[env-trinity] Ex-judge who ruled for Westlands is now its lawyer

Wed Nov 30 11:19:21 PST 2011

sacbee.com

This story is taken from Sacbee <http://www.sacbee.com> / Our Region 
<http://www.sacbee.com/101/index.html> / Courts/Legal News 
<http://www.sacbee.com/courts/index.html>

  Ex-judge who ruled for Westlands is now its lawyer

      mweiser at sacbee.com <mailto:mweiser at sacbee.com>

        Published Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011

A retired federal judge who recently ruled in favor of California's 
largest agricultural water agency is now an attorney for that agency in 
a different lawsuit.

Judge Oliver Wanger, who retired Sept. 30 from the federal district 
court in Fresno, recently was named in a court filing as an attorney for 
Westlands Water District. The district delivers water to farms in the 
San Joaquin Valley, most of it diverted from the Sacramento-San Joaquin 
Delta.

Just weeks before retirement, Wanger ruled in favor of Westlands in a 
case the district brought against federal regulation of water diversions 
from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The rules are meant to protect 
the Delta smelt, a threatened fish.

In an outburst from the bench in that case on Sept. 19, he accused two 
federal scientists of bias, calling one a "zealot" and suggesting the 
other distorted the truth. It was a rare emotional moment for Wanger, 
who for two decades has ruled for both water users and environmental 
groups in numerous complex water cases.

On retirement, Wanger became headline partner at a Fresno law firm that 
previously saw relatively little work in the water arena.

Wanger said he sees no conflict in taking the Westlands case.

"I would not undertake any representation where there is a conflict," he 
said. "Candidly, if the environmentalists had sought to hire me or the 
government had sought to hire me and I had no conflicts, I would have 
been happy to consider representing them."

Wanger is also representing Fresno County in its effort to prevent 
Occupy Fresno protesters from camping in Courthouse Park.

The new water case was filed in Fresno Superior Court in August by the 
North Coast Rivers Alliance, Friends of the River, Save the American 
River Association and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. They allege that 
Westlands and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation harm water quality and 
wildlife by irrigating Westlands land, which transports naturally 
occurring selenium from the soil into waterways.

Selenium can deform wildlife when it enters the food chain. It did so in 
spectacular fashion in 1983, when dozens of deformed birds were found at 
Kesterson Wildlife Refuge.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to require Westlands and the bureau 
to obtain a state waste-discharge permit.

"I guess I'm not surprised he's now basically retained by Westlands," 
said Steve Evans, program consultant at Friends of the River. "I'm sure 
Westlands is purchasing the best legal representation they can buy. But 
I trust the system to work, and I think we have a really good case."

Ethics rules forbid a former judge from serving as a lawyer for a party 
in a case over which he recently presided. That does not necessarily 
apply in a different case, even with similar issues. It may depend on 
details that can become a subject of legal dispute.

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