Facts

Environmental groups, under the Endangered Species Act ("ESA"), challenged the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's (Service) opinion issued in 2005 that the effects of the coordinated operations of the Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) (collectively, Projects) would not jeopardize the continued existence of the delta smelt. Judge Oliver Wanger of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, ordered the Service to conduct a new biological opinion (BiOp). The Service issued another opinion in 2008, and found that the Projects' operations would jeopardize the continued existence of the delta smelt and/or adversely modify its critical habitat.

The Service proposed Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives (RPAs), under the 2008 BiOp which are the subject of this current lawsuit, a series of consolidated cases brought by the Projects' water contractors and suppliers along with some water users. The RPAs imposed certain operational restrictions on the Projects. The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) provisionally accepted the BiOp and RPAs while it conducted its own review. Despite the provisional acceptance, Reclamation began implementing the RPAs and BiOp requirements. Plaintiffs argued that the issuance or implementation of the BiOp and the RPAs were unsupported by the best available scientific and commercial data as required by the ESA, did not properly weigh the inflicted harm on the human environment, and that the Service and/or Reclamation should have conducted an environmental assessment or should have prepared an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Result

Judge Wanger ruled in favor of plaintiffs and found that the BiOp failed to meet the requirements of the ESA, that the Federal defendants acted arbitrarily and capriciously in implementation of the BiOp and RPAs, and that Reclamation failed to comply with NEPA by provisionally accepting and implementing the BiOp and RPAs without first completing an EIS to consider significant effects on the human environment.