Releases of Trinity River
water meant to prevent a
fish kill on the Klamath
River will resume today.
Judge Lawrence O’Neill made the ruling Thursday afternoon in the federal district court in Fresno, Calif., canceling his prior temporary restraining order.
The releases will be
about 21,000 acre-feet —
only a third of the
original amount
requested.
O’Neill also ruled that
a more rigorous analysis
of environmental impacts
will be required in
future years by the
Bureau of Reclamation.
Glen Spain, northwest
regional director of
Pacific Coast Federation
of Fishermen’s
Associations, said the
judge concluded the risk
to Central Valley
irrigators was very
small, but the risk to
the river and fisheries
was huge.
“The balance of
interests weighed in
favor of doing
everything possible to
avoid a fish kill,”
Spain said.
Early Aug. 13, water
from the Lewiston Dam
was released for the
Klamath River but, by
evening, Judge O’Neill
ordered the headgates
shut.
By issuing a temporary
restraining order,
O’Neill ruled that
Central Valley project
irrigators — who sued to
preserve the water for
their use — had a
likelihood of success in
a lawsuit against the
federal government.
Westlands Water District
and San Luis and
Delta-Mendota Water
Authority brought the
suit against
Reclamation, citing
impacts in a severe
drought period and a
streamlined decision
process that didn’t
consider all the
impacts.
More than half of
Trinity water is pumped
to the Central Valley
Project.
The Trinity is the
Klamath River’s main
tributary, confluencing
40 miles from the
Pacific Ocean and
providing 40 percent of
salmon habitat.
Tribes, conservationists
and fishing groups
argued that dry
conditions and a large
predicted salmon run in
the Klamath River are
similar to 2002 — the
worst adult fish kill in
U.S. history.
Spain said the judge’s
ruling is a split
decision because of
requirements for more
rigorous environmental
analyses by the federal
government for future
Trinity releases.
The smaller Trinity
releases reflect recent
cooler temperatures
along the lower Klamath
River and higher than
anticipated flows.
Spain said his first
reaction to the news was
relief. “We do not know
that this will be
enough, but at least
it’s everything we can
do at this point in
time.”
In his decision, Judge
O’Neill wrote that
neither side holds veto
power and there are
impacts on both sides.
Nevertheless, the
decision states that
“considering the
significantly lower
volume of water now
projected to be involved
and the potential and
enormous risk to the
fishery of doing
nothing, the Court finds
it in the public
interest to permit the
augmentation to
proceed.”
The majority of chinook
have been staying near
the mouth of the Klamath
River. With rain on the
coast and the additional
flows, Spain expects the
chinook to start coming
in fast.
The Central Valley water
districts were not
available for comment by
press time.