San Bernardino Sun
The tab to defend San Bernardino County against nine lawsuits opposing a pipeline project environmentalists say will drain a swath of the Mojave Desert of precious groundwater grew to $1.5 million Tuesday after county supervisors approved an increase in legal costs.
The board authorized increasing its contract with the Sacramento law firm Downey Brand LLP by $500,000 - from $949,332 to $1.5 million.
The lawsuits allege, among other things, that the county violated state and federal environmental laws and San Bernardino County's own Desert Groundwater Management Plan by approving the Cadiz pipeline project.
The litigation is not costing taxpayers, as Cadiz Inc., the Santa Margarita Water District and the Fenner Valley Mutual Water Company are reimbursing the county for its costs.
Nearly a dozen lawsuits have been filed since the project was approved last October. Two lawsuits have been dismissed since then by judges in state and federal courts.
Los Angeles-based Cadiz, Inc. and the Santa Margarita Water District in Rancho Santa Margarita have teamed to pump groundwater from aquifers near the Mojave National Preserve over a 50-year period. The water would be diverted via a 43-mile pipeline to the Colorado River Aqueduct and stored, then sold to residents and businesses in south Orange County, and Rancho Santa Margarita.
The pipeline has yet to be built and would be constructed along an old railroad right of way.
"There's a lot of concern on the local level about this project, and I hope the county is going to be reimbursed for these costs because it's sad to think the county is actually spending a half a million dollars more of taxpayer money to give our water away," said David Lamfrom, California Desert Senior Program Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, one of the agencies that has sued the county over the project.
Cadiz owns 45,000 acres in eastern San Bernardino County, most of which overlies the Cadiz and Bristol dry lake beds comprising the Fenner Valley aquifer system south of the Mojave National Preserve and northeast of Twentynine Palms. Cadiz and the Santa Margarita Water District plan to pump 50,000 acre feet of groundwater from the aquifers annually.
Delaware Tetra Technologies, a company that operates a brine mine in the Fenner Valley and depends on groundwater from the Bristol and Cadiz dry lake beds for its operations, argued in its lawsuit that the pipeline project would force the closure of its mine. Other organizations suing the county include the Center for Biological Diversity, the National Audubon Society and Sierra Club, and the International Union of North America Local Union No. 783.
Plaintiffs allege the county has relinquished most of the project's oversight to Cadiz, Inc. and the Santa Margarita Water District.
"San Bernardino County decided not to be the lead agency, and we believe they were derelict in their responsibilities to protect their own groundwater," Lamfrom said. "Santa Margarita became the lead agency, and they stand to benefit from this water. That's the fox guarding the henhouse."
Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Janice Rutherford said there are different schools of thought on the potential impacts the project will have on the environment and on county residents and businesses. She said the county will be closely monitoring the project.
"We have scientists on all sides of the issue that have different views about how Cadiz's plans are going to affect the groundwater," Rutherford said. "The county's plan is to monitor what happens as it moves forward and then adjust responses based on what turns out to be fact. We try to put in safety valves so that if something starts to go wrong, then we act to correct it but still allow for the drawing of that water for human use."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein has opposed the project since it was first introduced more than a decade ago. In a letter to the Board of Supervisors in October, Feinstein urged the supervisors to oppose the project. She said that even if the amount of groundwater extracted annually were reduced from 2.5 million acre feet over the project's 50-year life span to 1 million acre feet, it would still be too much.
"I remain concerned because even with a 1 million acre foot cap, which translates to 20,000 acre feet annually, this amount still far exceeds the USGS recharge estimate and those of other independent groups," Feinstein said in her letter.
Project opponents say Cadiz overestimated the amount of annual precipitation that would recharge the groundwater basins in the Bristol and Fenner valleys, and that natural springs within the Mojave National Preserve were threatened because they are linked to the aquifers.
Officials at the Santa Margarita Water District could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Courtney Degener, vice president of investor relations for Cadiz, Inc., said in an e-mail that the company does not comment on pending litigation, but did say the company stands by the project, which is based on "the best science and a commitment to protecting the desert environment."
She also touched on the significance of the project.
"California water providers are currently engaged in serious efforts to identify new water supply options as a result of ongoing challenges to California's traditional water supplies and the Cadiz project offers a safe and sustainable supply that water providers throughout Southern California can rely on to meet their changing needs," Degener said.