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<h1 align="center" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;"><span style="color:black;">HOOPA TRIBE PRESS RELEASE: Westlands asks California Supreme Court to overturn environmental restoration obligations, further decimating
Trinity River fishery</span><span></span></h1>
<p align="center" style="text-align: center; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959byline-part"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black;letter-spacing:.6pt;"><a href="https://mavensnotebook.com/author/press-release/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:black;"> Press
Release/Notice</span></a></span></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;letter-spacing:.6pt;"></span></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: center; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto; vertical-align: middle;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black;letter-spacing:.6pt;"> <a href="https://mavensnotebook.com/category/featured-articles/news/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:black;">News and Features</span></a></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;letter-spacing:.6pt;"></span></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: center; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959byline-part"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black;letter-spacing:.6pt;"> October 16, 2023</span></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;letter-spacing:.6pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;"> </span></i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;">Press release from the Hoopa Valley Tribe:</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/mavensnotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/HoopaLogo.png?ssl=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: sans-serif; color: rgb(40, 134, 198); text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor;"><img border="0" style="width: 200px; max-width: 200px;" id="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:f41d10bd-3a3c-10c1-7245-df8acd9eb2c4@yahoo.com" data-id="1697580222438"></span></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;">In its
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:black;">latest effort to evade payment of at least $100 million in environmental restoration and other costs, the Westlands Water District (Westlands) is
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;">asking 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. <span style="background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">
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.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 31, 77); background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">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 <a href="https://mavensnotebook.com/the-notebook-file-cabinet/californias-water-systems/the-central-valley-project/" title="Central Valley Project" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(40, 134, 198); text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor;">Central
Valley Project</span></a>. 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<br>
requirement and shift the cost to the U.S. taxpayers.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;">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.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;">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.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 31, 77); background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">“Let us be clear”, said Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Joe Davis, “Westlands
Water District would not exist without the Trinity River’s water</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;">. They have no <a href="https://mavensnotebook.com/glossary/surface-water/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor;">surface
water</span></a>.” 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. <span style="background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">“In the process, Westlands water diversions have destroyed Hoopa’s fishery and devastated our people.,” said Hoopa Fisheries Director Michael Orcutt.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;">In 1992, Congress passed the <a href="https://mavensnotebook.com/the-notebook-file-cabinet/californias-water-systems/the-central-valley-project/" title="Central Valley Project" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(40, 134, 198); text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor;">Central
Valley Project</span></a> 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 <a href="https://mavensnotebook.com/the-notebook-file-cabinet/californias-water-systems/the-central-valley-project/" title="Central Valley Project" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(40, 134, 198); text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor;">Central
Valley Project</span></a> 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.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 31, 77); background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">“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</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;">.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;">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.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 31, 77); background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">“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.”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 31, 77); background-color: yellow; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;">“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?”</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;"></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;color:#001F4D;">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).</span></p>
<p class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:din-2014;color:#385723;">Greenwire</span></b></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-size:12.5pt;font-family:serif;color:#C00000;">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.</span></i></b></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-size:12.5pt;font-family:serif;color:#C00000;">“Westlands water diversions have destroyed Hoopa’s fishery and devastated our people,” Hoopa Fisheries Director Michael Orcutt said in statement Monday.</span></i></b></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-size:12.5pt;font-family:serif;color:#C00000;">The Hoopa Valley Tribe <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2022/11/01/calif-tribe-sues-biden-admin-over-water-contracts-00064422" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:#C00000;">filed
its own lawsuit</span></a> 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.</span></i></b></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-size:12.5pt;font-family:serif;color:#C00000;">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.</span></i></b></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:24.0pt;font-family:din-2014;color:#272C3F;">Calif. water district appeals to state Supreme Court over contract</span></b></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:din-2014;color:#6A6E71;letter-spacing:-.2pt;">Lower courts have refused to validate a contract between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Westlands Water District.</span></b></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:din-2014;color:#6E7381;text-transform:uppercase;"><img border="0" style="width: 260px; max-width: 260px;" id="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:7b7c0e44-cf74-1b45-04a1-287a7329728b@yahoo.com" alt="Avatar of Jennifer Yachnin" data-id="1697580222438"></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:din-2014;color:#6E7381;text-transform:uppercase;"></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:din-2014;color:#6E7381;text-transform:uppercase;">BY: </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:din-2014;color:black;text-transform:uppercase;">JENNIFER YACHNIN</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:din-2014;color:#6E7381;text-transform:uppercase;"></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:din-2014;color:#6E7381;text-transform:uppercase;"> | 10/16/2023 04:33 PM EDT</span></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: center; background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:din-2014;color:black;"><img border="0" style="width: 100%; max-width: 800px;" id="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:1bdc7730-1f6d-976e-246d-42fbe3b40750@yahoo.com" alt="California's Westland Water District of the Central Valley."></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:din-2014;color:black;"></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:#292929;">Canals carry water to Southern California in the Westlands Water District in 2009.Russel A. Daniels/AP</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">E&E NEWS PM |</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;"> 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.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">The Westlands Water District <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/1062498809" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:#007BC7;">is pursuing a permanent contract</span></a> 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.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">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.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">Under the <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title43-section511&num=0&edition=prelim" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:#007BC7;">Reclamation Act of 1902</span></a>,
the federal government and irrigation districts may enter into contracts, but those agreements are not enforceable until validated by a state court.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">That means the contract is still technically in place, but is also in <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2023/08/11/court-gives-interior-an-out-on-southern-calif-water-contract-00110812" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:#007BC7;">a
kind of limbo</span></a>: No validation means the Interior Department could choose to exit the agreement and return to short-term contracts with Westlands.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">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.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">In <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/eenews/f/eenews/?id=0000018b-39d0-dcb5-a1bf-7fdeb9130000" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:#007BC7;">its petition to the California Supreme
Court</span></a>, 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.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">“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.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">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.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">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.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">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.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">Environmentalists <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/1061837675" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:#007BC7;">challenged the permanent contract</span></a> in state
court, arguing that it requires more scrutiny over issues including future water availability and wildlife mitigation requirements.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">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.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">“Westlands water diversions have destroyed Hoopa’s fishery and devastated our people,” Hoopa Fisheries Director Michael Orcutt said in statement Monday.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto;" class="ydp8c46c094yiv3711517959MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">The Hoopa Valley Tribe <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2022/11/01/calif-tribe-sues-biden-admin-over-water-contracts-00064422" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:#007BC7;">filed
its own lawsuit</span></a> 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.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:serif;color:black;">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.</span></p><br></div>
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