California Sues Trump Administration To Block Water Rules

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California sued the Trump administration on Thursday to block new rules that would let farmers take more water from the state's largest river systems, arguing it would push endangered populations of delta smelt, chinook salmon and steelhead trout to extinction. The federal rules govern how much water can be pumped out of the watersheds of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, which flow from the Sierra Nevada mountains to the San Francisco Bay and provide the state with much of its water for a bustling agriculture industry that supplies two-thirds of the country's fruits and nuts and more than a third of its vegetables. But the rivers are also home to a variety of state and federally protected fish species, whose numbers have been dwindling since humans began building dams and reservoirs to control flooding and send water throughout the state. Two massive networks of dams and canals determine how much water gets taken out, with one system run by the state and the other run by the federal government. Historically, the federal government has set the rules for both systems.