The State Water Resources Control Board has approved an emergency drought regulation to protect the Clear Lake hitch, a member of the minnow family of fish. But Michael Miiller, government relations director at the California Association of Winegrape Growers, pointed out in the hearing the regulation is based on an order the governor issued at the height of the drought last year and called it unlawful to apply it in a wet year.
He called for the board to instead support ongoing voluntary actions that growers have implemented to provide more data on the hitch and the amount of water available to them.
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“We believe that because of climate change, at some point in time we will again be in drought,” said Miiller. “But that inevitability cannot be the basis for an emergency regulation.”
Board chair Joaquin Esquivel countered that the drought is continuing to impact the species. The fish began the year with their population at a record low.
