Capital Press 9/12/08

Judge asked to invalidate Central Valley water contracts

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Environmentalists are asking a federal judge to invalidate 41 water contracts associated with the Central Valley Water Project.

U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger is set to hear arguments Friday that the contracts should be rewritten because they were based on flawed data regarding the effects of water pumping on a threatened fish that lives in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The judge dismissed that biological opinion last year, and environmentalists want the new water contracts to be based on the new opinion, which is scheduled for completion next year.

Southern California farmers already suffering from drought say they will get less water from the delta if those contracts are invalidated.