A federal judge with the Eastern District Court of California today denied a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction sought by Central Valley Project water users to stop extra releases of water from the Trinity reservoir at Lewiston Dam into the Trinity River.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation approved those flow augmentation releases last week, and the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority and Westlands Water District sued to stop them several days later. The two had another suit already outstanding with the court over emergency flows last year. In his decision, U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill talked about both cases. He said the emergency releases for salmon in the Trinity do not decrease the amount of water the plaintiff’s users are getting from the project (which already, in these drought conditions, is zero for agriculture users and curtailed some for wildlife refuges). He acknowledged that releases into the Trinity this year likely could lower the reservoir enough that next year’s the water supply could be impacted, meaning continued short supply (already in effect) for the plaintiff’s water users. But, he said, “the balance of the harms does not warrant an injunction at this time.”
“Even if the Court were prepared immediately to issue a final ruling on the merits in favor of Plaintiffs, an injunction would not be automatic,” O’Neill wrote. “The potential harm to the Plaintiffs from the potential, but far from certain, loss of added water supply in 2015 does not outweigh the potentially catastrophic damage that ‘more likely than not’ will occur to this year’s salmon runs in the absence of the 2014 [flow augmentation releases].”
You can read the decision here:
And here’s a video showing before-and-after the releases:
This article appears in Ground Breaker.
Well worth it.
Does anyone else see the connection between these huge gravel bars and low/warm flows? I think the best thing that could be done for the Klamath, Trinity, Mad, Van Duzen and Eel Rivers would be to invite every gravel mining company in the western United States to come out here and scour these clogged up river beds clean.
Get the gravel out and even during low flow years the water will be in deep rocky channels like it should be, flowing quick and cool instead of filtering slowly through hot rock.
Why is gravel removal seen as such an environmental catastrophe instead of the boon for fish it would be?