[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dan Bacher

As Governor Arnold "Fish Terminator" Schwarzenegger continues to campaign for more dams and the peripheral canal ("conveyance"), the Department of Fish and Game is seeking public input on a petition to list longfin smelt under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) announced on June 20 that it is seeking public input regarding a petition to list longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys), another victim of years of abysmal water management by the state and federal governments, under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).

The California Fish and Game Commission is currently considering the petition to list the fish as "threatened" or "endangered" under CESA. The Bay Institute, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council filled the petition on Aug. 14, 2007 after the longfin smelt, along with its cousin, the delta smelt, declined to record levels after record levels of water were exported out of the California Delta by the state and federal governments.

By operation of law, longfin smelt became a “candidate species” under the CESA when the Commission found that the petition contained sufficient information to warrant further consideration, according to a news release from the DFG.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By John Geesman
Green Energy War

Based on the historic US Supreme Court decision that brought him to the White House, George W. Bush probably ranks first among all US presidents in his acute appreciation of the co-equal role which the American Constitution affords the judicial branch of government.

That may explain the disdain his climate speech earlier this month expressed regarding the role of the courts:

"Some courts are taking laws written more than 30 years ago — to primarily address local and regional environmental effects — and applying them to global climate change. The Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act were never meant to regulate global climate."

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

If at first you don't succeed (in complying with endangered species laws) try, try again

By Traci Sheehan
Executive Director
Planning and Conservation League

by jsw [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Today's Blog Roundup is on the flip. Not enough posts to bother with categories this afternoon. Let me know what I missed.

To subscribe by email, href="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=658390">click
here and do what comes naturally.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dan Bacher

Ryan Broddrick, the current Director of the California Department of Fish and Game, will be leaving the agency on August 31 to work for the Northern California Water Agency.

Broddrick was the rare exception among DFG directors in that he actually rose up through the ranks of the Department, rather than being appointed from outside of the agency like most directors have been over the years. Broddrick had served as Director for the last 3.5 years, capping over 25 years of service to DFG and over 30 years of state service. He served 3 Governors in appointed positions over his career.

His resignation occurs at a time when the agency is undergoing one of its biggest crises ever as populations of Delta smelt, longfin smelt, juvenile striped bass and threadfin shad continue to collapse because of massive increases in Delta water exports in recent years.

Many believe that his resignation was spurred by the frustration that he and other staff had in getting the Department of Water Resources to comply with the California Endangered Species Act by getting a court-ordered “incidental take permit” to kill endangered and threatened Delta smelt, winter run chinook and spring run chinook. However, in his letter to the Governor and staff, he gave no indication of any disappointment or frustration with the administration.