Legal actions highlight environmental battles

From the environmental group Klamath Riverkeeper

:Today Klamath Riverkeeper (KRK) filed a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue the Montague Water Conservation District (MWCD) for ongoing operation of Dwinnell Dam and associated diversions in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The Notice provides an opportunity for the District to propose measures to settle the claims before initiating a judicial proceeding.

“Coho once numbered in the thousands in the Shasta River,” noted KRK Executive Director Erica Terence. “Today fewer than 50 return most years.” In 2009 only 9 endangered coho salmon (all male) returned to spawn in the Shasta River according to the California Department of Fish and Game.

Montague Water Conservation District owns and operates Dwinnell Dam and Shastina Reservoir on the Shasta River. A large part of Parks Creek, a key Shasta tributary is also diverted to the Reservoir. From there water is diverted through a large ditch over 20 miles to grow hay and irrigate pasture.

Fisheries biologists have long noted that despite being in a relatively dry area, the Shasta is historically one of the most prolific salmon producing streams in the West. The Shasta River is fed by spring water that originates on the slopes of Mt. Shasta. These numerous springs provide a stable supply of water at the optimal temperature for salmon. The water is also rich in nutrients that in turn grow the insects that salmon feed on. However, since the 1920’s, much of the Shasta’s pristine waters have been diverted by Montague Water Conservation District without any stipulations on how much water must be left in-stream for salmon. According to the KRK Notice of Intent, that is no longer legal.

“We want to balance water use in the Shasta so that both farm and fish dependent communities can thrive,” said Terence. “The two are not mutually exclusive but we have to learn how to better share the resource.”

If MWCD fails in the next 60 days to demonstrate adequate, good-faith efforts to comply with legal requirements for permits to kill endangered coho salmon, KRK may consult fisheries experts and seek a court order to remedy the devastating impacts of the MWCD's dam and diversions.

Meanwhile, the Pacific Legal Foundation sent us this:

Pacific Legal Foundation, after years of delay by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in delisting Valley elderberry longhorn beetle (VELB) from the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, today filed a lawsuit to “stop the federal bureaucrats’ foot-dragging.” The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a coalition of California landowners, businesses, farmers, and flood control districts harmed by the unnecessary and unjustified federal regulations.

Today’s lawsuit follows PLF’s petition to delist the beetle in September, 2010. PLF attorney Brandon M. Middleton says that while the Endangered Species Act requires the Service to have provided a final response to PLF’s delisting petition 12 months after the petition was filed, that deadline has long since passed.

“The clock has run out on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to act. Property owners, flood control and reclamation districts, and all American taxpayers are paying the price for the agency’s utter failure to follow its own recommendations to drop the unnecessary protections,” Middleton said. “Our lawsuit sends a clear and loud message to regulators — it’s time to stop the foot-dragging.”

The one-inch beetle is found up and down Central California, from Redding in the north to Bakersfield in the south. Its listing as “threatened” under the ESA since 1980 has hampered the productive use of land and the building and maintenance of flood-control levies.

A 2006 study sponsored by FWS itself found that the VELB no longer needed special protections and should be taken off the ESA list. But the agency failed to act, and the beetle stayed on the list. And while the Service provided an initial response in 2011 to PLF’s delisting petition, it has let the 12-month deadline for providing a final determination expire.

“It’s been nearly six years since the Service recognized the beetle’s recovery, and 18 months since PLF petitioned the Service to delist the species,” Middleton said. “Because of the agency’s continued delay, we are left with no other option but to take the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to court and obtain a court order that the Service respond to our petition.”

The parties to PLF’s lawsuit include:

Reclamation District No. 784
Levee District One
North Sacramento Land Company
Sacramento Valley Landowners Association
Butte County Farm Bureau
Solano County Farm Bureau
Yolo County Farm Bureau