From the Hoopa Valley Tribe:
With four words, the California Supreme Court thwarted agribusiness giant Westlands Water District’s years-long scheme with the federal Bureau of Reclamation to rubber stamp a permanent water contract. The contract would have discounted Westlands’ massive debt to the United States taxpayers and evaded Westlands’ and Reclamation’s responsibilities to restore
California fisheries decimated by the sprawling Central Valley Project.
“`Petition for review denied.’ That is the Supreme Court’s entire decision, and it is the right decision,” said Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Joe Davis.
“From the Fresno County trial court’s first decision in 2020 to the Supreme Court’s final decision this week, every judge who reviewed the record saw what the Court of Appeals called `strained arguments’, `materially incomplete’ documents, references to documents that `did not exist’, and a contract `not sufficiently definite to be binding and enforceable’,” said Council Member Daniel Jordan.
“Westlands thrived in a culture of corruption during the Trump Administration, when the contract was written,” said Hoopa Valley Tribal Fisheries Director Michael Orcutt. “Westlands and Reclamation have brought our fishery to the brink of destruction.”
In the water contract, Reclamation states, falsely, that Westlands had “fulfilled all of its obligations” and had made “full repayment.” Before federal accountants could confirm that, Reclamation signed Westlands’ contract in February 2020, and later withdrew key financial documents from public scrutiny.
“They might have gotten away with it,” said Vice Chairman Everett Colegrove, “if it hadn’t been for the skill and dedication of the legal teams assembled by Trinity County, San Joaquin County, Central Delta Water Agency, South Delta Water Agency, North Coast Rivers Alliance, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Planning and Conservation League, Center for Biological Diversity, and many other nongovernmental organizations.”
“Time’s up,” said Council Member Isaac Bussell. “Secretary Haaland needs to rip up that contract and write one that does what federal law requires: meet trust responsibilities for Hoopa’s fishery, collect hundreds of millions owed by Westlands and other CVP contractors for fishery restoration, collect future restoration payments, and end once and for all Westlands’ assault on
our property rights and sovereignty over the Trinity River fishery.”
“Next week, President Biden will convene a Tribal Nations Summit,” said Chairman Davis. “I will be there to remind his Administration that its commitment to honor trust responsibilities to protect tribal sovereignty and resources means water contracts like the one the California Supreme Court struck down have no place in the Bureau of Reclamation.”
The case is: Westlands Water District v. All Persons Interested in the Matter of the Contract Between the United States and Westlands Water District Providing for Project Water Service, San Luis Unit and Delta Division and Facilities Repayment, Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District Case No. F083632 and consolidated with Case No. F084202 (September 1, 2023)
In a victory for the Counties of San Joaquin and Trinity in high-stakes water contract litigation, the California Supreme Court last week rejected Westlands Water District’s attempt to overturn lower courts’ decisions denying “validation” of its “converted” water contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Westlands had sued in 2019 to validate conversion of its renewable contract into a permanent contract. The next four years pitted Westlands in litigation against the Counties, environmental groups, the Hoopa Valley Tribe, and others.
Press release from Attorneys Thomas Keeling and Roger Moore
“Westlands tried and failed to persuade the trial court to validate a materially and deceptively incomplete contract,” said Thomas Keeling, who, with his colleague Roger Moore, represented the Counties in the case. Mr. Keeling added that “the Fifth District Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed the trial court’s ruling, rejecting Westlands’ characterization of the contract’s omissions as merely ministerial, and Westlands’ pitch to the Supreme Court on the same theory also failed.”
Without the validation order required by law, the converted contract is not enforceable. An order validating the contract would have barred future legal challenges targeting not only issues litigated in the case but any issue that could have been litigated. That serious consequence of validation, unresolved drainage and water quality problems, and serious debt repayment issues, among other concerns, prompted the Counties to vigorously oppose Westlands’ lawsuit. “The Supreme Court’s denial of Westlands’ Petition is a victory for the Counties, for the environment, and for the public,” said Mr. Keeling. In his view, the failure of Westlands’ validation suit should prompt the Department of the Interior to carefully review the situation to assure that any renewed contract fully satisfies all legal requirements governing water quality, debt repayment, fishery restoration, and other environmental mandates essential to the future health of the Delta and the Trinity River Watershed.
Here is the Fifth District Court of Appeal Ruling, which is now final:
WWD v. All Persons 95 Cal. App. 5th 98
