The San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority charges ‘pseudo science’ in salmon biological opinion

From the Western Farm Press:

The San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority has filed suit in federal court over the issuance of a biological opinion by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The lawsuit contends that the federal agency failed to conduct required environmental review and that it used “pseudo science” to develop measures meant to protect fish.

“Federal laws governing environmental review apply to everyone,” said Dan Nelson, executive director of the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority. “The National Marine Fisheries Service needs to follow the rules like everyone else when they make decisions that have such enormous impacts.”

In addition to demanding that NMFS publish an Environmental Impact Statement, the suit also claims that there was inadequate public review of the science the agency used to support its decision.

“The public has a right to know how agencies like NMFS makes decisions and that was completely inadequate in this instance,” said Nelson. “Decisions that affect the water supply for 3 million acres of farmland and 25 million people can’t be made in secret, as this one was. The law requires a specific public review process in cases like this and NMFS didn’t do that.”

Read more from the Western Farm Press by clicking here.

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