"Federal officials acted properly when they curtailed water extraction from California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect fish and orca species at the expense of farmers and other water users in central California, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday.

The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2009 opinion by the National Marine Fisheries Service to force the cutbacks in water use, which have been in effect since then.

The decision, which comes as California faces a crippling drought that is entering its fourth year, represents a blow to agriculture in the state's fertile Central Valley."

Alex Dobuzinskis reports for Reuters December 23, 2014. [2]