federal lawsuit filed to stop peripheral canal plan

From the Contra Costa Times, a noteworthy development in the ongoing saga of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta:

Delta farmers have sued to block plans to build an aqueduct that would divert Sacramento River water around the Delta. It is the latest in a flurry of about a dozen active lawsuits over California’s most important and fought over source of water, but it appears to be the first to directly take on new plans to build a peripheral canal like the one voters defeated in 1982.

IndyBay.org reports California Sportfishing Protection Alliance executive director Bill Jennings as suggesting that the Bay Delta Conservation Plan at issue "is essentially an end run around the Endangered Species Act" — this is an interesting claim given that no ESA violation is alleged in the complaint.

Thanks to Aquafornia for the pointer.