I received an email yesterday and thought its contents deserved posting, without comment on my part (since I am on the NAS Committee that might be 'mugged').
You can also read more in this Fresno Bee article (thanks to Aquafornia).
Westlands (the nation's largest irrigation district at 600,000 acres) appears to be cornering the market on former Bush administration expert Endangered Species Act bashers.
Former deputy assistant Interior Secretary for water ( i.e, the Bureau of Reclamation) Jason Peltier joined Westlands in 2007 as their chief deputy general manager.
Former deputy assistant Interior Secretary for Parks and Wildlife Julie MacDonald (she who left the Bush administration in a hurry when internal investigations revealed that she had jiggered ESA species decisions on behalf oil, timber and mining industries - and even her own Yolo County ranching interests) - was serving as their consultant in federal Judge Wanger's Fresno courtroom last week, seeking to overturn the Bi-Ops - particularly that Old and Middle River reverse flow limiting Reasonable and Prudent Alternative IV 2.3. And now MacDonald's former boss, Bush's Asst. Secy for Parks and Wildlife counsel Craig Manson, who MacDonald served with in the Deukmejian administration in Sacramento and who was later found to have participated in the ESA-jiggering highjinks for which MacDonald fled DC - is leaving McGeorge to become Westlands' chief counsel.
Is Westlands politely awaiting the National Academy of Sciences' guidance on applying the science and the law, including the Endangered Species Act, etc., to the Delta?
Naw, they're gearing up to mug it.
"Timing has a lot to with the outcome of a rain dance." -- Unknown
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