NRDC News Release: Court Unanimously Agrees Feds Unlawfully Renewed Unsustainable Water Supply Contracts in the Bay-Delta
Summary from NRDC's press release:
SAN FRANCISCO (April 16, 2014) – A unanimous eleven-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today overturned two earlier court rulings that upheld the federal government’s renewal of several dozen long-term water supply contracts for diversions from the Bay-Delta ecosystem in 2004 and 2005. The court sided with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), California Trout, San Francisco Baykeeper, Friends of the River and The Bay Institute, concluding that renewal of these water supply contracts by the Bureau of Reclamation violated the Endangered Species Act. NRDC, Earthjustice and Altshuler Berzon LLP represented the environmental groups.
There are several news articles on this very significant court decision:
Courthouse News coverage of the decision -http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/04/16/67114.htm
Southern California Public Radio's coverage - http://www.scpr.org/blogs/environment/2014/04/16/16397/appeals-panel-halts-long-term-delta-water-contract/
Bloomberg covered the case - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-16/california-water-contracts-can-be-challenged-by-green-groups-1-.html