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Three new lawsuits challenge limitations on Delta pumping

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 25, 2009 at 8:11 am

Here’s an informative article from Eric W. Davis of Somach, Simmons & Dunn, Eric W. Davis about the lawsuits challenging the smelt opinion:

Separate groups of contractors who receive water from California’s two largest water projects filed three different lawsuits this month challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) recent Biological Opinion imposing restrictions on the operation of pumping facilities in the San Francisco Bay Delta. The lawsuits challenge both the substance of the FWS determination that pumping operations jeopardize the endangered delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) and the procedure by which FWS arrived at that determination.

Interestingly, two of the three suits also allege that, in issuing the Biological Opinion, FWS had an independent duty under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to review the environmental consequences of the Biological Opinion.

More background information and legal analysis by clicking here.

March 25, 2009 · Filed Under Delta smelt, Judge Wanger delta smelt ruling

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