Farm group challenges smelt decision

SACRAMENTO
December 16, 2008 12:23pm

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to meet the standards of the Endangered Species Act when it issued an order that threatens to cut California’s dwindling water supply by a third or more, argues a group calling itself the Family Farm Alliance in a legal challenge filed under the federal Information Quality Act.

“The law requires USFWS to base its decisions on evidence, not assumptions or its own prejudices,” says Dan Keppen, executive director of the Family Farm Alliance, which is based in Klamath Falls, Ore.

“The more important the action, the more impact it’s likely to have, the higher the quality standards to which it should be held,” says Mr. Keppen.

The new biological opinion calls for reductions in the operation of the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project to protect an endangered species of minnow called the Delta smelt.

Public water agencies claim the restrictions will have a devastating effect on water supplies for two-thirds of the state’s residents and more than two million acres of irrigated croplands.

“We’re taking this action on behalf of families and consumers across the country,” says Mr. Keppen. “Everyone in California will be harmed by USFWS’ ruling, but the immediate impact is likely to fall heaviest on food production in the Central Valley. Anything that hurts the Central Valley that badly will affect food supplies throughout the United States.”

The action by the Family Farm Alliance demands corrections to what the alliance says are dozens of errors and procedural violations.

The Alliance charges that USFWS failed to comply with federal guidelines intended to exclude biased and inaccurate information and to ensure the integrity of expert peer reviews.

Congress established the Information Quality Act in 2001, with the intent of “ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility and integrity of information disseminated by Federal agencies.”

The Family Farm Alliance says it represents family farmers, ranchers and allied interests in 17 states including California’s Central Valley. Its members also include hundreds of other farm-related organizations, including irrigation districts, commodity associations, private water companies, consulting firms, law firms, and farm implement dealers.