Posted on 05/07/2007 7:31:18 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
The state Department of Water Resources on Monday appealed a judge's decision that threatens to halt water from being pumped out of the delta.
The decision will give the state more time to secure the authority it needs to send water to millions of Californians, officials said.
The appeal stays an April 18 order by an Alameda County Superior Court judge, who ruled that the state's water pumps illegally kill chinook salmon and delta smelt. The ruling would have shut down the Harvey O. Banks pumping station near Tracy within 60 days.
The decision was a victory for environmentalists and sport fishermen, who argued that the pumping did not comply with state environmental laws that protect fish.
The 11 pumps west of Stockton are the heart of the State Water Project, funneling water at a rate of 10,688 cubic feet per second into the 444-mile long California Aqueduct. But the pumps also suck in and kill salmon and smelt, which are protected under the California Endangered Species Act.
Last month, the Department of Water Resources proposed getting permission from state wildlife officials to operate the pumps under federal authority. However, the federal guidelines also are being challenged in a separate lawsuit.
Department Director Lester Snow said the state will work with federal officials to craft new guidelines that meet both state and federal environmental laws, which could result in less water being pumped to Southern California. The new rules are expected to be completed by April.
"Our pumping patterns will probably be different after we're through this process than they are today," Snow said.
Environmentalists have long complained that the state sends too much water out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and have blamed the pumping for declines in the chinook salmon and delta smelt populations.
Water pumped from the delta goes to more than 23 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.
This case is going to expose some of the nastiest politics in California’s history if the ruling to crimp Delta diversions is ultimately upheld.
This whole deal really sucks canal water!!!
Notice how this is added almost as an afterthought?
I've said it before. If they succeed in shutting down the Banks plant, this will be far, far worse than the rolling blackouts of 2001. When the crops start dying and the prices of produce begin to soar across the country, and the faucets in Los Angeles just drip, then maybe people will appreciate the damage environmental extremism can do.
They just announced he's just pardoned Paris Hilton!!!
Are you serious??????
Does he think he now runs France?
Are you sure? While I wouldn’t put it past Moonbeam2 (aka the girly-man-gangreen-governator), I’m reading that she is petitioning him for a pardon but not that he has granted it.
It was a good reason to bump the thread, though! :-)
They're sayin what yer sayin, but who can trust them "morons?" (just quotin Rush)
I just relied on google (still morons, but lots of them reporting the same thing)
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=paris+schwarzenegger&ie=UTF-8&scoring=n
Ya but... didja see my new “rad” tagline?
The mumblin’ and grumblin’ is over, eh?
Time for the terminator-tumble? LOL
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