<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><head><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><o:OfficeDocumentSettings><o:AllowPNG/><o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch></o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--></head><body><div class="ydp7fe54021yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;"><div><div class="ydp7fe54021signature"><br></div><div class="ydp7fe54021signature"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><h1 itemprop="headline" class="ydpaa8e6618entry-title"><a href="https://sjvsun.com/ag/calif-federal-water-officials-ask-judge-to-ok-water-plan-amid-pressure-to-rollback-trump-plan/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://sjvsun.com/ag/calif-federal-water-officials-ask-judge-to-ok-water-plan-amid-pressure-to-rollback-trump-plan/</a></h1><h1 itemprop="headline" class="ydpaa8e6618entry-title">Calif., Federal water officials ask judge to OK water restrictions amid pressure to rollback Trump plan</h1>
<div class="ydpaa8e6618entry-meta"><span class="ydpaa8e6618meta-author-image"><img data-del="avatar" alt="" src="https://sjvsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/a_R_3jxY_400x400-1-150x150.jpg" class="ydpaa8e6618avatar ydpaa8e6618pp-user-avatar ydpaa8e6618avatar-50 ydpaa8e6618photo" data-inlineimagemanipulating="true" width="50" height="50"></span><a class="ydpaa8e6618meta-author ydpaa8e6618url" href="https://sjvsun.com/author/admin/" title="View all posts by Alex Tavlian" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span itemprop="author" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">Alex Tavlian</span></span></a><span class="ydpaa8e6618meta-date">3 hours ago</span></div>
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background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto; position: relative; z-index: 2; width: 100%; max-width: 400px; border-radius: 0px 0px 2px 2px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(224, 228, 233);" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center"><tbody><tr><td style="background-color:#ffffff;padding:16px 0 16px 12px;vertical-align:top;border-radius:0 0 0 2px"></td><td style="vertical-align:middle;padding:12px 24px 16px 12px;width:99%;font-family:YahooSans, Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;border-radius:0 0 2px 0"><h2 class="ydp4804276ccard-title" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 6px; font-family: YahooSans, Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(38, 40, 42); max-width: 314px;">Calif., Federal water officials ask judge to OK water restrictions amid ...</h2><p class="ydp4804276ccard-description" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(151, 155, 167);">State and Federal water officials have petitioned a judge to order a one-year temporary plan governing Californi...</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></ul></div>
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<p>Amid the fallout of California’s worst water year in its history, the
state will find its two primary water arteries under the management of a
temporary, plan tendered to a Federal judge on Thursday, throwing out
2019 environmental rules that boosted water supplies to the Central
Valley and Southern California.</p>
<p>The plan, which comes amid a cacophony of lawsuits waged both by the
Newsom administration and environmental interest groups, was prepared by
representatives of the California Department of Water Resources,
California Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,
National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.</p><div style="width: 100%; height: auto; clear: both; text-align: center;" class="ydpaa8e6618google-auto-placed ydpaa8e6618ap_container"></div>
<p>From a legal standpoint, the so-called “interim operations plan”
attempts to halt the pending suits to allow the Biden administration to
begin – and hopefully complete – a new set of environmental rules, known
as biological opinions, governing water supplies via the Central Valley
Project.</p>
<p>The Trump administration tendered a set of biological opinions in
2019 governing the Central Valley Project, which are the subject of the
suits and the sudden, Biden-led bureaucratic rewriting effort.</p>
<p>The newly-drafted plan would be come operational and supersede the 2019 biological opinions for upon a court order.</p><div style="width: 100%; height: auto; clear: both; text-align: center;" class="ydpaa8e6618google-auto-placed ydpaa8e6618ap_container"></div>
<p>If ordered, the interim plan for water deliveries through the
Federally-operated water system would run through Sept. 30, 2022, the
conclusion of the water calendar year.</p>
<p>Among a litany of state and Federal initiatives to be undertaken
during the 2022 water year, the interim plan prioritizes water
deliveries for municipal and industrial water users on the basis of
meeting minimum health and safety requirements.</p>
<p>These water supplies ensure municipalities have sufficient water for residents. However, the <strong><a href="https://sjvsun.com/news/hanford/kettleman-in-crisis-poor-kings-co-town-becomes-intersection/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">validity of health and safety water calculations has come into question</a></strong> recently.</p><div style="width: 100%; height: auto; clear: both; text-align: center;" class="ydpaa8e6618google-auto-placed ydpaa8e6618ap_container"></div>
<p>After health-and-safety supplies, Central Valley Project supplies
from Shasta Dam are prioritized next for Winter Run Chinook Salmon, then
senior water contractors and wildland refuge water users (as prescribed
in the Central Valley Project Improvement Act), and then any other
uses. </p>
<p>Valley-based opponents to the interim plan say that that it revives
failed policies from the Federal government’s 2008-2009 biological
opinions, including calendar-based rules for pumping water into the San
Joaquin Valley rather than continuing flexible, real-time pumping
operations under the 2019 opinions.</p>
<p>Opponents also argue that the plan was not sufficiently vetted to be
successful at meeting key short-term environmental goals, such as
preserving fish species within the Delta or on its feeder rivers.</p><div style="width: 100%; height: auto; clear: both; text-align: center;" class="ydpaa8e6618google-auto-placed ydpaa8e6618ap_container"></div>
<p>They add that Federal agencies failed to undergo environmental review
as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, a key requirement
for virtually all environmental regulatory changes.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, litigating environmental groups argue that the plan fails to go far enough. </p>
<p>In its response to the interim operations plan in a court filing, the
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermans Association argued that the plan
failed to reinstitute regulations on the amount of water exports from
the Delta to the Valley and Southern California.</p>
<p>In a letter on Friday to state and Federal water officials, a trio of
California Democratic lawmakers decried the introduction of the plan to
the court. </p>
<p>“Amid ongoing extreme drought conditions facing California and across
the West, a court-ordered water management plan for a single water
year, which has not been subject to adequate scientific or public
review, is the worst possible outcome,” the letter from Reps. Jim Costa
(D–Fresno), Josh Harder (D–Turlock), and John Garamendi (D–Walnut Grove)
reads.</p>
<p>“The drought has had equally devastating impacts on protected
fisheries in the Central Valley, which the interim water operations plan
would not fix but, instead, undercut any continued voluntary habitat
restoration efforts for protected species.”</p>
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