<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387845" dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/07/12/suit-challenges-delta-pumping-restrictions" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_388034">https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2016/07/12/suit-challenges-delta-pumping-restrictions</a><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387845"><br></div><header style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia; font-size: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387929"><h1 style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: DINNext, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: 0.92; letter-spacing: -2px; font-size: 72px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0; max-width: 100%;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387930">Suit Challenges Delta Pumping Restrictions</h1></header><div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 22.625px; line-height: 1.7; float: left; width: 632.453125px; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia; font-size: 19px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387931"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: DINNext; font-size: 28px; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); letter-spacing: -0.5px; margin: 0.5em auto 1em; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387932">SACRAMENTO BEE: Another legal dispute has erupted over the regulation of water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as a group of water agencies has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.</div><table style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; font-family: 'Whitney A', 'Whitney B', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; border-collapse: collapse; width: 632px; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); margin-top: -8px; box-shadow: rgba(162, 173, 175, 0.298039) 0px 7px 10px -10px, rgba(162, 173, 175, 0.0980392) 0px 60px 70px -70px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387933"><tbody style="box-sizing: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387934"><tr style="box-sizing: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387935"><td style="box-sizing: inherit; padding: 8px 10px 6px; border: 1px solid rgb(224, 228, 229);" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387936"><small style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: DINNext, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px; display: block; opacity: 0.33;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387937">WRITTEN BY</small>Ryan Sabalow</td><td style="box-sizing: inherit; padding: 8px 10px 6px; border: 1px solid rgb(224, 228, 229);" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387938"><small style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: DINNext, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px; display: block; opacity: 0.33;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387939">PUBLISHED ON</small><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: FontAwesome; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; position: relative;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387940"> </span>Jul. 12, 2016</td><td style="box-sizing: inherit; padding: 8px 10px 6px; border: 1px solid rgb(224, 228, 229);" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387941"><small style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: DINNext, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px; display: block; opacity: 0.33;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387942">READ TIME</small>Approx. 2 minutes</td></tr></tbody></table><figure style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387943"><figcaption style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: 'Whitney A', 'Whitney B', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; opacity: 0.8; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 5px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgba(162, 173, 175, 0.247059); padding-bottom: 12px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387945">A lawsuit filed Friday challenges restrictions to the federal government’s pumping plant on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta near Tracy, California.<cite style="box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 0.5; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia; margin-left: 4px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387946">U.S. Bureau of Reclamation</cite></figcaption></figure><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 1em auto 1em 59.25px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387947"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: DINNext; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 0.725em; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.75px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387948">IN A FAILED</span> effort to protect endangered fish, the federal government decided without proper study to default to restricting the giant pumps at the bottom of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.</div><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 1em auto 1em 59.25px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387949">So argues a lawsuit filed Friday at the U.S. District Court in Sacramento by a powerful consortium of water agencies. They’re hoping for a larger share of Delta water. It’s the latest salvo in a political and legal dispute over how to manage the competing demands on the fragile estuary.</div><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 1em auto 1em 59.25px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387950">Friday’s suit, filed by the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, alleges that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation failed to seek alternatives other than cutting water supplies to people when it adopted its operations plans for the massive Central Valley Project in 2008 and 2009.</div><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 1em auto 1em 59.25px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387951">Jason Peltier, the authority’s executive director, said in an interview Friday that in spite of the pumping restrictions, fish populations continue on a precipitous decline.</div><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 1em auto 1em 59.25px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387952">Peltier said that before that happened, Reclamation failed to ask a critical question: “Are there actually going to be benefits to the dramatic cuts in water supply?”</div><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 1em auto 1em 59.25px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387953">Reclamation spokesman Shane Hunt said his agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.</div><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 1em auto 1em 59.25px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387954">The Central Valley Project includes Shasta and Folsom lakes and a massive federal pumping station near Tracy. From there, Delta water is channeled along canals to 2.1 million acres (850,000 hectares) of farmland in the western San Joaquin Valley, and to urban water districts in San Benito and Santa Clara counties.</div><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 1em auto 1em 59.25px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387955">San Joaquin Valley farmers say they’ve had to let tens of thousands of acres of farmland go fallow in recent years due to the pumping restrictions. But environmental groups counter that recent economic analyses show the state’s farming economy continues to do well – <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article66693797.html" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s, box-shadow 0.2s, border-color 0.2s; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s, box-shadow 0.2s, border-color 0.2s; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); box-shadow: rgba(34, 34, 34, 0.2) 0px 1px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387956">even adding 30,000 new jobs last year</a> – in spite of the ongoing drought.</div><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 1em auto 1em 59.25px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387957">Environmentalists have long argued that excessive human demand for Delta water is the primary reason why native Delta fish are dying. Two species in particular, delta smelt and winter-run Chinook salmon, are hovering on the edge of extinction.</div><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 1em auto 1em 59.25px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387958"><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/delta/article73459082.html" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s, box-shadow 0.2s, border-color 0.2s; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s, box-shadow 0.2s, border-color 0.2s; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); box-shadow: rgba(34, 34, 34, 0.2) 0px 1px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387959">In April, a trio of environmental groups sued in federal court alleging</a> that regulators repeatedly relaxed water quality standards – that would have protected the fish – to keep Central Valley water flowing to farms and cities.</div><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 1em auto 1em 59.25px;" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387960"><i style="box-sizing: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387961"></i><i style="box-sizing: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387962">This </i><i style="box-sizing: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387963"><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/delta/article88512547.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s, box-shadow 0.2s, border-color 0.2s; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s, box-shadow 0.2s, border-color 0.2s; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); box-shadow: rgba(34, 34, 34, 0.2) 0px 1px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387964">story</a> first appeared in the Sacramento Bee.</i> <em style="box-sizing: inherit;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387965">For more coverage of the California drought and water issues, please visit the <a title="Link: http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/" href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s, box-shadow 0.2s, border-color 0.2s; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s, box-shadow 0.2s, border-color 0.2s; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); box-shadow: rgba(34, 34, 34, 0.2) 0px 1px 0px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387966">Sacramento Bee</a>.</em></div></div><div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1468007976796_387838"><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>