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Westlands Sues Feds Over Salmon Biological Opinion

by Dan Bacher
June 15, 2009 -- Westlands Water District, the Darth Vader of California water politics, and 29 other water agencies today announced a lawsuit against the federal government's court-ordered plan to prevent the extinction of Sacramento River spring run and winter run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, southern green sturgeon and the southern resident population of killer whales (orcas). The whales depend upon Central Valley salmon as a food source.
 
It is simply outrageous that federal authorities would seek to force these restrictions on California without conducting a single public hearing, without any public review or comment, and without any consideration of the harm they are doing, claimed Tom Birmingham, general manager of the Westlands Water District.
 
Westlands and corporate agribusiness are doing everything they can to prevent the recovery of imperiled Central Valley salmon and steelhead, green sturgeon and orcas, as required under the Endangered Species Act and numerous other federal and state laws. This is in spite of the fact that Westlands expects to use 86% of its average water supply this year, according to Department of Water Resources (DWR) data (http://yubanet.com/california/Op-Ed-Dan-Bacher-The-Big-Lie-Unravels.php).
 
"Central Valley Project deliveries to Westlands Water District, for example, were forecast to be zero as recently as March," said Spreck Rosecrans of Environmental Defense. "Westlands now projects they expect to use 86% of average annual supplies this year. Their total supply is a combination of deliveries from the Delta, water banked last year, groundwater pumping and purchases."