Water Must Be Diverted to Help Fish, Judge Says
A federal judge ordered government regulators to release water from a reservoir near Albuquerque to prevent the Rio Grande from going dry in an area where the endangered silvery minnow lives.
U.S. District Judge James Parker said the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Reclamation failed to adequately consider water from Heron Reservoir to help the tiny fish through the state’s worst drought in history.
The federal agencies had indicated in a Sept. 12 biological report that there were no alternatives to keep the flow going. Environmental groups had sued, saying that federal regulators were obligated under the Endangered Species Act.
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