Judge rejects irrigators' bid to halt Klamath releases

摘要

A federal judge yesterday rejected a bid by two of the biggest irrigation districts in California's Central Valley to stop water releases along the Lower Klamath River intended to protect salmon. U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill in Fresno denied the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction request made by the Westlands Water District and the San Luis & Delta- Mendota Water Authority earlier this week. At issue are emergency water releases made by the Bureau of Reclamation over the weekend and scheduled to continue through mid-September from a reservoir along the Trinity River that feeds the Lower Klamath River but also diverts water to the Central Valley Project that provides irrigation to San Joaquin Valley farmers. The federal agency announced Friday that it would make the additional releases in an effort to head off a disease that caused a major die-off of chinook salmon in 2002 (Greenwire, Aug. 27).