WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman George Miller (D-Martinez), the former chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee and author of several key water reform laws, issued the following statement tonight upon the release of a new order by U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger:

"Today's order is a very important step in the effort to force California's water policy into compliance with the law. Nobody should be surprised by this order, nor should they be surprised to learn that the government must now take substantial steps to save the Delta and the Bay ecosystem.

"The Bush administration has been warned that their negligence and their head-in-the-sand mentality would lead to a crisis, and it has.

"Make no mistake: by sacrificing the Bay-Delta and discarding common sense, the water exporters have created a more uncertain and expensive future -- not just for the Bay-Delta but for the state and the people of California.

"They interfered with the science, they refused to impose common sense solutions, and they broke the law. Today's order is a direct result of that accumulated neglect and that systematic interference with the science on which policy must be based."

We post many documents in .pdf format. Please visit Adobe to download the free viewer if you do not already have this capability.