Judge sides with farmers in California delta water lawsuit
Staff and wire reports | Posted: May 18, 2010 8:10 pm SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge ruled Tuesday in favor of Central Valley farmers and urban water agencies seeking to loosen restrictions on pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a major source of irrigation and drinking water for much of California. U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger in Fresno said the federal government did not properly develop a management plan that restricted water exports to protect endangered salmon, steelhead and other fish. The judge scheduled a hearing Wednesday to determine how much water can be exported without harming threatened fish that migrate through the delta to the Pacific Ocean. … Groups representing San Joaquin Valley farmers and Southern California water users filed suit to block the pumping restrictions imposed by the 2009 management plan written by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The restrictions were aimed at protecting winter- and spring-run chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, green sturgeon and a group of orcas. Judge Wanger said pumping restrictions were necessary to protect those species, but the agency did not adequately explain how they determined specific pumping levels. “The exact restrictions imposed, which are inflicting material harm to humans and the human environment, are not supported by the record,” Wanger wrote in the 134-page ruling, calling the restrictions the “product of guesstimations.” The restrictions — along with three years of drought — have forced farmers to leave large tracts of land fallow, leading to significant economic losses and soaring unemployment in many agricultural communities, said Sarah Woolf, a spokeswoman for Westlands Water District, which serves about 600 farms in western Fresno and Kings counties. …
