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<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>LEGAL CASES</span></font></b></strong><font size=4><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><strong><b><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>U.S.</span></font></b></strong></st1:place></st1:country-region><strong><b><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'> water
pact makes big waves</span></font></b></strong><font size=4><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Contra Costa Times - 1/18/05</span></font></b></strong><font
size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>By Mike Taugher, staff writer</span></font></b></strong><font
size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>A
multimillion-dollar settlement reached quietly during Christmas week between <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> farmers and
the Bush administration is likely to lead to more lawsuits seeking big payouts
from taxpayers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The $16.7
million settlement cements, for the first time, a court finding that government
efforts to protect endangered species violate the constitutional protection of
property rights.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Rather
than appeal, as <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
state officials and some federal government lawyers urged, the Bush
administration decided to accept defeat and pay farmers for water diverted to
help endangered salmon.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>In doing
so, the administration signaled its approval of the idea that farmers served by
government water projects own the water delivered through those projects.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"I
think it was a terrible thing that the government didn't appeal it, partly
because it's wrong and partly because the government is usually quite zealous
about trying to protect the Treasury against claims that are disputable,"
said Joseph Sax, a law professor emeritus at the University of California.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"It's
obvious that the case is seen as a green light by property rights
advocates," added Sax, who was a counselor to the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:City> administration on water and other
environmental issues.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The case,
known as <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Tulare</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, marks the first time a court has
found the government's enforcement of the Endangered Species Act a violation of
the Fifth Amendment prohibition against taking private property without
compensation, according to the farmers' lawyer in the case, Roger Marzulla.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Several
similar lawsuits are already on deck: The city of Stockton and other
surrounding agencies seek $500 million for water they say the federal
government failed to deliver from New Melones Dam over a 10-year period;
Klamath farmers want $100 million for water diverted to protect endangered
salmon and suckers; and a small Ventura County water district is expected soon
to file a claim for about $8 million for water released in the Ventura River
for steelhead.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The
success of the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulare</st1:place></st1:City>
case is expected to bring even more lawsuits.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"I
think this fight is going to get a lot meaner before it gets nicer. There's
tens of billions of dollars at stake," said Andrew Lloyd, a lawyer for the
Sacramento-based property rights law firm, the Pacific Legal Foundation.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>At issue
is whether water users actually own property rights to the water they use. If
so, the Constitution protects them from governmental "taking" of that
water without compensation.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>That
could make protecting endangered species very expensive, and might eventually
make it too costly for government agencies to protect endangered fish and other
aquatic species.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>In a
March 2004 memo urging the Department of Justice to appeal the case, lawyers
for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the legal threat
presented by the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Tulare</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> case was already
making it more difficult for the agency's biologists to enforce endangered
species protections for salmon.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Environmentalists
and others contend water is a public resource and that, with a few exceptions,
farmers and urban water agencies do not own it.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Tulare</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
case says they do. The ruling is not binding on other courts, but the fact that
the government declined to appeal the case leaves the door open for other water
districts to file similar claims, according to lawyers on both sides of the
issue.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Other
judges could rule differently, or they could follow the lead of the <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Tulare</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType>
judge, Judge John Paul Wiese of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">D.C.</st1:State></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"It
(the settlement) sends a clear message that the Bush administration wants to
encourage lawsuits against the government," said <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Hal
Candee</st1:PersonName>, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>A
spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice did not return phone calls.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>But
Lloyd, the property rights lawyer, suggested the government may be waiting to
appeal until it has a case it is sure to win.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Candee
dismissed that argument, saying that many experts believe the government could
have won an appeal of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Tulare</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> case. Water users
with long-term water contracts have tried for years to force the government to
pay them when some of their contracted allotment of water is shifted to
endangered species.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Some have
sued for breach of contract, while others, like those in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Tulare</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
case, have gone further by claiming to be deprived of private property.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Neither
legal course has been successful until now.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>In the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Tulare</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
case, the federal claims court found that even though the water rights were
held by the California Department of Water Resources, their customers gained a
property right to the water through their contracts. Marzulla, a <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">D.C.</st1:State></st1:place>
lawyer for several water users, successfully argued that his clients owned
rights to their contracted water because the state water department exists to
deliver water to them.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The state
Department of Water Resources "has only one right to the use of that
water, and that is to put it in the California Aqueduct and send it
south," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>The water
users are customers of the state-owned State Water Project, which includes <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Oroville</st1:PlaceName>,
massive pumps at Byron and the 444-mile California Aqueduct, which ends in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Riverside</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"The
government is certainly free to protect the fish as long as it is willing to
pay for it," Marzulla said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>To
environmentalists and others, the contracts do not amount to ownership of
water. They also say the possibility of shortages is spelled out in the
contracts.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>If the
ruling stands, government agencies may decide they can no longer afford to take
actions aimed at protecting endangered fish and other aquatic species, said
Sax, the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Berkeley</st1:place></st1:City>
professor emeritus.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>"If
it (the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Tulare</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> case) is followed in other cases
and by other judges, it could have a very powerful, adverse effect on
enforcement of the Endangered Species Act," Sax said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Consultant, California Trout, Inc.</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 ph</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810 ce</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 9562 fx</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><em><i><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='text-decoration:none'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></font></i></em></a><em><i><font
face="Times New Roman"> (secondary)</font></i></em><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.fotr.org">http://www.fotr.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'><a href="http://www.caltrout.org">http://www.caltrout.org</a></span><o:p></o:p></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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