The State : Probe of Farm Ponds Sought

Department of Interior Solicitor Ralph Tarr has been asked to determine whether violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act--the tough bird protection law used to shut down the selenium-polluted Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in 1985--are occurring at farm waste water evaporation ponds in other parts of the San Joaquin Valley, according to United Press International. In a July 31 memorandum obtained by UPI, Steve Moore of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requested the solicitor’s opinion saying there are 7,000 acres of farm waste water ponds in the San Joaquin Valley, and deformities in birds have been documented at some of the ponds at rates higher than Kesterson. “For the foreseeable future then, it is likely that continued adverse impacts to migratory birds will be a probable consequence of operation of some of those ponds,” said Moore, who is the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s drain water studies coordinator.