bureau of reclamation, claiming endangered fish populations downstream from friant must be protectedunder the law. also at riskmç was the livelih of salmon fishermen along the coast. monty schmidt is a senior scientist with nrdc. >> the san joaquin river is a really important resource for the entire state of california. it will improve water quality downstream and restores a living river that future generations will get to enjoy. >> reporter: but ranchers throughout the valley had come to depend on the water diverted from the river. gary burrsy farms almonds and grapes. he feared a reduction in water could hurt his production, and for what? >> we in ag had our suspicions, do you put 400, 500 salmon in front of the food and fiber for our country? >> reporter: in 2006, bursesy and other farmers, fearing the courts could take even more water, agreed to settle the lawsuit and allow the river to be restored. it was a compromise, says ronald jacobsma, who represents 15,000 farmers. >> our concern was if we left it in the hands of a federal judge this could be far worse, the uncertainty, t

democrats want to stick to their water plan of sending more water from the friant dam, down the san joaqianan to find middle ground, although he was not more specific about what those efforts were. his visit to california's agriculture region comes after he declared a drought emergency in january. region on friday. >> coming up on the kron four morning news. fill up your car while you can. gas prices are going * way up in the bay area. we'll break down the numbers >> and a bus *brawl caught on camera. why the bus driver says he was after the passenger. >> welcome back. >> we arch finally getting improvement on westbound 92. it was over two hours ago that we first reported incident. it took a while for it to back up the traffic in this state back up. we are now past the worst of it and it is unwinding and it is no longer a another alternate route for you to use however, we are still tracking a slow traffic are around the bay, first in concord,. there was a high- speed chase that has traffic still backed up in the east shore freeway, still slow and so was west 24 through the caldecott all the