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The Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety (collectively “CBD”) filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (“Complaint”) in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against the United States Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) challenging certain decisions made about the Cadiz Valley Water Conservation, Recovery and Storage Project (“Cadiz Project”).
The purpose of the Cadiz Project is to capture and conserve groundwater in certain areas of the Mojave Desert in California.
Three of the functions of the Project have been stated by the Pacific Institute to include:
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Store surplus water from the Colorado River during periods when water is available
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Pump the stored water to users in dry years
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Possibly pump additional native groundwater
CBD’s Complaint challenges what it characterizes as an “illegal determination by the Trump Administration that enables a for-profit corporation called Cadiz, Inc., to construct a 43-mile pipeline through Mojave Trails National Monument and other public land while circumventing laws enacted to protect the human health and environment.”
The CBD Complaint’s arguments include:
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BLM improperly concluded that the Project falls within the scope of an existing right-of-way easement granted to the Arizona California Railroad under the 1875 General Railroad Right-of-Way Act
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BLM withdrew a legal analysis undertaken by the prior Presidential Administration which came to an opposite conclusion in regard to the Cadiz Project stating it could not be built on public land without federal review and approval
A copy of the Complaint can be downloaded here.
