Bureau of Reclamation's Letter to the State Water Board RE: Selenium in Western San Joaquin

Felix Smith, the whistleblower on the bird deformities at the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge back in the 1980s, has filed a complaint with the State Water Board over the continued irrigation of high selenium soils in the Western San Joaquin Valley. He wants the water board to declare irrigation of these tainted soils an unreasonable use of water under California law. He is joined in his complaint by the California Salmon and Steelhead Assocation. The Water Board has asked the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which supplies Northern California to federal irrigation districts farming the high selenium soils, to explain what is being done to solve the selenium crisis, now in its third decade. The Bureau of Reclamation recently replied to the Water Board's inquiry. See if you can spot the flaws in the Bureau of Reclamation's arguments that the problem is being solved. Here is the Bureau's response: CLICK HERE


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USBR Delta Comlaints Response.pdf120.27 KB

Thanks for posting the

Thanks for posting the Bureau's response

Thanks for posting the

Thanks for posting the Bureau's response. I see what you mean by flaws.

please interpret what is going on in plain English

NO, I cannot spot the flaws in the arguments. I do not understand lawyer language or bureaucratic language. Perhaps you can explain the history and current perspective on these issues in language that ordinary people can understand.

Thanks !!

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