A little late, but still worth noting: On December 15, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service revised a biological opinion for the Delta Smelt that determined cutbacks on water deliveries to Southern California from both the State Water Project and from the Central Valley. Articles, background information and responses from within the water industry are after the break:

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Sen. Diane Feinstein has sent a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, requesting a delay on the long-awaited court-orded permit, designed to protect an endangered fish in the California Bay-Delta. The final draft of the permit is due Monday. Feinstein cites the economic impact the permit will have on the state, and requests that it be delayed and melded with another permit to protect California’s salmon population. Current strategies for protecting these two fish species apparently conflict.  Read the full story in today’s Mercury News.