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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Federal
judge sides with farmers in delta pumping lawsuit<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>By
Terence Chea<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Associated
Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#000088'>Posted: 05/18/2010 03:27:27 PM PDT<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#000088'>Updated: 05/18/2010 03:27:28 PM PDT<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><br>
</span></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:black'>A federal judge ruled today in favor of Central Valley farmers and
urban water agencies seeking to loosen restrictions on pumping from the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a major source of irrigation and drinking water for
much of California. </span></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>U.S.
District Judge Oliver Wanger in Fresno said the federal government did not
properly develop a management plan that restricted water exports to protect
endangered salmon, steelhead and other fish. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>The
judge scheduled a hearing Wednesday to determine how much water can be exported
without harming threatened fish that migrate through the delta to the Pacific
Ocean. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Groups
representing San Joaquin Valley farmers and Southern California water users
filed suit to block the pumping restrictions imposed by the 2009 management
plan written by the National Marine Fisheries Service. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>The
restrictions were aimed at protecting winter- and spring-run chinook salmon,
Central Valley steelhead, green sturgeon and a group of orca whales. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Judge
Wanger said pumping restrictions were necessary to protect those species, but
the agency did not adequately explain how they determined specific pumping
levels. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>The
restrictions — along with three years of drought — have forced
farmers to leave large tracts of land fallow, leading to significant economic
loses and soaring unemployment in many agricultural communities, said Sarah
Woolf, a spokeswoman for Westlands Water District, which serves about 600 farms
in western Fresno and Kings counties. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Environmentalists,
fishermen and tribal communities that defended the water management plan in
court were disappointed by Tuesday's ruling, said Doug Obegi, a staff attorney
for the Natural Resources Defense Council. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>"We
will urge the court to uphold these protections for salmon and the fishing and
tribal communities that depend on them," Obegi said. "Weakening those
pumping restrictions will jeopardize those species." <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Officials
with the National Marine Fisheries Service were still reviewing the ruling and
declined comment, spokesman Jim Milbury said. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Wanger
is also expected to issue a ruling on a similar lawsuit that seeks to block a
2008 management plan that imposed pumping restrictions to protect a tiny
endangered fish called the delta smelt. <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><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/fax (call first to fax)</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
mobile</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>
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