[env-trinity] Redding.com editorial: LaMalfa, Garamendi oppose Trinity surge

[Tom Stokely]

http://blogs.redding.com/bross/archives/2013/08/lamalfa-garamen.html 


August 7, 2013 5:53 AM | No Comments
LaMalfa, Garamendi oppose Trinity surge
A bipartisan mix of congressmen from inland California are pushing back against the Bureau of Reclamation's proposal to release a fall surge of water from Trinity Lake in the name of helping the lower Klamath's chinook.

Reps. Doug LaMalfa, John Garamendi, Jeff Denham and Jim Costa --- all of whom represent ag-heavy districts whose farmers rely on water delivered from the Central Valley Project -- sent a letter Friday to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, who oversees Reclamation, gently but firmly calling Reclamation's analysis of the proposal too thin to withstand legal scrutiny.

The letter argues that fall releases need to be planned earlier as part of the annual determination of Trinity River flows instead of ad-hoc emergencies, and it suggests a more expansive (and impossible, given the timing) environmental impact statement before releasing the water.

More broadly, it questions whether whether the benefits to the Klamath's salmon -- especially a non-endangered run of chinook -- is worth the potential costs to other fish and to the Central Valley Project's human clients.

Reclamation is being pulled hard in both directions. It seems likely it will run with the plan it's already devised for this fall, but it does seem the system needs a better way of accounting for these recurring fall releases.

- See more at: http://blogs.redding.com/bross/archives/2013/08/lamalfa-garamen.html#sthash.U5NZSUnM.dpuf
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