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 federal appeals court ruled yesterday.

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 federal appeals court ruled yesterday.

The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. 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.

Several local water agencies sued to challenge the 2009 environmental review, arguing that its scientific analysis was inadequate.