[env-trinity] Times-Standard-State review of Humboldt water request yields nothing

[tstokely at trinityalps.net]

http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2896~2332705,00.html

State review of Humboldt water request yields nothing


By John Driscoll The Times-Standard

The State Water Resources Control Board has decided it won't take action on
a complaint from Humboldt County that aimed to get contracted Trinity River
water released for fish in the Klamath River. 

Water board Division Chief Victoria Whitney said the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation appears to be releasing enough water to meet minimum needs for
salmon, and that a recent court ruling allows even more. 

Whitney said if the county wants to get the water to use for fish, state
law requires it to be "taken under physical control rather than just (be)
allowed to flow down the channel." Before the county could make use of the
contract, Reclamation would have to get an order changing where the water
can be used under permits for the Trinity River Diversion.

The bureau has maintained that the water is presently sent downstream. But
Humboldt County wants to use it at a specific time, as fish begin moving up
the Klamath River.  




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In the lower Klamath, up to 68,000 fish died in 2002, in low, warm water.
The bureau is expected to release a burst of water later this month to
prevent another fish kill.

"Ultimately what they're saying is the contract has no benefit at all for
Humboldt County," said county Supervisor Jill Geist.

Geist wrote the complaint earlier this year. She also asked the U.S.
Interior Department, but it dodged the question of whether Humboldt County
should receive the water it was promised in the 1955 Act authorizing the
Trinity project. The project diverts water to the Sacramento River, where
it's pumped to farms and cities, mainly in the San Joaquin Valley. 

Whitney wrote that if the bureau does not want to pursue an order changing
the Trinity diversion permits, it would be up to the federal courts to
enforce the contract. 

Geist said the county intends to exhaust every administrative avenue, and
would not rule out taking legal action.

Are the responses from the federal and state governments setbacks?

"No, it's nice to have some response," Geist said. "It gives us direction
on how we should proceed." 


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