ENDANGERED SPECIES: POLAR BEARS, KILLER WHALES COULD IMPACT AG
News Date July 15, 2009
The Bureau of Reclamation has accepted recommended changes, suggested by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to modify its water pumping operations with in California’s Central Valley in a bid to protect a number of endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
NOAA’s final biological opinion claims that water pumping operations in California’s Central Valley jeopardizes the existence of Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, the southern population of North American green sturgeon, and Southern Resident killer whales.
Estimates place the impact of the biological opinion at an estimated five to seven percent of the available annual water on average moved by the federal and state pumps, or about 330,000 acre feet per year. Agricultural water use in California is roughly 30 million acre feet per year.
Many California farmers are concerned these modifications will compound water shortages resulting from a serious drought in the region.
In other ESA news, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent to sue against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Interior to force them to consider of the impact that 14 of the most commonly used pesticides have on the polar bear habitat in Alaska. The notice of intent to sue, the first step in a lawsuit process, was sent to the EPA and Interior.
Environmental activists argue that Interior has already listed polar bears as “threatened” due to the effects of climate change, but failed to account for the effects of pesticides approved for use in the lower 48. The Center for Biological Diversity alleges that the chemicals travel to the arctic via either water or air currents and can negatively impact polar bear health and reproduction. (Contact: Nathan Bowen or Mark Smith)