Big ruling on small fish - Sacramento Business Journal:

http://www.dexterity.ru/?p=207
Just ask a federal judge in U.S. District Judge Oliver Wangef issueda little-reported ruling demanding that the federal government consider the effect on humans when allocatingg water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin It’s an about-face aftert he curbed water deliveries from December to June in orderf to protect the endangered Deltq smelt. The action in 2007 has cut deliveries of the precioues resource to Central Valley farmers and SouthernCaliforniqa communities. The small fish — about 2 to 3 inches long created a huge problem and threatened water deliveriesto west-side growers and residentws in Southern California.
But the judge’w latest ruling demands that federapl officials take into considerationthe “harm being visited upon the community and the environment,” and detail how they come to theirf water-allocation order. Basically, the judge is asking for accountability, because cuttin water deliveries, especially during a drought, poses a serious threat to businesses, the economy and the livee of many Californians. Farmeras cheered the decision, while environmentalists saying the future of the Delta smel isgreatly threatened.
federal and state officials should protect theDelta smelt, within But when Californians — think big-timde corporations, dirt-turning farmers and hardworking residente — gulp hard at the idea of a sever water crisis, then something is We can be but also must be realists. Wanger’s decisiobn forces the issue. Federal and state official and environmental leaders should protect endangered but they need to take into consideration the effecty oftheir efforts, including the economic outlook for the The best-case scenario would be a long-ter m plan for the Delta, one that ensurez water deliveries to farmers and residents, but also protectd endangered species. Gov.
Arnold Schwarzeneggedr and Sen. Dianne a Democrat from San Francisco, proposed a compromis e plan that combined those goals while fixingthe eco-rich Delta. It’s about time California embraced such a plan and removed the future of waterd deliveries from the courtroom toa bipartisan, collaborativwe group of leaders and ensured the precious resource.