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Lawsuits pile up over longfin smelt protection

Posted by: Maven on December 10, 2008 at 7:30 am

From Stockton’s Record:

As few as 50 tiny longfin smelt would be protected by Delta pumping restrictions that could further crimp the water supply for 25 million Californians, water users said Tuesday in a trio of lawsuits filed against the state.

Districts that supply water to cities and farms from the Bay Area to San Diego say the restrictions, approved last month by the California Fish and Game Commission, are disproportionate and do not reflect the best science.

The restrictions are in effect until mid-February, when the commission is expected to vote on whether the longfin smelt – a close cousin of the threatened Delta smelt – should receive permanent protection under state endangered species laws.

The well-chronicled decline of the Delta smelt already has led to severe cutbacks in how much water can be pumped from the state and federal facilities near Tracy. Now attention has turned to the longfin smelt. The added restrictions approved last month are double trouble, especially in a drought year, water users say.

“Given the minuscule benefit to the fish, there appears to be something wrong with this picture,” said Laura King Moon, assistant general manager of the State Water Contractors, in a prepared statement.

Read more from the Stockton Record by clicking here.

The State Water Contractors’ lawsuit is only one of three lawsuits filed; the Fresno Bee has the details on the other two lawsuits, which are similar:

Two prominent local water agencies filed suit Tuesday to block a new state regulation aimed at protecting a tiny fish that inhabits the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The Westlands Water District and the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority say the California Department of Fish & Game’s regulation to protect the longfin smelt would deal a devastating blow to the state’s water supply, cutting as much as 1 million acre-feet in water deliveries if it is fully implemented.

Already, the 50-page lawsuit says, the state’s water supply has been hit by a combination of drought, governmental agency cutbacks and court-ordered reductions related to the delta smelt, a cousin of the longfin.

“The economic devastation this will cause is unbelievable, especially in the times we are in,” said Westlands spokeswoman Sarah Woolf.

The lawsuits allege that fewer than 100 fish would be helped by the restrictions, and that the additional restrictions won’t yield any benefit to future populations because the longfin smelt doesn’t come into the vicinity of the Delta pumps. Read more from the Fresno Bee by clicking here.

December 10, 2008 · Filed Under Wildlife & Endangered Species

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