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Red Bluff Diversion Dam stays: Judge turns down removal request after two-week hearing

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 5, 2008 at 5:58 am

From the Capital Ag Press:

A federal judge has turned down a request by fishing and environmental groups that could have resulted in the removal of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam. “We dodged a bullet but we’re not out of the woods,” said Jeff Sutton, general manager of the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority based in Willows.

Judge Oliver Wanger denied a request for emergency injunctive relief on Friday, June 27, in Fresno. The motion had been filed by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations/Institute for Fisheries Resources and the National Resources Defense Council, according to court records.

The case looks at the impacts of the Central Valley Project on the Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon, the Central Valley spring-run chinook salmon and the Central Valley steelhead.

The ruling followed a two-week hearing, said Sutton, who was in the courtroom. Wanger found that some of his conclusions about the project and its impact on fish was based on wrong data, which led him to continue the hearing to allow more evidence to be submitted.

Sutton said Wanger ultimately decided to deny the request for emergency relief to take the dam out, finding there was insignificant harm to the spring chinook salmon if it remains through July.

Wanger also ruled that the dam’s gates could stay down until Aug. 1, which poses a concern. “August 1 does not take us to the end of the irrigation period,” Sutton said.

If the diversion dam’s gates are lifted mid-season, when peak demand hits between 1,200 and 1,800 cubic feet per second, it would put the entire service area at risk, said Sutton.

Read the full text of this story from the Capital Ag Press by clicking here.

July 5, 2008 · Filed Under Judge Wanger salmon ruling

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