Salazar

MEMORANDUM DECISION RE CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON NEPA ISSUES

I. INTRODUCTION

This case arises out of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s (“FWS”) December 15, 2008 biological opinion (“BiOp” or “2008 smelt BiOp”) addressing the impact of coordinated operations of the Central Valley Project (“CVP”) and State Water Project (“SWP”) (the “Projects”) on the threatened delta smelt, prepared pursuant to Section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), 16 U.S.C. 1536(a)(2). Because the BiOp found that planned coordinated Project operations would jeopardize the continued existence of the delta smelt and/or adversely modify its critical habitat, FWS proposed a Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (“RPA”) that imposes certain operating restrictions on the Projects. The Bureau of Reclamation (“Reclamation”) provisionally accepted and then implemented the BiOp and its RPA.

Plaintiffs in three of the five consolidated cases, namely San Luis & Delta Mendota Water Authority (“Authority”) and Westlands Water District (“Westlands”), State Water Contractors (“SWC”), and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (“MWD”) (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) move for…