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<DIV><FONT size=3 face=Arial><B><FONT size=6 face=Arial><FONT size=6
face=Arial><FONT size=4>PRESS RELEASE: </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
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<H2>
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<H2><FONT size=4>For Immediate Release <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 22pt">July 1,
2010</SPAN></FONT></H2></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN><FONT size=4>Federal Water Transfers
Challenged in Court<O:P></O:P></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Sacramento Valley Communities, Farms, and Fish in
Jeopardy<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><B>Chico, CA</B> – AquAlliance,
the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), and the California Water
Impact Network (CWIN) have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation (Bureau) to protect the economy and the environment of the northern
Sacramento Valley.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black">The Bureau’s Environmental
Assessment (EA) and Findings of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the 2010-2011
Water Transfer Program reveals plans to export 395,000 acre-feet of Central
Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) water to buyers south of the
San Francisco Bay Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta. To replace the water sold to San
Joaquin Valley growers in low-priority water districts, the plan would permit
Sacramento Valley surface water right holders to substitute 154,237 acre-feet of
groundwater to continue rice production. The plaintiff groups allege that the
EA/FONSI violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) because, among
other things, it:<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 38.25pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; COLOR: black"><SPAN>· </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">Fails to support the Bureau’s proposed finding of no
significant impact, <O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 38.25pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; COLOR: black"><SPAN>· </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">Contains a fundamentally flawed alternatives analysis,
and<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 38.25pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; COLOR: black"><SPAN>· </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">Inadequately analyzes the impacts from implementing the two
years transfer program. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 2.25pt" class=MsoNormal>The lawsuit seeks comprehensive
NEPA environmental review for the water transfer program. Repeated water
transfer projects in the last decade have all occurred without the benefit of
thorough federal or state environmental analysis, which would require the
establishment of baseline conditions, comprehensive monitoring, and the
disclosure of impacts. </P>
<P class=MsoBodyText><SPAN> </SPAN>“The federal and state agencies and
water contractors continue to see the Sacramento River’s watershed as the last
exploitable solution to their manipulation of California’s water for urban
sprawl and desert agriculture south of the Delta,” stated Barbara Vlamis,
AquAlliance’s executive director. “This lawsuit is necessary because the
agencies have failed to demonstrate that they will not leave the Sacramento
Valley in the same disastrous condition as the Owens and San Joaquin
valleys,”<SPAN> </SPAN>Vlamis concluded. </P>
<P class=MsoBodyText>“This program walks like a drought water bank, talks like a
drought water bank, and looks like a drought water bank,” said C-WIN executive
director Carolee Krieger, “but the drought is over. There is no need for this
program and the harm it can cause in the Delta. The governor expresses sympathy
for Gulf Coast commercial fishing businesses harmed by the BP oil spill while
ignoring the plight of California’s commercial anglers as their fisheries are
ruined by Delta export pumping.”</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black">“The Bureau's fallacious claim
that massive serial water transfers from the Sacramento Valley to irrigate the
southern desert have no significant impact on the farms, communities, fish and
wildlife of the Sacramento Valley and the Delta Estuary evidences either a
breathtaking incompetence or a flagrant contempt for the law, the environment
and the people of the Sacramento Valley and Delta,” said CSPA executive director
Bill Jennings. “We sue to compel compliance with that most basic of all
environmental laws; i.e., the requirement to adequately analyze and disclose the
impacts of a project,” he said.<I><SPAN
style="BACKGROUND: yellow 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></I></SPAN></P>See
attached press release or go to <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated
href=""><U><FONT color=#0066cc>www.aqualliance.net</FONT></U></A> for more
background information.<BR><BR>
<H3>CONTACT INFORMATION</H3>
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<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">AquAlliance<O:P></O:P></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black">Barbara Vlamis, Executive
Director<O:P></O:P></SPAN><BR><ST1:ADDRESS w:st="on"><ST1:STREET
w:st="on"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">P.O. Box
4024</SPAN></ST1:STREET><SPAN style="COLOR: black">, <ST1:CITY
w:st="on">Chico</ST1:CITY>, <ST1:STATE w:st="on">CA</ST1:STATE>
<ST1:POSTALCODE w:st="on">95927</ST1:POSTALCODE></SPAN></ST1:ADDRESS><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P></O:P><BR>(530) 895-9420<O:P></O:P><BR>Cell
(530) 519-7468<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P> </O:P></SPAN></P></TD>
<TD
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; WIDTH: 2.45in; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-TOP: 0in"
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<P class=MsoNormal><ST1:STATE w:st="on">California</ST1:STATE>
Sportfishing Protection <ST1:CITY w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE
w:st="on">Alliance</ST1:PLACE></ST1:CITY><BR><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">Bill Jennings, Chairman/Executive
Director<O:P></O:P></SPAN><BR><ST1:STREET w:st="on"><ST1:ADDRESS
w:st="on"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">3536 Rainier
Avenue</SPAN></ST1:ADDRESS></ST1:STREET><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P></O:P></SPAN><BR><ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:CITY
w:st="on"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">Stockton</SPAN></ST1:CITY><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">, <ST1:STATE w:st="on">CA</ST1:STATE> <ST1:POSTALCODE
w:st="on">95204</ST1:POSTALCODE></SPAN></ST1:PLACE><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P></O:P><BR>(209)
464-5067<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P></TD>
<TD
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<P class=MsoBodyText2><ST1:STATE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE
w:st="on">California</ST1:PLACE></ST1:STATE> Water Impact Network<BR><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">Carolee Krieger,
President<O:P></O:P></SPAN><BR><ST1:STREET w:st="on"><ST1:ADDRESS
w:st="on"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">808 Romero Canyon
Road</SPAN></ST1:ADDRESS></ST1:STREET><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P></O:P></SPAN><BR><ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:CITY
w:st="on"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">Santa Barbara</SPAN></ST1:CITY><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">, <ST1:STATE w:st="on">CA</ST1:STATE> <ST1:POSTALCODE
w:st="on">93108</ST1:POSTALCODE></SPAN></ST1:PLACE><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><O:P></O:P><BR><SPAN></SPAN>(805)
969-0824<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P> </O:P></SPAN></B></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><BR></SPAN></P>
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