[env-trinity] Judge rejects water deal citing $400M is missing funds that would help Trinity River

[Tom Stokely]

Judge rejects water deal citing $400M is missing funds that would help Trinity River

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Judge rejects water deal citing $400M is missing funds that would help T...

Fresno County Superior Court Judge D. Tyler Tharpe rejected a federal contract between the Westlands Water Distr...
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Judge rejects water deal citing $400M is missing funds that would help Trinity River
Hoopa Valley Tribe says it’s been a victim of Central Valley water project for decades

Hoopa Valley Tribal officials praised a Fresno County Superior Court’s recent refusal to validate a federal contract between the Westlands Water District and the Bureau of Reclamation regarding the Central Valley Project. Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Joe Davis said the Tribe’s Trinity River fishery has been one of the “Central Valley Project’s victims” for decades. (Hoopa Valley Tribe/Contributed)
By ISABELLA VANDERHEIDEN | ivanderheiden at times-standard.com | Times-Standard
October 29, 2021 at 3:11 p.m.
Fresno County Superior Court Judge D. Tyler Tharpe rejected a federal contract between the Westlands Water District and the Bureau of Reclamation on Wednesday noting that it lacked appropriate public notice and key financial terms to the tune of $400 million. The missing terms are costs owed for environmental restoration of Northern California waterways — including the Trinity River.
Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Joe Davis said the Tribe’s Trinity River fishery has been one of the “Central Valley Project’s victims” for decades.
“The contractors never wanted to pay the costs of restoration that Congress made a condition of future water delivers in the (Central Valley Project Improvement Act),” Davis said in a prepared statement. “… It turns out that the missing Trinity River fishery restoration collections were the tip of the financial iceberg. The Bureau wasn’t charging any contractor for the full cost of restoration throughout the entire (Central Valley Project) service area.”
A 1955 law passed by Congress established the series of dams and reservoirs along the Trinity River to be used to store and deliver water to the Central Valley, collectively called the Central Valley Project Trinity River Division.

The Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992 was passed in an attempt to mitigate the impacts from the project. However, Wednesday’s court ruling revealed that the $400 million in funds owed were never collected.
Tom Stokely, water policy analyst and director with the California Water Impact Network, said Westlands Water District and the Bureau of Reclamation “will have to go back to the drawing board” to negotiate a new contract that complies with the law.”
“That includes paying for restoration that Congress said Westlands was supposed to pay for and the Bureau hasn’t charged Westlands for it,” he said. “It also needs to include all the details of the contract, which I think will probably result in a need to do a whole Environmental Impact Statement and an Endangered Species Act consultation. … I think it means they’re going to have to go back and start over again and they’re going to have to notify the public of the final contract.”
Stokely added that a judge cannot sign off on the final validation of the contract until Westlands Water District and the Bureau of Reclamation have gone through the proper legal steps, “which they have not done so far.”
“Through the Federal Interior Department under the Trump administration, these water contracts were basically made permanent without the benefit of going to the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act,” Stokely explained. “The Bureau of Reclamation and these water districts approved all these contracts. … Westlands and other districts have to go through a validation process to be able to sign of permanent water contract.”


Hoopa Valley Tribal Fisheries Director Michael Orcutt expressed relief that the court refused to validate the contract between Westlands and the federal Bureau of Reclamation but emphasized impacts from the Central Valley Project “need to be rectified.”
“The extra time will allow for better realization of the impacts to us, but more importantly, some of the fixes that we’re seeking would be able to be vetted, understood, and hopefully rectified in an amenable manner or an agreeable manner between the Hoopa Valley Tribe and the Interior Department,” he said, noting that the Tribe is presently in litigation with the Interior Department regarding its role in negotiating the permanent contracts with  Westlands Water District. “Now they have to go back and document what they owe.”
Davis and Orcutt expressed hope that Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland could “revoke her predecessor’s final assault on tribal trust resources and environmental justice.”
Another hearing is scheduled in Fresno County Superior Court for Dec. 2. The hearing could potentially dismiss the case and send Westlands Water District back to the drawing board, Stokely said.
The Bureau of Reclamation did not return the Times-Standard’s request for comment ahead of print deadline.
Isabella Vanderheiden can be reached at 707-441-0504.
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