[env-trinity] Congresspersons Request Probe of CVP OCAP Biological Opinion

[Tom Stokely]

     http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/9877179.htm

      Posted on Sat, Oct. 09, 2004 
                           
                 
           


      Dems demand inquiry into salmon study

      By Mike Taugher

      CONTRA COSTA TIMES


      More than a dozen congressional Democrats called for an investigation Friday into allegations that an analysis of how California salmon might be affected by the state's water system was politically manipulated.

      The 300-page study examines how politically charged plans to rejigger operation of dams and pumps that deliver water through the Delta from Northern California to Southern California will affect several species of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead.

      The lawmakers said they feared there was an ongoing "catastrophic failure of oversight" that could drive salmon and steelhead toward extinction.

      "I would hope the inspectors general would investigate these allegations immediately," said Rep. George Miller, one of 19 members to seek the investigation. "There is a great deal at stake."

      Miller, D-Martinez, was reacting to the differences between two versions of the salmon report: one written late this summer by biologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries office and a second version that contained revisions by the agency's managers.

      The latter version, if made final, would make it far easier to renew long-term water contracts in the Central Valley and boost the capacity of Delta pumps that deliver water to Southern California.

      Although the study, called a "biological opinion," has yet to be finalized, the Times obtained portions of the earlier draft and a full copy of the most recent draft.

      The versions have key differences, most notably that the earlier version says water operations will jeopardize the continued existence of some fish species, and the later draft does not. The differences were first reported in the Sacramento Bee last week in a story that prompted the congressional letter.

      In addition, the earlier draft contains a requirement that would have forced the Contra Costa Water District to shut down one of its water supply canals for six months a year. The revised report says only that the agency must monitor salmon caught in the canal.

      A Contra Costa water official said the earlier version was in error because biologists had wrongly assumed the canal at Rock Slough was used for all of the district's water supply, an assumption that led them to conclude more fish were being killed there than actually were.

      "That was a goof," said Contra Costa Water District assistant general manager Greg Gartrell.

      Jim Lecky, the assistant regional administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who oversees the salmon report, said there were other errors.

      "I reviewed my staff's work and I didn't think they did a good job," Lecky said. "There were a bunch of errors in their assumptions about the project."

      The congressional letter is the latest in a series of efforts by Miller to slow down and examine plans by federal water managers in California. For weeks, he has been trying to get the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to reconsider plans to renew dozens of long-term water contracts for farmers and others throughout the Central Valley that Miller considers unduly favorable to water users.

      In addition, water officials are looking to increase the capacity of pumps that move water from the Delta to Southern California.

      Both the contract renewals and the increased pumping hinge on the salmon study, which technically is a review of a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation document called the "Operations, Criteria and Plan" that describes how the state's two largest water delivery projects, the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, will be operated.

      The congressional letter suggests the bureau, "in its haste to finalize water contracts in California, has improperly undermined the required NOAA fisheries environmental review process."

      Reclamation Bureau spokesman Jeff McCracken said his agency had no improper influence on the biological opinion.

      "We never saw the earlier draft that had the alleged different opinion in it," McCracken said.

      Earlier in the week, state Sen. Mike Machado, D-Stockton, asked for an independent scientific review of the biological opinion.

      Lecky said the issue was being blown out of proportion.

      "This is a typical consultation process," he said. "It's nothing out of the ordinary."



      http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/9878072.htm



            Posted on Sat, Oct. 09, 2004 
                                 
                       
                 


            Probe of water report urged

            Article says analysis rewritten

            By ERICA WERNER

            Associated Press


            WASHINGTON - Leading Democrats called for an investigation Friday into a report that federal biologists rewrote an analysis that said a water transfer plan could hurt endangered salmon in northern California.

            In a letter to the inspectors general of the Interior Department and the Commerce Department, the House members said the report suggested a ''catastrophic failure of oversight.''

            At issue is a recent report in The Sacramento Bee that said federal biologists evaluating the effects of shifting millions of gallons of water to Southern California from rivers in the north were ordered by their superiors to revise a conclusion that the plan would hurt endangered salmon.

            Biologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration initially found that the water project would harm fish in many rivers in Northern California, including salmon in the American River.

            But NOAA administrators overruled the findings and supervised a rewriting of the analysis, according to documents obtained by the Bee. An updated version, dated Sept. 27, no longer concluded that winter-run salmon or other fish could face extinction by the extra water diversions.

            The reported actions ''may further undermine public confidence in the Bureau of Reclamation's and NOAA fisheries' ability to appropriately manage the resources that the public has entrusted to them,'' the Democrats wrote.

            The letter was signed by 19 House members led by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., top Democrat on the House Resources Committee.

            NOAA officials, including the assistant regional administrator who supervised the rewriting, contended the revisions were justified.

            ''This was just supervisor-employee stuff. I received a draft document that had some errors in it and when those were corrected it changed the conclusion,'' James Lecky, assistant regional administrator for the southwest region for NOAA, said in an interview Friday.

            He said he was confident the conclusion that fish would not be harmed was accurate, but noted that a final version of the report still has not been issued.

            ''What got leaked was a very preliminary draft, and then a subsequent more developed draft that had some different conclusions in it,'' he said.
           

     
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20041011/77395730/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: spacer.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 43 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20041011/77395730/attachment.gif>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: trans.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 807 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20041011/77395730/attachment-0001.gif>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: news; kw=center6; c2=news_homepage; pos=center6; group=rectangle;	ord=1097530528731?
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 43 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20041011/77395730/attachment.obj>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: spacer.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 43 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20041011/77395730/attachment-0002.gif>