The TRO follows the filing of a Complaint on August 7, 2013, by the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority and Westlands Water District (“Plaintiffs”) challenging the Reclamation’s decision to make Trinity River storage releases above and beyond the existing 453,000 acre-feet of releases dedicated to fall-run Chinook salmon fishery restoration and maintenance in 2013.
Reclamation had described the
additional 109,000 acre-feet of excess releases as needed for fall-run Chinook
salmon located below the confluence of the Trinity River and Klamath River
(i.e., lower Klamath River). The TRO cites the Complaint's argument that a year
2000 federal Record of Decision already dedicates 453,000 acre-feet of CVP water
from Trinity Reservoir for restoration and maintenance of fall-run Chinook salmon this year, and that Reclamation could have used that water to
provide the late summer flows at issue in the litigation. The TRO also cites
the Complaint's argument that Reclamation decided to make the excess late summer
CVP storage release without analyzing and disclosing resulting impacts to CVP
water users under the National Environmental Policy
Act.
The TRO enjoins Reclamation “from
making releases from Lewiston Dam to the Trinity
River in excess of 450 cubic feet per second (‘cfs’) for fishery
purposes through and including August 16, 2013.” The short duration of the restraining order
is designed to allow Plaintiffs to file reply papers and will afford the court
an opportunity to perform a more detailed analysis of the
issues.
The TRO was issued despite
opposition by federal defendants and defendant-intervenors (Hoopa Valley
Tribe, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, and Institute for
Fisheries Resources).
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