House panel hears of vain efforts on Delta smelt

WASHINGTON – Millions of dollars and untold gallons of water have failed to save the environmentally prominent Delta smelt, officials acknowledged Tuesday.

In a sobering assessment, state and federal officials told a House panel that their big investment in the smelt hasn't paid off yet. The concession comes as officials contemplate spending an additional $10 billion or more for new California water projects and related environmental work.

"Obviously, we haven't had the success with the Delta smelt that we would have wanted," Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Robert Johnson said. "It has declined significantly."

The tiny Delta smelt found in the sprawling estuary where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers meet has taken on an outsized importance for farmers and politicians.

Starting in 1993, the smelt has been protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. It has been a major beneficiary, although not the only one, of the 1.5 million acre-feet of Central Valley water set aside annually for environmental protection. Johnson said he could not even estimate how much money has been spent on measures to protect the fish, although it's likely in the tens of millions of dollars.

Nonetheless, the smelt's population last year was only about 2.4 percent of the population noted when it was placed under federal protection in 1993.

"The (Delta) system is still in decline," California Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow told the House water and power subcommittee.

The hearing convened by the House panel Tuesday could set the stage for federal legislation, although nothing specific has been introduced.

The hearing also follows a ruling by Fresno-based U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger, who imposed tighter pumping limits in order to leave more water in the Delta for protection of the smelt.

Wanger's ruling could cut irrigation deliveries south of the Delta by between 20 percent and 30 percent annually. In keeping with the recurring theme of ambiguity Tuesday, Snow cautioned that "we don't know precisely how much water we will have year to year."

State and federal officials likewise acknowledged they didn't know precisely how much of the smelt's population decline has been caused by something other than irrigation pumping.

Repeatedly Tuesday, Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and other San Joaquin Valley lawmakers insisted that numerous small pumps not part of the state and federal water projects could account for some of the Delta's problems. The political implication is that Valley farmers are shouldering too much of the burden for restoring the smelt's Delta habitat.

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