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<h1>Judge lifts delta pumping restrictions <o:p></o:p></h1>
<h4>Posted at 08:03 PM on Tuesday, May. 25, 2010<o:p></o:p></h4>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=byline><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>By John
Ellis / The Fresno Bee</span></b></span><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b>A federal judge in Fresno Tuesday evening ordered pumping restrictions
lifted on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, granting a request by urban and
agricultural water users who argued that taking additional water from the delta
would not harm endangered salmon. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger granted the order following a
lengthy hearing that ran into the evening. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>But the effect of Wanger's ruling could be short-lived. Pumping
restrictions designed to protect another threatened fish, the tiny delta smelt,
could limit the amount of water farmers and urban water users can draw from the
troubled estuary. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Currently, there are two sets of pumping restrictions in place. One
expires May 31, and the other on June 15, when juvenile salmon are done leaving
the rivers and migrating to the ocean. After June 15, no salmon-related pumping
restrictions are in place.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Tom Birmingham, Westlands' general manager, has said a favorable ruling
could give water users 20 days of increased pumping before June 15. That could
mean another 200,000 acre-feet of water above what would be delivered with the
pumping restrictions in place, he said.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Earlier this month, Wanger found the water users had made convincing
arguments that the federal government's science didn't prove that increased
pumping from the delta imperiled salmon. <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;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>Byron Leydecker, JcT<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>Chair, Friends of Trinity River<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>PO Box 2327<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>415 383 4810 land/fax<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#948A54'>415 519 4810 mobile<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#4F81BD'>bwl3@comcast.net <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#4F81BD'>http://www.fotr.org<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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