there is
further action required, additional compensation would have to be negotiated in
a separate agreement. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Forslund said the Bureau of Reclamation has rights to a significant
amount of Trinity River water in the CVP, some of which has not been used since
the permits were originally applied for "and now they want to extend those
permits 30 years. In our protest, we're saying 'no — if you haven't used
the permits, they shouldn't be left sitting at the will of the Bureau of
Reclamation.'" <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>"We are concerned about county of origin rights and we want a seat
at the table," he added, noting a major problem with the permits issued in
1959 is that they bear no relation to the in-stream flows set forth years later
in the Trinity River Fishery Restoration Record of Decision. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>The permits in question are based on minimum in-stream flows amounting to
just 120,500 acre feet of water a year, or 10 percent of the Trinity's water.
The Trinity ROD, signed in 2000 by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, increased
the minimum in-stream flow to an average of 594,500 acre-feet of water a year
which is approximately 48 percent of the river's water. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Forslund said Reclamation has not changed its sale and distribution of
water relative to the ROD, "and we think they should — they are
selling more water than they have." <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Reclamation indicates it is in the public interest for the State Water
Board to grant the requested extension of time it says is needed to put all the
water appropriated under the permits to full beneficial use. The agency cites
increasing municipal and industrial water demands within the CVP and the need
for additional diversions of water to comply with possible environmental
conditions that may be applied in the future under the Bay Delta Conservation
Program and Federal Endangered Species Act. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Supervisor Judy Pflueger said the requested time extension on the permits
provides Trinity County "with a rare opportunity to get involved in the
water issue. I feel we've been uncompensated for our water going down the hill.
We're looking for a seat at the table and perhaps compensation down the
road." <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Supervisor Roger Jaegel said he thinks the "beneficial uses" of
Trinity River water within the boundaries of Trinity County "are extremely
important and these extensions would extend those permits for water to be used
outside of Trinity County." He added that if the county doesn't speak up
now concerning the permit extensions, it won't likely get another opportunity
to comment. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>During a previous discussion about the water permits, Supervisor Howard
Freeman suggested legal recourse, saying "many times the only way to a
seat at that table is not by issuing a position, but by throwing a big monkey
wrench in." <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Trinity County's retired senior resource planner Tom Stokely commented
later that the board's protest "gets the county's foot in the door so it
will have official standing in future proceedings. It's also a great
opportunity to demonstrate issues with the Trinity River that the state board
needs to pay attention to and I've been harping about for years — the
ROD's minimum flows and the minimum temperature objectives that have never been
implemented through a water rights hearing. That all needs to be tidied
up." <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>He added the state has appropriated 8.5 times more water through approved
permits than actually exists in the state and with a three-year drought
"and the rapid drawdown of Trinity Lake, it's apparent to anyone who sees
it that the Trinity River is already more than fully appropriated." <br
clear=left>
<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><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>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>