Ninth Circuit Favors Feds in California Water Fight

Two of three judges on a Ninth Circuit panel Monday indicated they believe the federal government had the authority to release 355 million gallons of water from California’s Trinity Reservoir to prevent a salmon die-off, despite water districts’ claims to the contrary.

San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority and Westlands Water District sued the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation in 2013 after the government ordered them to release the water to prevent a salmon die-off in the lower Klamath River, rather than deliver the water to cities and farmers during the state’s searing drought.