[env-trinity] HOOPA TRIBE PRESS RELEASE: Westlands asks California Supreme Court to overturn environmental restoration obligations, further decimating Trinity River fishery

[Tom Stokely]

HOOPA TRIBE PRESS RELEASE: Westlands asks California Supreme Court to overturn environmental restoration obligations, further decimating Trinity River fishery
 
 Press Release/Notice
 
 News and Features
 
 October 16, 2023
 
  
 
Press release from the Hoopa Valley Tribe:
 

 
  
 
In itslatest effort to evade payment of at least $100 million in environmental restoration and other costs, the Westlands Water District (Westlands) isasking the California Supreme Court to overrule four State court decisions, all of which refused to rubber stamp a federal contract to eliminate Westlands’ massive debt to the United States Treasury. The courts ruled that the contract between Westlands and the federal Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is incomplete because it omitted a critical term—how much is owed.
 
The omission was deliberate. Federal law requires Reclamation to collect from Westlands all the costs involved in constructing federal water delivery facilities and all the costs to mitigate the environmental damage caused by delivery and use of federal water supplies from the Central Valley Project. However, in preparing the contract, Trump Administration Interior Department officials had added up only some of the costs and hatched a scheme to write off the financial
requirement and shift the cost to the U.S. taxpayers.
 
In its contract, Reclamation states, falsely, that Westlands had “fulfilled all of its obligations” and had made “full repayment.” Before federal accountants could verify the costs, Reclamation signed Westlands’ contract in February 2020, and later withdrew key financial documents from further scrutiny.
 
In order to be binding on the United States, Westlands needed to “promptly” obtain a California court decree that the contract was valid. San Joaquin and Trinity Counties and numerous non-governmental organizations opposed validation. After nearly four years of litigation, a California appeals court concluded that the contract is “materially deficient in its failure to specify Westlands’ financial obligations.”
 
“Let us be clear”, said Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Joe Davis, “Westlands Water District would not exist without the Trinity River’s water. They have no surface water.” Reclamation ships Trinity River water from the Trinity River basin to the San Joaquin Valley four hundred miles away. At 600,000 acres, Westlands is the size of Rhode Island. Its industrial farms reap billions of dollars from federal taxpayer subsidies. “In the process, Westlands water diversions have destroyed Hoopa’s fishery and devastated our people.,” said Hoopa Fisheries Director Michael Orcutt.
 
In 1992, Congress passed the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, which essentially told Reclamation and Westlands that “Enough is enough.” The environmental destruction had to stop, and fishery restoration needed to begin immediately. Congress required the Central Valley Project to restore decimated fisheries including the Trinity River. Knowing that would require funding, Congress made water and power contractors pay for the environmental damage that their profit taking had caused.
 
“The Trump Administration made a play to nullify environmental restoration payment obligations under the Westlands’ contract by eliminating their financial debt. Without funding, fishery restoration will fail”, said Vice Chairman Everrett Colegrove.
 
Secretary of the Interior Haaland has the opportunity to void Westlands contract and insist on new contract terms that comply with federal law, fulfill Biden Administration policies for environmental justice, protect the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s vested property rights in the Trinity River fishery, and ensure payments for restoration.
 
“So, this story is not just about what the Trump Administration did” said Hoopa Council Member Daniel Jordan. “It is about what the Biden Administration will do or fail to do.”
 
“Will Secretary Haaland, the trustee for Hoopa’s rights, sovereignty and resource protection, condone Reclamation’s culture of complicity, which persists to this day?” asked Hoopa Council Member Jill Sherman-Warne, “Will she act for California’s environment and Hoopa’s rights, or will she be complicit in her silence?”
 
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).
 
  
 
  
 
Greenwire
 
The Hoopa Valley Tribe, which has also opposed the contract, asserts that Westlands owes additional funds to the federal government, including at least $100 million for environmental restoration costs for the Trinity River.
 
“Westlands water diversions have destroyed Hoopa’s fishery and devastated our people,” Hoopa Fisheries Director Michael Orcutt said in statement Monday.
 
The Hoopa Valley Tribe filed its own lawsuit against Reclamation in 2020 over the conversion of dozens of irrigation contracts to permanent agreements — including Westlands’ contract — arguing the deals illegally waived more than $400 million in fees intended for environmental mitigation.
 
The tribe argues the permanent agreements violate provisions of the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act, including requirements that the price of Trinity River water feature environmental mitigation, such as the restoration of salmon runs.
 
Calif. water district appeals to state Supreme Court over contract
 
Lower courts have refused to validate a contract between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Westlands Water District.
 

 
BY: 
 
JENNIFER YACHNIN
 
 | 10/16/2023 04:33 PM EDT
 

 
Canals carry water to Southern California in the Westlands Water District in 2009.Russel A. Daniels/AP
 
E&E NEWS PM | The nation's largest agricultural district wants the California Supreme Court to reconsider its request for a permanent water contract with the Bureau of Reclamation, following a series of lower court rulings that leave the agreement in limbo.
 
The Westlands Water District is pursuing a permanent contract for the water it draws from the Central Valley Project, under a 2016 federal law that allows Reclamation to create perpetual agreements in exchange for payments of outstanding debts tied to infrastructure costs.
 
But a series of California court rulings have created setbacks for the Rhode Island-sized agricultural district, as the state’s judicial system has refused to validate the contract, finding it misses key details.
 
Under the Reclamation Act of 1902, the federal government and irrigation districts may enter into contracts, but those agreements are not enforceable until validated by a state court.
 
That means the contract is still technically in place, but is also in a kind of limbo: No validation means the Interior Department could choose to exit the agreement and return to short-term contracts with Westlands.
 
In August, the California 5th District Court of Appeal declared that a lower court had not erred in refusing to validate the contract, asserting that the agreement did not include the finalized costs that Westlands will be required to pay the federal government.
 
In its petition to the California Supreme Court, Westlands disputed that assessment, arguing that although the contract did not include a final payment calculation, “the contract plainly set out the precise formulas under which the Bureau was to calculate that final amount.”
 
“There is no such uncertainty here, where the contract left no room for subjectivity or discretion in the repayment calculation; the contractual formulas made the determination of the final amount a foregone conclusion,” the appeal states.
 
A Westlands spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the agency’s general manager, Allison Febbo, has previously argued that the organization completed payments for its share of the Central Valley Project construction in 2010, when it paid $210 million.
 
Construction of the Central Valley Project, which delivers water south from the state's wetter north via a system of dams, canals and aqueducts, began in 1937.
 
Westlands began drawing water from the Central Valley Project in 1963 under a 40-year contract that was extended to 2007. The agency continued to draw water under a series of six interim contracts beginning in 2008.
 
Environmentalists challenged the permanent contract in state court, arguing that it requires more scrutiny over issues including future water availability and wildlife mitigation requirements.
 
The Hoopa Valley Tribe, which has also opposed the contract, asserts that Westlands owes additional funds to the federal government, including at least $100 million for environmental restoration costs for the Trinity River.
 
“Westlands water diversions have destroyed Hoopa’s fishery and devastated our people,” Hoopa Fisheries Director Michael Orcutt said in statement Monday.
 
The Hoopa Valley Tribe filed its own lawsuit against Reclamation in 2020 over the conversion of dozens of irrigation contracts to permanent agreements — including Westlands’ contract — arguing the deals illegally waived more than $400 million in fees intended for environmental mitigation.
 
The tribe argues the permanent agreements violate provisions of the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act, including requirements that the price of Trinity River water feature environmental mitigation, such as the restoration of salmon runs.

  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20231017/01b8d82d/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 17369 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20231017/01b8d82d/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 27047 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20231017/01b8d82d/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 233881 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20231017/01b8d82d/attachment-0003.jpg>