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There’s another threatened species – humans, says commentary

Posted by: Maven on July 7, 2009 at 8:22 am

From the San Francisco Chronicle, one commentary from Sunday’s section that I somehow missed – my apologies! Here’s a commentary by R. William Robinson, an elected director of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Water District, and Ralph E. Shaffer, professor emeritus of history at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona:

For Californians south of Tracy’s water delivery pumps, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger’s recent ruling on the delta smelt has transformed 2009 into both the best of times and the worst of times.

Despite what some view as a victory for 20 million residents dependent upon delta water, Wanger’s decision to delay imposition of permanent pumping restrictions merely lengthens litigation and threatens further damage to the state’s once-vibrant economy.

Because of another opinion protecting salmon, most of the state’s water users still face rationing. In December, Wanger imposed a draconian order curtailing pumping of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta into the California Water Project for shipment south. In late May, responding to a lawsuit by western San Joaquin Valley water agencies challenging that ruling, Wanger agreed with Westlands Water District lawyers that the limits he had at first supported needed revisiting. He ordered federal authorities to justify the limits they had placed, and which he had at first accepted, on diverting water to the state aqueduct. Those restrictions were intended to protect the delta smelt.

Apparently bowing to the argument that people were being harmed by an unreasonable concern about the welfare of a fish, Wanger instructed the feds to consider more than the impact pumping would have on the endangered delta smelt. Under his new ruling, the government must also calculate the effect that a reduced allocation will have on the millions of Californians dependent on the delta for residential, industrial and agricultural water. To date, pumping restrictions have denied Southern California water agencies about 1.1 million acre feet, worth approximately $330 million.

Read more of this commentary by clicking here.

July 7, 2009 · Filed Under Wildlife & Endangered Species

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