Press release from the Friant Water Authority and the Arvin Edison Water Storage District:
The Tulare County Superior Court issued an important ruling yesterday in the lawsuit Friant Water Authority (FWA) and the Arvin-Edison Water Storage District (AEWSD) filed against the Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency (ETGSA). In a sweeping denial of ETGSA’s two motions seeking to defeat the lawsuit at its initial stages, the Superior Court rejected ETGSA’s primary contention that it is effectively immune as a public agency from being sued for breach of contract. As a result, the lawsuit will move forward for trial in June of 2025.
In their lawsuit, FWA and AEWSD are confident they will prove that ETGSA, among other things, improperly allocated “Precipitation Credits” to landowners within its jurisdiction, which in turn allowed them to pump unsustainable “overdraft” water without paying required penalties. Also, ETGSA failed to properly establish and maintain a penalty program for groundwater pumping, and otherwise failed to adopt and implement effective management actions to limit subsidence impacts to the Friant-Kern Canal. The complaint alleges in detail the various ways that ETGSA has failed to live up to its agreement and to fund a share of the Friant-Kern Canal Capacity Correction Project, Phase 1 of which was recently completed at a cost in excess of $325 million. To date, ETGSA has refused to implement any of the recommendations made by FWA or the State Water Resources Control Board staff to limit subsidence.
ETGSA’s refusal to adhere to the foundational elements of its 2021 settlement agreement has put the water supply reliability of the east side of the San Joaquin Valley at risk. By incentivizing the continued unmitigated groundwater overdraft, ETGSA has undermined what was once celebrated as an “historic settlement agreement” and has impaired the hope for a smooth transition to sustainability.
“While we are always open to settlement, the sooner we can get to trial the better,” said Jason Phillips, CEO of FWA. “For too long, the Friant-Kern Canal has been damaged by over pumping the groundwater, and those that have caused the damage continue to expect others to cover the vast majority of the cost to fix it. Enough is enough.”
“I am pleased the court saw through ETGSA’s gamesmanship,” said Edwin Camp, Board President of AEWSD. “We look forward to prompt resolution of the case. It is long past time for ETGSA to take responsibility on behalf of its landowners for damaging the critical water infrastructure on which San Joaquin Valley farmers depend. Everyone must play by the same rules.”
“We were a bit surprised that ETGSA spent tens of thousands of dollars of farmers’ hard-earned money on these failed motions,” stated FWA counsel David Darroch of Burke, Williams & Sorenson LLP. “Still, we’re pleased that the court rejected all the various legal theories and defenses that ETGSA attempted to assert to prevent our claims from moving forward. We are also pleased that the court set an early trial date for June of 2025.”
In reaction to a press release issued by ETGSA stating that FWA and AEWSD had allegedly refused an offer to mediate the dispute, Johnny Amaral, FWA’s Chief Operating Officer, noted, “we’ve been trying for months to get ETGSA to make very modest revisions to its Groundwater Sustainability Plan and regulations. They know what they need to do, and at this point they should focus on making appropriate changes and stop fighting against FWA and AEWSD, who are simply trying to protect the most critical piece of infrastructure in the eastside of the San Joaquin Valley – the Friant-Kern Canal.”
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