NYT: In Fish v Farmer Cases, the Fish Loses Its Edge (endangered wildlife)

[DeepModem Mom]

In Fish vs. Farmer Cases, the Fish Loses Its Edge
By DEAN E. MURPHY

Published: February 22, 2005


SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 21 - Legal fights over water in the West are as common as summer rains are rare. But a flurry of cases in California is attracting intense attention from scholars and state officials who see them as an extraordinary assault by agricultural interests on protections for endangered fish and other wildlife.

In a series of lawsuits, including one to be argued before the United States Supreme Court on Wednesday, farmers and water districts are pushing property-rights claims to the forefront of the debate over how to divvy up water among farms, cities and the environment.

In doing so, they are demanding compensation from the government for irrigation water diverted for environmental purposes, calling into question rules mandated by Congress under the Endangered Species Act that favor the protection of fish over the growing of food when water is in short supply.

It is an approach that has won sympathy from the Bush administration, which in December agreed to pay $16.7 million to farmers in Tulare and Kern Counties in one lawsuit over reduced water supplies. But the claims have alarmed California officials and many conservation groups, who fear that demands for payment for lost water could spread to other Western states and undermine protections for wildlife....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/22/national/22west.html