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Pacific Legal Foundation asks ninth circuit to strike down Delta smelt regulations that worsen drought

Posted by: Maven on January 26, 2010 at 8:28 am

From the Pacific Legal Foundation:

“In an appeal filed today by attorneys with Pacific Legal Foundation, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is being asked to strike down federal Delta smelt regulations that have led to devastating cutbacks on water pumping from the Delta to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. The pumping reductions amount to a “regulatory drought” that exacerbates the water shortages that are already plaguing much of the state, according to PLF. The case is Stewart & Jasper Orchards, et. al. v. Salazar.

Pacific Legal Foundation is the nation’s leading litigator for property rights and a balanced approach to environmental regulations. In the Delta smelt litigation, PLF attorneys represent three San Joaquin Valley farmers who have been hard hit by the water cutbacks caused by federal Delta smelt regulations.

The pumping cutbacks, which are idling farmland, driving up unemployment, reducing our safe food supply, and raising water rates, have been imposed as part of a plan to help the Delta smelt, which is designated as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). But PLF’s lawsuit says the federal government had no constitutional authority to put the Delta smelt on the ESA list, and therefore federal officials are barred from ordering pumping cutbacks as part of a regulatory scheme for the Delta smelt.

“We are asking the Ninth Circuit to put the brakes on out-of-control federal bureaucracies that are depriving farms and communities of the most vital resource – water,” said PLF Attorney Damien Schiff. “The court should reassert basic constitutional restraints on federal power. The Delta smelt has no role in interstate commerce, so federal regulators have no authority to issue any edicts about the Delta smelt, let alone draconian water-pumping reductions that threaten our economy and our food security.” … “

Read more from the Pacific Legal Foundation by clicking here.

January 26, 2010 · Filed Under Wildlife & Endangered Species

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