Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Judge calls for pump shutdown
Contra Costa Times ^ | 4/19/7 | Mike Taugher

Posted on 04/19/2007 7:43:34 AM PDT by SmithL

An Alameda County judge rejected last-minute pleas from state water officials and instead finalized his order that they shut off massive Delta pumps in 60 days unless they can comply with the state law that protects endangered species such as Delta smelt and salmon.

The California Department of Water Resources said it would appeal Wednesday's ruling and warned of dire economic repercussions should the pumps be shut off.

The State Water Project delivers water to 25 million people from the Bay Area to San Diego, but a shutdown would probably most severely affect Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore.

The Zone 7 Water Agency, which serves 200,000 people in those communities, gets 80 percent of its water from the state project and would have to impose a mandatory 20 percent reduction in the first year of a shutdown, said general manager Jill Duerig. That likely would prohibit watering of lawns, car-washing and other activities, she said.

"It would be water available for health and safety only," she said.

Some Livermore vineyards could be cut off entirely, she added. In the unlikely event that a shutdown extended into a second year, water use would have to be cut in half as water stored underground and in Lake Del Valle is used up.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch finalized his March 22 tentative order and ruled that the project lacks permits required under the California Endangered Species Act to kill Delta smelt and protected salmon runs.

Few expect the pumps to be turned off for any length of time, in part because it could cost the state economy hundreds of billions of dollars, according to state water officials. Still, it has brought new urgency to the ongoing water crisis.

"Today's ruling poses a significant threat to California water deliveries, potentially jeopardizing the statewide economy and causing severe impacts on residents and businesses up and down the state," said Laura King Moon, assistant general manager for the State Water Contractors, an association of water agencies served by the project.

The Department of Water Resources finds itself without a clear way to resolve a thorny legal predicament that it was made aware of nearly two years ago.

Last week, the agency for the first time asked the Department of Fish and Game to formally review its operation by asking it to endorse federal endangered species permits. If the Fish and Game department agrees that the federal permits are consistent with state law, the project would be in compliance and the shutdown threat would be averted.

But the federal permits are widely perceived as flawed, and they are already being rewritten to address several shortcomings.

Adding to the pressure on state water officials, a federal judge next week will hear arguments from environmental groups who want to invalidate one of the federal permits at issue. If the judge rules in favor of those environmental groups, it would significantly complicate the state's predicament.

"I cannot issue a consistency determination (for a federal permit) that has been deemed inadequate by the court," Fish and Game director Ryan Broddrick said.

He said there are provisions in the federal permits that provide enough flexibility that could allow him to grant the water department's request while changing the way the pumps are operated, in part by reducing the amount of pumping at certain sensitive times of the year.

Under that scenario, water agencies throughout the state might have to give up water to help the Delta's unraveling aquatic ecosystem, where several fish species have plunged to record low populations in recent years.

But Broddrick said he could not give an estimate of how much water could change hands.

"I don't know," he said. "It depends on the water-year type and where the fish are."

Environmentalists, meanwhile, have hinted they might sue if Fish and Game complies with the water department's request because they see it as an end-run around compliance with the stricter state Endangered Species Act.

"It was obvious that DWR failed to comply. Now, we'll see if Fish and Game will comply," said Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, which brought the lawsuit against the water department.

The fact that the water project lacks permits under the state endangered species law first came to light in July 2005.

At that time, a state Senate committee wanted to review state permits in response to a story in the Times that showed how, at a time when Delta smelt populations were collapsing, water officials were able to soften fish protection measures under provisions in a federal endangered species permit.

Lacking jurisdiction over federal permitting issues, senate investigators asked to see the water department's permits required under the California Endangered Species Act.

They discovered those permits did not exist.

Department of Water Resources officials argued then, as now, that a combination of other documents add up to a de-facto permit. But they promised senators they would clear up the matter by seeking more straight-forward compliance with the law.

Since then, the agency has not sought a traditional permit but instead embarked on what is expected to become a massive, long-term planning effort to comply with the law and balance the competing needs for water from the Delta.


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: activistjudge; watershutdown
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last
WHAT'S NEXT

State water officials say they will appeal a court order that would shut off the State Water Project, which supplies 25 million people with water. At the same time, they are seeking permits that would render the shutdown unnecessary.

It is uncertain whether those permits will be issued, but if they are the result would likely diminish the water supply from the East Bay to Southern California.

1 posted on 04/19/2007 7:43:35 AM PDT by SmithL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: SmithL

Nice place to visit, but this is just another example of why I’d never in a million years live there.

Lets see...you can die from flooding, landslides, earthquakes, wildfires, riots, expressway shootings and if you happen to survive it all...you get the opportunity to die of thirst?

The sun shines in other states...and water isn’t an issue.


4 posted on 04/19/2007 7:51:45 AM PDT by Badeye (The worst thing in the world is being talked about. The Second worst is not being talked about.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
WHAT'S NEXT?

Another form of Brownout for California from their favorite liberal/progressives.

5 posted on 04/19/2007 7:53:58 AM PDT by sr4402
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: edcoil

First sane recommendation I’ve heard anywhere.


6 posted on 04/19/2007 7:55:21 AM PDT by Maelstorm (They'll take your guns, your money, your land, your children, and your right to disagree.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: edcoil

Alternatively, if the endangered fish populations were exterminated the law would no longer apply since the species is gone and no longer endangered.


7 posted on 04/19/2007 7:58:03 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. Don't eat Spinich. The spinich growers are against the war and funding our troops)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: sr4402

Brownout?.........Maybe a Wetout?.........H20ut?........


8 posted on 04/19/2007 8:01:15 AM PDT by Red Badger (If it's consensus, it's not science. If it's science, there's no need for consensus......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
Yikes.

And insult to this injury...the activist lawyers, having prevailed, will likely walk away with thousands and thousands of legal fees having to be paid at the taxpayer's expense.

9 posted on 04/19/2007 8:02:23 AM PDT by Paul Ross (Ronald Reagan-1987:"We are always willing to be trade partners but never trade patsies.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bert
Doesn't work in liberal logic. There was a case here where they argued that because there were no specific endangered species found, that the project in question should be stopped, because one might be there that didn't get counted, and the habitat was ideal for that one that was not there, so it might stop by and decide to live there............
10 posted on 04/19/2007 8:04:29 AM PDT by Red Badger (If it's consensus, it's not science. If it's science, there's no need for consensus......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Badeye

Yup, Living in Boston sucks but i’ll take this place any day over CA.


11 posted on 04/19/2007 8:11:28 AM PDT by mowowie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

California. LOL


12 posted on 04/19/2007 8:12:42 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mowowie

Indeed, nobody will take your ‘dirty water’ from you guys!

(just kidding)


13 posted on 04/19/2007 8:12:50 AM PDT by Badeye (The worst thing in the world is being talked about. The Second worst is not being talked about.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

If you think there is a water shortage now, just wait until all the homeless from South Park show up.


14 posted on 04/19/2007 8:13:40 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

“endangered species such as Delta smelt and salmon.”

Delta smelt...

Well, he who dealt it, smelt it.


15 posted on 04/19/2007 8:14:14 AM PDT by GovernmentIsTheProblem (Capitalism is the economic expression of individual liberty. Pass it on.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL; Grampa Dave; SierraWasp
And in Washington state a judge refused to grant a permit to Fish and Game to kill Sea Lions that are killing endangered Salmon in the Columbia River. The envirals run on a one way street in the courts...
16 posted on 04/19/2007 8:21:12 AM PDT by tubebender (Worry gives small problems big shadows)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

In the event of an economic downturn from this, I say lay off the judges first.


17 posted on 04/19/2007 8:22:57 AM PDT by Colorado Doug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GovernmentIsTheProblem

Congress needs to deprive all these presure groups of standing to sue and gum up the works of everything anyone tries to do. Maybe they should get into smelting, instead.


18 posted on 04/19/2007 8:23:47 AM PDT by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

Time to get rid of the endangered species act. Dismantle the EPA and quit running our lives to the tune of enviros.


19 posted on 04/19/2007 8:25:32 AM PDT by calex59
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

Simple solution, repeal the law making fish more important than people.


20 posted on 04/19/2007 8:34:23 AM PDT by thiscouldbemoreconfusing
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson