Study backing more water exports to Southern California is nullified

U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger of Fresno found that a 2004 study by the National Marine Fisheries Service didn't adequately address global warming, the loss of habitat and other factors that could hurt the fish.

But the effect of his 151-page opinion on water exports for farms and Southern California cities won't be decided until further court hearings starting late this month.

"This decision should prove very big for the fish," said Michael Sherwood, an attorney with Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm representing commercial and recreational fishermen, environmental groups and the Winnemem Wintu tribe of Mount Shasta.

Wanger's ruling is the second setback in the last year for federal biologists and California's water managers. In August, the judge ordered a shift in operations that could cut water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by 30%.

The decision comes days after federal regulators canceled the 2008 salmon fishing season because of a sharp decline in the Sacramento River's fall-run chinook salmon, the backbone of the commercial industry.

Wanger's decision addresses an ongoing crisis for two other chinook salmon species, the winter and spring runs, and Central Valley steelhead trout. Once collectively numbering in the millions, the three endangered fish have seen their populations plummet -- in the case of the winter-run chinooks to fewer than 200 returning adults in 1994. The fish have been hit hard by water pollution, predators and dams that have blocked spawning grounds and boosted river temperatures.

Though the judge's decision might further curb delta exports, a more likely result is operational changes 250 miles to the north at Shasta Dam, experts on both sides said.

Cradling the state's biggest reservoir, the dam traditionally releases most of its water down the Sacramento River and onward to the delta in late summer and fall. But environmentalists have pushed for more cold-water releases to help the struggling runs of salmon and steelhead.

Sherwood of Earthjustice said the ruling could mark "a turning point" in operations by the state and federal water projects, which redid the California landscape in the 20th century to move water from the wet north to farms and communities in the south.