This just in … Ninth Circuit Upholds Biological Opinion for Central Valley Irrigation Impacts on Endangered Salmon

This just in from the Central Valley Business Times:

This just inSalmon and the federal government agencies and environmental groups trying to keep them alive in the California Delta have scored a win over water contractors and the Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project in a ruling Monday from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 80-page decision upholds a “Biological Opinion” developed by the Commerce Department’s National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the impact of continuing water extraction in the California Central Valley on certain threatened and endangered salmon species. … ”

Read more from the Central Valley Business Times here: Endangered fish score legal win over farmers

More from the Environmental Law Professor’s blog:

On December 22, the Ninth Circuit (Tallman, Rawlinson, Rice (by designation)) issued a decision in San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority v. Locke.  In 2009, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a Biological Opinion for Central Valley Project/State Water Project operations in California’s Central Valley, requiring the Bureau of Reclamation to change its operations to avoid jeopardizing populations of endangered Salmonids.  Irrigation districts, who would be adversely impacted by the changes in operation, sued.  The district court found for the plaintiffs, concluding that NMFS had acted arbitrarily and capriciously in developing the BiOp.

The Ninth Circuit reversed … ”

Click here to read more from the Environmental Law Professor’s blog here: Ninth Circuit Upholds Biological Opinion for Central Valley Irrigation Impacts on Endangered Salmon

The ruling …

Click here to read the ruling.

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