Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity cite California Supreme Court, federal law, Tribal rights, and Biden policy in call to rewrite contract for 1.15 Million acre feet of Central Valley Project water
From the Hoopa Valley Tribe
In a stinging rebuke to the Biden Administration’s Bureau of Reclamation, two major stewards of California’s environment called on the Interior Department’s chief lawyer to set aside an illegal contract for the lion’s share of water from the federal Central Valley Project.
Expressing incredulity at the inaction of the Biden Administration, a February 5 letter from the Sierra Club of California and the Center for Biological Diversity points out what the Hoopa Valley Tribe has claimed for years, and all have known for months–the contract that Westlands negotiated with the Trump Administration’s political team violated numerous state and federal laws and the contract itself.
Working with the Trump administration, Westlands wound up with a permanent water contract for roughly double the amount of water used by Los Angeles residents annually. David Bernhardt, who was Interior Secretary during the Trump administration, spent 10 years as a lobbyist for Westlands Water District before leading the Interior Department. Westlands managed to secure the contract without the legally required environmental reviews and controls. The California Supreme Court refused to validate this illegal contract, however the Biden administration has yet to strike the illegal contract and return to the drawing board.
Hoopa Valley Tribe Chairman Joe Davis applauded the groups’ action, “We thank the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity. As their letter states, the Westlands four-year California court case is over, the decision is final, the current form of the contract cannot be validated.'”
What is missing from the contract are terms by which Westlands would comply with environmental restoration requirements and repay its share of more than $400 million in present and future environmental restoration costs.
“The Bureau of Reclamation devastated California’s salmon fisheries, including ours on the Trinity River, where we have had our homeland for thousands of years,” said Vice Chairman Everett Colegrove.
“The Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity got it just right,” said Council Member Isaac Bussell, adding that “It is time for the Department of the Interior to follow the law by voiding the contract that has been denied validation by the California state courts and carry out federal law and President Biden’s policy in a new contract that protects the Hoopa Valley Tribe, the Trinity River and its fishery resources that our people have relied on since time immemorial.”
HVT Press release 02062024
