[env-trinity] Sac Bee February 4

[Byron]

Westlands Water District, principal Trinity water recipient, affected.

 

Project to link canals halted; The temporary restraining order cites risk to
Delta

Sacramento Bee - 2/4/06

By Matt Weiser, staff writer

 

A federal judge in Alameda ordered federal officials Friday to delay
construction of a link between two major canals that export water from the
California Delta where several fish species are already in danger of
extinction. 

 

U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken ruled Friday that "serious harm"
could occur if construction is allowed to begin Monday as planned by the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 

 

The bureau owns one of the two canals that export water from the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Southern California. The California
Department of Water Resources operates the other. 

 

The so-called "intertie" project proposes to connect the two canals with an
underground pipeline where they pass within 500 feet of each other south of
Tracy. The $23 million project aimed to improve operational flexibility of
the two systems and increase pumping capacity within existing legal limits. 

 

The nonprofit Planning and Conservation League sued the bureau, the lead
agency on the project, alleging the intertie could allow an additional
34,000 acre-feet of water to be exported from the Delta and that this could
harm water quality and wildlife. The nonprofit organization, based in
Sacramento, argued that the bureau violated state and federal law in failing
to conduct a full study of the project's environmental consequences. 

 

The judge ruled that conclusion was likely and issued a temporary
restraining order to prevent construction of the project at least until a
court hearing on the league's request for a preliminary injunction,
scheduled for Feb. 14 in the same court. 

 

In December, scientists identified water exports as one likely culprit in
record-setting population declines among several Delta fish species,
including striped bass and the threatened Delta smelt. 

 

"It's a pretty big deal because I believe it's the first time the bureau or
any water agency has been told to stop in their plan to increase diversions
from the Bay-Delta estuary," said Mindy McIntyre, water program manager for
the Planning and Conservation League. "We are positive the court will find
in our favor when they analyze all the merits of the case." 

 

In court, the Bureau of Reclamation argued it was right to conduct a more
cursory environmental review, in part because many of the potential
environmental impacts are not "reasonably foreseeable." 

 

The judge said that term may have been used too loosely and found grounds
for a more thorough environmental study. She also dismissed the bureau's
claim that halting construction would impose burdensome costs on taxpayers. 

 

"Environmental injury ... generally cannot be adequately remedied by money
damages, and it is often permanent," Wilken ruled. 

 

Jeff McCracken, a spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation, declined to
comment on the specifics of the court ruling. 

 

"Until we get a copy of the judge's order, there's not much we can say," he
said. 

 

Westlands Water District and Delta-Mendota Water Authority, two of the
largest water-export customers, filed briefs in support of the Bureau of
Reclamation. Delta-Mendota is expected to operate the new intertie on behalf
of the bureau if it is built.

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

Advisor, California Trout, Inc

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 ph

415 383 9562 fx

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org

http://www.fotr.org

http:www.caltrout.org 

 

 

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