Congressman Dennis Cardoza
18th Congressional District of California

WASHINGTON – Congressman Cardoza strongly criticized a court ruling this week that will lead to further blocking of agricultural water for Westside farmers.

This week U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger ruled that he was unable to grant an order that would have temporarily enjoined federal agencies from further restricting pumping water to Valley farmers. These pumping restrictions were ordered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation because four Delta smelt were killed at the pumps. Although the judge did not grant the restraining order for the smelt, just a week ago he had granted the same order with regards to salmon, allowing for 14 days of increased pumping of agriculture water.

Congressman Cardoza called the ruling another example of the complete insanity with which California’s water system has been managed.

“This is absolutely absurd,” said Cardoza. “The Environmental Species Act has essentially become the default management tool for our state’s water system. Regulation after regulation is blocking us from using this system that was intended to provide water throughout California and ensure that our farmers have the water they desperately need to grow our nation’s food.”