More Water from Valley
California
- Water districts and elected representatives of the Central Valley have
all announced efforts to block NOAA's National Marine Fishery Service's
Biological Opinion that would further cut water deliveries south of the
San Joaquin Delta – possibly cutting more than other 300,000 acre
feet of water from farmers already suffering from other federal actions.
Westlands Water District and other water districts say they will bring a lawsuit to have the Biological Opinion set aside and to compel the National Marine Fisheries Service to go back and perform the careful analysis it should have done to assess the potential harm this plan could do to public health and safety, communities and the environment.
NOAA released its final biological opinion last week that found water pumping operations in the Delta by the federal Bureau of Reclamation jeopardize the continued existence of several threatened and endangered species. The bureau has provisionally accepted NOAA's recommended changes to its water pumping operations, and said it will begin to implement its near-term elements as it carefully evaluates the overall opinion.
The ruling could have dire consequences for the Valley's Eastside as well as the Westside.
Friant Water Users Authority's Ron Jacobsma says he fears the impact on the Exchange Contracts that allows growers to claim water out of Millerton Lake that historically has gone to Eastside growers and cities.
“If they (Westside farmers) can't get water from the Delta, they will be looking to Friant,” said Jacobsma. That would mean less water flowing down the Friant-Kern Canal that not only feeds Eastside growers, but cities like Orange Cove and Lindsay.
The ruling brought strong responses from a number of people, including Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare).
“Despite the serious crisis facing our state, today the Obama Administration announced a new biological opinion that will end water deliveries in California – laying waste to billions of dollars worth of infrastructure and starving the state of water,” said Nunes last Thursday.
“The Obama Administration and the Democratic leadership of this Congress have totally disregarded the suffering of our country's largest farming community. It has been tragic to witness,” added Nunes. “The rule is premised on the belief that the operation of both the federal and state water projects are contributing to the possible extinction of salmon, sturgeon, southern resident killer whale and steelhead.”
A recent ruling by federal Judge Oliver Wanger that suggests regulators must also consider the human impact of their proposed rules as well as the impact on fish could throw a wild card into the deck.
Westlands, which got that ruling out
of Wanger a few weeks ago, vowed to fight this latest effort that could
mean a further reduction of 5 to 7 percent of water deliveries.
In a briefing for Congressional offices last week, officials announced
that water exports from the Delta would be reduced 330,000 acre feet as
a result of the new biological opinion. This is above and beyond water
reductions that have been mandated due to the Delta Smelt, as well as
reductions on the Eastside of the Valley associated with the San Joaquin
River Settlement Agreement. Westlands is getting just 10 percent of its
average allotment.
“This is a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and of federal endangered species law,” said Sarah Woolf, spokesperson for Westlands. She pointed out that the opinion was put into place without an Environmental Impact Statement, without public hearings or the kind of independent public review that the law requires.
“If it were allowed to stand, this Biological Opinion would be a death sentence for large parts of California's economy. Communities in the San Joaquin Valley are already experiencing 40 percent unemployment rates. This new order is so extreme and far-reaching that its adverse impacts will extend to businesses throughout the state. It will further reduce supplies for homeowners and increase uncertainty for almost everyone who expects to have water when they turn on the tap,” said Westlands.
Already this summer, tens of thousands of acres on the Valley's Westside are lying fallow and scores of orchards are being removed for lack of water.
Woolf cites many impacts in the Valley
by the decision, including:
· Groundwater storage
· Protected species in the Valley
· Land subsidence
· Agriculture and food production
· Soil and air quality
· Quality of drinking water
· Wildfires and public safety
· Recycled water use
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also reacted unfavorably to the opinion.
“This federal biological opinion puts fish above the needs of millions of Californians and the health and security of the world's eighth largest economy. The piling on of one federal court decision after another in a species-by-species approach is killing our economy and undermining the integrity of the Endangered Species Act. I will be asking for a meeting with Secretary Salazar and Secretary Locke to discuss our concerns with these biological opinions, and my Administration will be pursuing every possible avenue to reconcile the harmful effects of these decisions,” he said last week.
Woolf did hold out some hope.
“The good news is that because of existing water conditions, the most damaging aspects of the Biological Opinion are not likely to take effect until much later in the year. That means there will be time to ask the federal court to suspend this Biological Opinion and compel the federal fisheries agencies to comply with the law that requires the preparation of a proper environmental impact statement.”
Opinion Defended
“What is at stake here is not just the survival of species but the health of entire ecosystems and the economies that depend on them,” said Rod Mcinnis, southwest regional director for NOAA's Fisheries Service. “We are ready to work with our federal and state partners, farmers and residents to find solutions that benefit the economy, environment and Central Valley families.”
As part of the final opinion, NOAA's Fisheries Service has provided a number of ways the bureau can operate the water system to benefit the species, including increasing the cold water storage and flow rates. Such methods will enhance egg incubation and juvenile fish rearing, as well as improve the spawning habitat and the downstream migration of juvenile fish.
Changing water operations will impact an estimated five to seven percent of the available annual water on average moved by the federal and state pumps, or about 330,000 acre feet per year. Agricultural water use in California is roughly 30 million acre feet per year.
Water operations will not be affected by the opinion immediately and will be tiered to water year type.
The above story is the property
of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit
permission in writing from the publisher.