[env-trinity] E& E 2 15 2011

[Byron Leydecker]

Feinstein pressed to halt CR provision on Calif. delta (02/15/2011)


Colin Sullivan, E&E reporter


California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has asked his state's senior U.S. senator to
kill language in the House version of the continuing resolution that would
reverse some protections for endangered fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta to boost water exports from the estuary.

Writing on behalf of Brown, California Secretary for Natural Resources John
Laird over the weekend urged Democrat Dianne Feinstein to intervene to
remove a provision that was inserted by Republicans that would defund some
pumping limits in the delta put in place to protect salmon and delta smelt.

Feinstein, a top appropriator, is in an ideal position to remove the
language to let parties involved in litigation over the delta smelt and
associated biological opinions come to "a reasonable settlement" on their
own, Laird wrote in a letter.

"The language in the House of Representatives proposal would make further
negotiations impossible," Laird said. "Worse yet, the resolution as
currently written, would not resolve the ongoing litigation nor move us
toward the twin goals of water supply reliability and ecosystem health."

The CR would stop regulations related to the bi-ops that reverses the flow
of water in the southern delta, where channels carry water to farms and
water districts in the San Joaquin Valley and farther south. The CR would
also stop the practice of cutting salinity during the fall and halt spring
pumping curbs in the San Joaquin River to aid steelhead.

The flare-up comes as arguments took place today in the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in San Francisco over a federal judge's ruling on the
smelt. In December, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger said a U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service bi-op on the smelt under the Endangered Species Act was
sloppy and ordered the agency to reconsider its science (Greenwire
<http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2010/12/15/archive/4> , Dec. 15, 2010).

A decision from the 9th Circuit is not expected for about six months,
according to attorneys involved in the case.

 

 

Byron Leydecker, JcT

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 land

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 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20110216/8acd36a9/attachment.html>