Judge delivers vindication but no relief for imperiled salmon, steelhead
A federal judge says California's water-export system puts the fish in great jeopardy. But he denied the remedies suggested by environmentalists for 'scientific and evidentiary' reasons.
SACRAMENTO — A federal judge struck a largely symbolic blow for imperiled salmon and steelhead Friday, declaring that the state's vast water-export system is putting the fish at risk but rejecting environmentalists' key changes.
U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger of Fresno said that the Central Valley's winter- and spring-run salmon as well as the remnants of its once-thriving steelhead population are being threatened by the dams and aqueducts that store and move water around California.
The water projects' operations "appreciably increase jeopardy to the three species," Wanger concluded.
But the judge denied several remedies suggested by environmental attorneys with the Natural Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice, such as storing more water behind Shasta Dam to be released for migrating salmon and opening a pivotal diversion dam's gates to allow the fish to reach spawning grounds.
"It verified what we've been saying all along -- that the fish are in jeopardy. But he did nothing to fix it," said Zeke Grader of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Assns., one of the plaintiffs.
Federal officials plan to wrap up a new biological study by March spelling out operational changes needed to keep the state's water system functioning without endangering the fish.
Wanger said a "scientific and evidentiary dispute" undercut the merits of environmentalists' proposed changes. He set a hearing Wednesday to hear further arguments.
eric.bailey@latimes.com
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