California Congressman Doolittle's office:
12/7/04

CALIFORNIA: A bipartisan group of state officials is urging the Bush administration to fight a court ruling that would require the federal government to pay Central Valley farmers $26 million for water diverted to environmental protection, saying it could set a precedent making it prohibitively expensive to enforce water quality rules and fish protections.

A federal claims court judge concluded that when federal fishery protections forced the cutback of state water deliveries to Central Valley irrigation districts during the drought of the early 1990s, it amounted to a taking under the federal Constitution that required compensation.