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Groups File Complaint over 'Unreasonable Use' of California Delta Water
Two statewide environmental organizations, the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, said they will file a public trust, waste and unreasonable use of water and method of diversion petition with the State Water Resources Control Board on March 19. They contend the Board has failed to halt the continuing ecological collapse of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary by permitting excessive amounts of Northern California water to be pumped to western San Joaquin mega-farms and Southern California. The petition occurs at a time when the fisheries of the Central Valley and the California Delta, the largest and most significant estuary on the Pacific Coast, are in a state of unprecedented collapse. All commercial and recreational salmon fishing is likely to close on California coast and most of Oregon this year because of the collapse of Central Valley chinook salmon. The Bush administration claims that the collapse is due to "ocean conditions," but a coalition of fishing, tribal and environmental groups points to increased water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and declining water quality as the key factors in the sudden decline. At the same time that Sacramento River fall run chinook salmon have reached a record low population level, populations of four pelagic (open water) species - delta smelt, longfin smelt, juvenile striped bass and threadfin shad - have collapsed also. These species have declined to record lows over the past year, due to massive increases in water exports, combined with the impact of toxic waste and invasive species. Water Board action demanded by the two groups includes: (1) modification of existing water rights to improve the fishery; (2) mandatory daily flow requirements; (3) mandatory pulse flows during salmon migration; (4) functional fish passage facilities on all dams; (5) state-of-the-art fish screens on all diversion points to prevent young fish from being ground up in the Delta pumps or sucked down irrigation ditches; (6) requiring DWR and the Bureau of Reclamation to begin actually complying with all water and fishery protection laws; and (7) establishing minimum pool and temperature requirements on all water storage reservoirs to protect fish. "The petition requests the board to begin holding evidentiary hearings including testimony under oath, cross-examination and rebuttal on the issues raised as soon as possible," according to a news release from the two organizations. I appaud these two groups for filing this long-overdue petition to the board. California fisheries are in their greatest crisis ever, due to the failure of the board to protect fish and the public trust - and I'm glad that somebody has stood up to speak for the fish! "The stall-and-delay tactics of the Water Board as the Central Valley’s salmonid fisheries and the Delta’s pelagic fisheries collapse borders on the criminal," said Jennings. I agree completely with Jennings. It appears that litigation is the only way to stop the destruction of our chinook salmon, steelhead, striped bass, sturgeon, delta smelt, longfin smelt, splittail and other fish populations by the Schwarzenegger and Bush administrations. The press release is below:
Two statewide environmental organizations, the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, said they will file a public trust, waste and unreasonable use of water and method of diversion petition with the State Water Resources Control Board on March 19. They contend the Board has failed to halt the continuing ecological collapse of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary by permitting excessive amounts of Northern California water to be pumped to western San Joaquin mega-farms and Southern California. The petition occurs at a time when the fisheries of the Central Valley and the California Delta, the largest and most significant estuary on the Pacific Coast, are in a state of unprecedented collapse. All commercial and recreational salmon fishing is likely to close on California coast and most of Oregon this year because of the collapse of Central Valley chinook salmon. The Bush administration claims that the collapse is due to "ocean conditions," but a coalition of fishing, tribal and environmental groups points to increased water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and declining water quality as the key factors in the sudden decline. At the same time that Sacramento River fall run chinook salmon have reached a record low population level, populations of four pelagic (open water) species - delta smelt, longfin smelt, juvenile striped bass and threadfin shad - have collapsed also. These species have declined to record lows over the past year, due to massive increases in water exports, combined with the impact of toxic waste and invasive species. Water Board action demanded by the two groups includes: (1) modification of existing water rights to improve the fishery; (2) mandatory daily flow requirements; (3) mandatory pulse flows during salmon migration; (4) functional fish passage facilities on all dams; (5) state-of-the-art fish screens on all diversion points to prevent young fish from being ground up in the Delta pumps or sucked down irrigation ditches; (6) requiring DWR and the Bureau of Reclamation to begin actually complying with all water and fishery protection laws; and (7) establishing minimum pool and temperature requirements on all water storage reservoirs to protect fish. "The petition requests the board to begin holding evidentiary hearings including testimony under oath, cross-examination and rebuttal on the issues raised as soon as possible," according to a news release from the two organizations. I appaud these two groups for filing this long-overdue petition to the board. California fisheries are in their greatest crisis ever, due to the failure of the board to protect fish and the public trust - and I'm glad that somebody has stood up to speak for the fish! "The stall-and-delay tactics of the Water Board as the Central Valley’s salmonid fisheries and the Delta’s pelagic fisheries collapse borders on the criminal," said Jennings. I agree completely with Jennings. It appears that litigation is the only way to stop the destruction of our chinook salmon, steelhead, striped bass, sturgeon, delta smelt, longfin smelt, splittail and other fish populations by the Schwarzenegger and Bush administrations. The press release is below:
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