Posted on 12/02/2008 7:57:46 AM PST by SmithL
Reaching back to the laws of ancient Rome, environmentalists sued Monday to cut off Delta water operations and dramatically shake up the long-term balance between economic and environmental needs in the region.
If it succeeds, the lawsuit would shift the focus from the worsening conflict between individual species of fish and the amount of water pumped out of the Delta to a comprehensive attempt to balance competing interests.
"The only things that are already protected are already endangered," said Michael Jackson, a lawyer for the environmental groups. "But what's happening is the whole bottom is falling out of the ecosystem. You cannot list everything (as an endangered species) and you can't protect species by species."
By invoking the public trust doctrine, a legal concept that dates to the Roman Empire, the environmental groups seek to force regulators to consider the environment, recreation, aesthetics and other values to be passed to future generations in the Delta much more rigorously.
The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, the California Water Impact Network and retired federal biologist Felix Smith, seeks to stop water deliveries from the Delta until the massive state and federal pumping stations near Tracy come into compliance with laws that the environmentalists say are being broken.
A spokesman for the state Department of Water Resources said the lawsuit could lead to "draconian" cuts in the East Bay and South Bay and threatens what little stability is left in the state's water supply outlook.
"It used to be that drought was determined by hydrology. Now, it is determined by hydrology and by regulatory and judicial constraints," said water resources department spokesman Ted Thomas. "This condition could toss us into the worst drought in California history very easily."
Water users have opposed application of the public trust doctrine in the Delta, and in October the State Water Resources Control Board rejected a petition from the environmental groups saying they planned to take actions over the next five years that would largely address the issue.
"We just don't think it (the Delta ecosystem) will last that long," Jackson said. "They don't want to do it and so we're going to try to force them."
In addition to the public trust doctrine, the lawsuit invokes clean water law, constitutional prohibitions against "unreasonable" uses of water and a law that requires dams be operated in a way that conserves fish.
It singles out the Westlands Water District as an unreasonable water user because one-quarter of the sprawling, 600,000-acre-district is on poorly drained soil that, when irrigated, can increase pollution into waterways that lead back to the Delta.
Westlands deputy general manager Jason Peltier accused environmentalists of unfairly focusing on Delta pumps as the culprit while ignoring invasive species, upstream pollution and other problems that might be driving the apparent collapse of the Delta ecosystem.
"Their fixation on the water projects over the last 20 years is probably one of the biggest reasons for the fisheries' decline," Peltier said.
The lawsuit is the latest variable to be thrown into a mix that appears to be making 2009 a pivotal year for decisions in the Delta.
Since 2000, water deliveries from the Delta have accelerated and fish populations have declined dramatically, though researchers say it remains unclear how much of the problem is because of Delta water pumping.
But the widespread decline has led some biologists to fear one fish, Delta smelt, is near extinction while the collapse of the fall-run chinook salmon population led to an unprecedented closure of the ocean salmon fishing season this year. There is precedent for use of the public trust doctrine in California water conflicts: In 1983, the state Supreme Court ruled that the state Water Resources Control Board had the authority and the duty to apply public trust values to Mono Lake, which has since been restored and widely hailed as an environmental success story.
No power. No water.
How do people survive out there?
“You cannot list everything (as an endangered species) and you can’t protect species by species.”
Trust us. We know what’s best for you, your family, and the guppies.
bookmark
In other words, none.
Time to breach O’Shaughnessy Dam and free the Tuolumne River.
The proper answer should be: "Shut up and go to your legislators. Convince them you have a valid case, and maybe they will change the law." We are a republic. The courts shouldn't be granting plaintiff status to every crank with a grudge.
It just gets crazier and crazier out here. Respect for the environment is a good thing but common sense has to be applied here. Which there seems to be absolutely none of it in my opinion.
Desalizantion plants and a canal system would help tremendously. With this drought. Good luck trying to build them.
The eco-wackos are...well...wackos!
You’re missing the point. Legislators allow this stuff to go on precisely because it allows their agenda to move forward without them having to take responsibility for decisions that tick off voters.
For instance, Congress has adequate tools to rein in the Supremes when they go too far. It don’t use them because liberal agendas can be promoted far more effectively through the Court, and your local congressman can disclaim any responsibility. His agenda moves forward, and he is re-elected. Win - win.
Burn lots of time and money fighting the liberals or move to a more sane location.
Why doesn't this guy just beat it?
Please disregard the dumptruck loads of dead smelt and other fish clogging those same pumps. These are currently being buried on the outskirts of Tracy.
Nothing to see here, move along.
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