[env-trinity] North County Times 3 31 10

[Byron Leydecker]

Judge: Pumping limits needed to protect Calif fish 

North County Times-3/31/10

 

A federal judge on Wednesday turned down farmers' emergency request to lift
water pumping restrictions in California's delta, saying continuing with
current pumping levels risked killing chinook salmon.

 

The decision by U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger means regulators will cut
back the amount of water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
starting at midnight.

 

The restrictions were put in place to protect endangered salmon and
steelhead as the fish migrate through the delta into the Pacific Ocean, but
farmers argue that the cutbacks are causing devastating crop losses.

 

The sweeping San Joaquin Valley grows most of the country's fruits and
vegetables, but a three-year drought and restrictions on pumping from the
freshwater estuary have hammered the region, creating drastic job losses and
other economic woes.

 

The pumping restrictions are part of a plan by federal biologists to
safeguard endangered salmon.

 

Environmentalists and fishermen have sued to get those protections in place,
arguing that the collapse of one of the West Coast's biggest wild salmon
runs two years ago foretold the extinction of related species.

 

Farmers, environmentalists, as well as state and federal biologists, will be
back in court Thursday to present more evidence before Wanger as the hearing
continues.

 

 

Byron Leydecker, JcT

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 land/fax (call first to fax)

415 519 4810 mobile

 <mailto:bwl3 at comcast.net> bwl3 at comcast.net

 <mailto:bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org> bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org
(secondary)

 <http://fotr.org/> http://www.fotr.org 

 

 

 

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