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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Calibri><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri'> <a
href="http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/v-print/story/1816600.html"
title="http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/v-print/story/1816600.html">http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/v-print/story/1816600.html</a>
<br>
</span></font><b><font size=5 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:20.0pt;
font-family:Calibri;font-weight:bold'>Judge rejects delay in delta pumping
restrictions</span></font></b><b><font size=7 face=Calibri><span
style='font-size:36.0pt;font-family:Calibri;font-weight:bold'> <br>
</span></font></b><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'><br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Posted at 02:08 PM on Wednesday, Feb. 10,
2010<br>
</span></b> <br>
By John Ellis / The Fresno Bee <br>
</span></font><b><span style='font-weight:bold'><br>
A federal judge today rejected an emergency request by west Valley
agricultural and urban water users to delay a new set of water-pumping
restrictions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.<br>
<br>
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
District Judge Oliver W. Wanger’s ruling means one of five delta pumps
operated by the federal government will be shut down at 7 a.m. Thursday. The
action is being taken to protect the delta smelt, a fish listed as threatened
under the Endangered Species Act.<br>
<br>
Tom Birmingham, general manager of Westlands Water District — which gets
its water from the delta — said the water agencies will seek another
emergency order next week from Wanger, though he declined to be specific. <br>
<br>
<br>
“As General MacArthur said, 'we’ll be back,'” said <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Birmingham</st1:place></st1:City>, who personally
argued the matter today before Wanger.<br>
<br>
The delta pumps — which send water to west-side agriculture, including
Westlands, as well as to millions of urban users from the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">East</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType> to <st1:place w:st="on">Southern
California</st1:place> — have been running at full capacity since
Saturday.<br>
<br>
That happened after Wanger put a two-week hold on pumping restrictions that
were put into place last week to protect endangered winter-run salmon.<br>
<br>
Environmentalists and fishing groups had asked Wanger to reconsider that
winter-run salmon order, but the judge said the request was now moot because
the salmon will be protected by the pumping cuts associated with the delta
smelt.</span></b><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'> <br>
<br>
<br>
<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=9801269"
title="http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=9801269">http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=9801269</a><br>
</span></font><b><font size=5 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:18.0pt;
font-family:Calibri;font-weight:bold'>Judge: CA Pumping Limits Needed to
Protect Smelt<br>
Judge keeps <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>
delta pumping limits in place to protect threatened smelt<br>
</span></font></b><b><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.5pt;
font-family:Calibri;font-weight:bold'>By GARANCE BURKE<br>
The Associated Press<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">FRESNO</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Calif.</st1:State></st1:place></span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Calibri'> <br>
<br>
</span></font><b><span style='font-weight:bold'> <br>
<br>
A federal judge turned down <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
farmers' emergency request Wednesday to suspend water pumping restrictions in
the state's delta in a ruling aimed at keeping a threatened fish species from
being ground up in the pumps.<br>
<br>
The decision by <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
District Judge Oliver Wanger means regulators will follow federal limits on the
amount of water they can draw from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a delicate
ecosystem that serves as the hub of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s
water supply.<br>
<br>
The restrictions were put in place to protect the smelt, a finger-sized fish
considered a bellwether of the delta's health, as they swim downstream into the
<st1:place w:st="on">Pacific Ocean</st1:place>.<br>
<br>
"This is good news for the smelt, and it's good news for the smelt,"
said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen's Associations, whose members have struggled with the broad decline
in wild salmon runs in California. "It means that there will be a better
chance that the fish will survive."<br>
<br>
Farmers across the fertile <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San
Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
argued those same limits have caused millions of dollars in crop losses as the
shortages have forced them to fallow their fields and lay off thousands of
farmworkers.<br>
<br>
An attorney for the Westlands Water District, which gets its water from the
delta, said water districts plan to appeal Wanger's decision.<br>
<br>
"We can't plant any of our annual crops until we know what kind of water
supply we're going to get this year," said Don Devine, a Fresno farmer who
grows organic sweet corn and cantaloupes on the valley's dry west side.
"It's a heartbreaker to have to lay people off, but we've had no choice
because there's no water."<br>
<br>
Both the state and federal government run massive pumps that siphon drinking
and irrigation water from the delta to more than 25 million Californians and
the farms that produce half the nation's fruits and vegetables.<br>
<br>
Last week, Judge Wanger agreed to temporarily lift a similar set of pumping
limits aimed at safeguarding native, wild salmon.<br>
<br>
<br>
The federal government began pumping at full capacity on Saturday, freeing up some
water for farmers crippled by two years of limited deliveries.<br>
<br>
But Tuesday, federal biologists announced they had found dead smelt near the
pumps and said unrestricted pumping risked pushing the fish into extinction.<br>
<br>
As a result, the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
Bureau of Reclamation plans to shut off one of its five pumps on Thursday.
Those restrictions will serve to protect both the smelt and salmon, and could
last until June 30.<br>
</span></b><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:
Calibri'> <br>
<br>
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,
or redistributed.<br>
</span></i><br>
Copyright © 2010 ABC News Internet Ventures</span></font><b><font color=black><span
style='color:windowtext;font-weight:bold'><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
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