Biological opinion takes water from people, says editorial

From the Capital Press, this editorial:

From San Diego to Redding, Californians are trying to figure out the meaning of the 844-page biological opinion the National Marine Fisheries Service issued last week. This is a precedent-setting order, one that if unchallenged could derail long-established water law precedent in any Western river basin supporting fish protected under the Endangered Species Act. In the short term, NMFS policies could wreck much of California’s agricultural and domestic water supply without providing alternatives.

This is what’s known as a “jeopardy opinion.” It concludes state and federal water project deliveries in the Central Valley and Southern California must change or salmon and perhaps orcas, the killer whales that feed on salmon, will go extinct.

Cheers are in order for Westlands Water District, west of Fresno, and other public water agencies that announced a lawsuit almost as soon as the NMFS opinion came out. Cheers are also due to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who issued a statement saying in part the opinion “puts fish above the needs of millions of Californians and the health and security of the world’s eighth-largest economy.”

On the other hand, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., an author of the federal Central Valley Project Improvement Act, hailed the NMFS finding for undoing Bush administration water policy. This opinion does a whole lot more than Miller describes; it continues a “single species” approach to complex water issues that cry out for basin-wide and system-wide thinking and solutions.

Read more of this editorial from the Capital Press by clicking here.

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