Schwarzenegger administration promotes new dams as delta fix ('smelt' this one coming)

The Schwarzenegger administration on Wednesday dusted off a failed dam proposal as a way to shore up California water supplies in light of a federal judge's ruling limiting shipments from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

But it seemed doubtful that the Democrat-controlled Legislature - long-opposed to new dams - would go along in the waning days of its 2007 session.

At a Capitol news conference flanked by city water leaders, farm and building industry representatives, Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman said an Aug. 31 ruling by a federal judge in Fresno could cut water flows out of the delta by about a third while doing little to protect the threatened delta smelt, a small fish that is threatened with extinction.

The pumping limitations could leave farmers in the San Joaquin Valley and cities from the San Francisco Bay area to San Diego scrambling to cope with water shortages beginning in December, officials said.

"This decision is proof that the delta is indeed broken," said Chrisman. "What it also points out is the need to safeguard our water system."

Both Chrisman and Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow urged lawmakers to immediately reconsider a $5.9 billion water facilities bond plan that the governor offered in January.

A Senate committee rejected Schwarzenegger's plan earlier this year, and it has remained in the background ever since.

Schwarzenegger's proposal includes two new dams and the study of a canal to route fresh water from the Sacramento River around the delta, in part to protect the delta smelt.

But Assembly Democrats have shown little willingness to consider water facilities legislation this year. They refused Wednesday to go along with a procedural move by Senate President Pro Temp Don Perata, D-Oakland, to advance his own $5 billion dam proposal, which includes $2 billion to help restore the delta.

Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said Assembly lawmakers had not seen details of Perata's plan.

"When the Senate wants to discuss a deal on a water bond, then the legislative leaders need to sit down and do that," Maviglio said.

Perata urged Schwarzenegger to convince the Assembly to pass a water bond this year in light of the federal judge's decision.

The court ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger, came in response to a 2005 lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The suit complained that the massive pumps used by the State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project were driving the threatened delta smelt to extinction.

Those pumps are the hub of California's water delivery system, sending water to more than 25 million people in parts of the San Francisco area, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

Under the ruling, pumping limits will be put in place from Dec. 26, when the fish are about to spawn, until June, when young fish can move into areas with better habitat and more food.

Exactly which areas of California will be asked to conserve water to make up for the reduction in pumping and how much they'll be required to conserve is unknown, state officials said.

Further complicating matters was the judge's instruction to state, federal and environmental officials to put his oral ruling into a written order by Oct. 22. Any decisions to appeal the pumping restrictions would come after the judge finalizes his order later this year, Snow said.

Tim Quinn, who heads the Association of California Water Agencies, said the ruling could cut delta water deliveries by 2 million acre feet next year. That's enough water for more than 1 million acres of farmland or 8 million households, he said.

In Southern California, the likelihood of fewer exports out the delta has promoted the Metropolitan Water District to draft a contingency plan for reducing deliveries to nearly 17 million people, said assistant general manager Roger Patterson.

The ruling compounds an already dry year in which communities around the state have ordered conservation measures.

Less water pumped out of the delta could spur additional, mandatory conservation strategies as communities draw upon local groundwater and storage supplies. It could also force farmers in the San Joaquin Valley to delay crop plantings, said California Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura.

State officials and water contractors said the pumping reductions would do little to help the 2- to 3-inch-long, silver-colored fish, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

"Clearly the judge is focusing on a particular stressor in the delta," Snow said. "There are so many other stressors in the delta system that we still have to address."

In court, lawyers for the state and federal governments and water contractors argued that water pumping was only a minor part of smelt's record decline. They also pointed to invasive species, toxic runoff, wastewater dumping and an antiquated plumbing system in the delta.

But when he made his ruling, Wanger said the "the evidence is uncontradicted" that the pumps hurt the smelt and "the law says something has to be done about it."

The court's ruling is meant to be effective until federal wildlife officials complete their own plan about how to protect the smelt. That plan is expected next spring.

Judge Wanger, FResno.
GHW Bush appointee

Wanger, Oliver Winston
Born 1940 in Los Angeles, CA

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Eastern District of California
Nominated by George H.W. Bush on January 8, 1991, to a seat vacated by Milton Lewis Schwartz; Confirmed by the Senate on March 21, 1991, and received commission on March 25, 1991. Assumed senior status on May 31, 2006.

Education:
University of Southern California, B.S., 1963

University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, LL.B., 1966

Professional Career:
U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Sergeant, 1960-1967
Deputy district attorney, Fresno County, 1967-1969
Adjunct professor, Humphrey College of Law, 1968-1969
Private practice, Fresno, California, 1969-1991
Adjunct professor, San Joaquin College of Law, Fresno, California, 1970-1991
Dean of the law school, 1980-1983
City attorney, City of Mendota, California, 1975-1980
Temporary judge, Superior Court of California, County of Fresno, 1988
Pro tem settlement conference judge, Superior Court of California, County of Fresno, 1989

Race or Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

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