Trump and Newsom rules to protect endangered Delta smelt have curbed Delta pumping by nearly half since Jan. 3
The most drenching storms in the past five years have soaked Northern California, sending billions of gallons of water pouring across the state after three years of severe drought.
“It’s like winning the lottery and blowing it all in Vegas,” said Jim Houston, administrator of the California Farm Bureau Federation. “You have nothing to show for it at the end of the day.” Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said Friday that the state and federal governments do not have much flexibility under the law. She said the current restrictions began Jan. 3 and are scheduled to end on Monday.
The Delta, a vast area of marshes and sloughs between Sacramento and San Francisco Bay that is roughly the size of Yosemite National Park, is where some of California’s biggest political battles over endangered species have been fought in recent decades. After winter run Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon were listed as an endangered species in 1989 and Delta smelt were listed in 1993, state and federal wildlife agencies began limiting how and when the big pumps could operate, sparking relentless lawsuits from environmental groups, farmers and urban water agencies, which continue to this day.
Five Republican congressmen, led by Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, wrote to Newsom and President Biden this week. “We have a moral obligation to provide Californians any relief that is within our control,” they said. “Government regulations should not and must not deny our constituents critical water from these storms.”
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