Report on Delta Water Is Faulted

A U.S. inspector general has found that a federal fisheries official in California skipped several key internal reviews when his office concluded last year that pumping more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would not seriously hurt endangered salmon.

The National Marine Fisheries Service biological opinion reversed draft findings that the proposed increase in delta pumping and other planned changes in the operation of the federal government’s massive Central Valley Project would threaten two imperiled fish species: the Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon and the Central Valley steelhead.

The final opinion provides crucial support for proposals, still undergoing environmental review by other government agencies, to send more water south to the farms of the Central Valley and the cities of Southern California.

The Commerce Department inspector general’s report did not assess the scientific work underlining the fisheries opinion. But the report was critical of the agency’s procedures, saying they raised “questions about the integrity” of the final document.

“The assistant regional administrator circumvented key internal controls established to ensure the integrity of the biological opinion,” stated the July 8 audit, released Wednesday by California Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez).

The inspector general said the regional office deviated from standard practice in several respects.

It started its environmental review before receiving all necessary information from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which, along with the state, is proposing more delta water exports. And it bypassed final reviews by the regional fisheries attorney as well as a regional coordinator who told the inspector general’s office that “she would not have signed off on the opinion because of her belief that there is a basic disconnect between the scientific analysis and the conclusion.”

However, the inspector general said auditors had not found evidence to support allegations that the unfavorable draft opinion had been given to reclamation bureau staff before it was rewritten.

Miller and environmental groups critical of plans for increased delta exports said the audit proved the fisheries opinion was tainted by Bush administration politics and should be jettisoned.

“It could only be done this way through political pressure,” Miller said. “I consider this a very serious violation of the process and of the law. It’s consistent with other actions of this administration. Every time they’ve come up with sound science they disagree with, they overrule it.”

Jim Lecky, the assistant regional administrator who oversaw the writing of the final opinion, has denied any political influence, saying at the time the draft was rewritten that it was based on a faulty analysis.

Lecky has since been promoted to director of protected resources at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Jim Milbury, regional marine fisheries spokesman, said his office had not seen the inspector general’s report and could not comment.

Miller and 18 other members of Congress asked for an investigation last fall after learning that the final opinion reversed the draft findings.

The opinion was designed to gauge the impact of future operations of the Central Valley Project, including plans to significantly increase water deliveries to agricultural operations in the Central Valley. Increased delta exports are also being considered by the State Water Project, which helps supply Southern California cities.

Citing declining fish populations and water quality problems, some environmentalists say the delta can’t stand to lose any more water.

“If one wonders why [delta] fish are hovering on the brink of extinction, it’s because political expediency has repeatedly trumped sound science,” said Bill Jennings of DeltaKeeper, an environmental group.