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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 10/09/2002 9:11:39 AM PDT by AAABEST
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico - When the folks on the Klamath Relief Fund's convoy to Florida arrived here, they heard a story much like their own.
On Sept. 18 Federal Judge James Parker ruled that the city, owner and operator of the Heron Reservoir, was required to send 40,000 acre/feet of water down the Pecos River to the Rio Grande to protect a small fish called the silvery minnow.
The minnow was listed as endangered in 1994, nearly 30 years after the city built the reservoir. In response to Parker's ruling, the city filed an amicus brief, asking the court to recognize the water belongs to the city for municipal use, and wouldn't be available at all if the city hadn't built the reservoir.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, a coalition of environmental groups, praised Parker's decision. Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez said Parker "made the worst possible choice."
"He put the cross hairs of his federal authority on families of Albuquerque, and he's pulled the trigger," Chavez said to the Albuquerque Tribune.
Under Parker's oral ruling, the city will have to release about 13 billion gallons of water into the Rio Grande via the Pecos River over the next 45 days from the Heron Reservoir near Chama. The water, supplied by the San Juan River in the Colorado River watershed, was being stored by the city in preparation for a switch from underground water to river water as its primary drinking water supply in about three years. City leaders in the 1960s authorized that project and have spent nearly $47 million to date on water rights.
Parker said in his ruling he felt he had no choice in the matter because of how the Endangered Species Act is written.
In a strange backlash, dwellers in this city of nearly half a million, historically supportive of the Endangered Species Act, are expressing outrage as they now face more water cutbacks after surviving a summer of severe water restrictions brought about by one of the worst droughts on record.
After the denial of water to the Klamath Basin's 220,000 acres in 2001 to protect the short-nosed and Lost River suckerfish, a decision later determined in an interim report by the National Academy of Sciences to be scientifically unfounded, the Klamath visitors could only shake their heads at the story.
Convoy leader and chair of the Klamath Bucket Brigade Bill Ransom, who has appeared on numerous television and radio stations since the convoy left Klamath Falls 10 days ago, continues to push the message first voiced by President George Bush in Medford Aug. 22.
"We need to bring common sense and accountability back into the process of these federal agencies," Ransom said. "The situation in Albuquerque is another example of how people don't count when it comes to the Endangered Species Act. Is including peer reviewed and field tested science in the ESA listing process too much to ask?"
Ransom said every community the convoy has visited has had a local story to tell. He said a small fish has brought about a 50 percent reduction in irrigation water to a group of ranches in Utah to protect a frog, while a small butterfly called the wandering skipper prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to call for a set aside of 4,000 acres near Susanville, Calif., to protect habitat. The kicker to the wandering skipper case, Ransom said, is the Fish and Wildlife Service has not observed the butterfly on those 4,000 acres, nor is there any historical record of the butterfly ever being there.
"President Bush has called for common sense in federal decision making, and it is the unelected bureaucrats he is trying to rein in," Ransom said. "It is absolutely critical that the ESA is amended to take people into account."
In the case of the silvery minnow, where city residents are affected instead of the typical scenario of a rural population, Ransom said he wasn't surprised.
"This act places the supposed needs of animals, fish and plants above those of people, no matter where they live," Ransom said. "If it hasn't affected your community yet, just wait - it will."
Spend more money on frogs and butterflies than children. Bring scourge on the community on junk science that they refuse to have peer reviewed.
It's a well documented pattern demonstrated by these modern day robber barons and it must be stopped.
They deserve our support.
For more info on the Sawgrass Rebellion click here. The site has been updated and has all the latest info including maps, lodging and ways you can help.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Donate to FR.com...MUD
What's that Nunya Bidness said ... you wait until these laws finally affect you and it's too late?
Lord knows it's better late than never but it's hard to have a hell of a lot of sympathy for the exact Useful Idiots who helped put over the Enviro Agenda on this nation in the first place.
That statement is the key. Judges are supposed to rule on the LAW not on the perceived need. We need to change the law to account for humans period.
EBUCK
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