Patterson

ORDER

This matter comes before the court on plaintiffs’ motion for summary adjudication as to liability on their claim under § 8 of the Reclamation Act of 1902. Plaintiffs allege that since the late 1940s, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation has failed to release the amount of water through the Friant Dam required to keep the San Joaquin River historic fisheries in good condition. The Friant defendants and the Chowchilla Water District bring cross-motions for summary adjudication and for dismissal in which the Madera Irrigation District joins. California’s State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), the Central Delta Water Agency and South Delta Water Agency, and Waterkeepers Northern California and Deltakeeper, have all filed amicus briefs in favor of plaintiffs’ motion and in opposition to the Friant defendants’ motion.

I.

UNDISPUTED FACTS

A. THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER BEFORE FRIANT DAM

The San Joaquin River is the main artery of California’s second largest river system. The river originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains, on mountain peaks southeast of Yosemite National Park, and then tumbles westward out of the mountains and into the trough of the Central…