SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — Defending the decision to give farm irrigation districts permanent access to low-cost, federally pumped water in California, a Justice Department lawyer urged a federal judge Thursday to flush a Native American tribe’s lawsuit against the endless entitlements.
The Hoopa Valley Tribe sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in August, claiming the Trump administration’s conversion of 14 time-limited contracts for Central Valley Project water into permanent deals violated a host of federal laws. The contracts were made permanent in February. Another 26 agreements are in the process of being converted to permanent deals.
According to the tribe, the unending contracts do not prioritize water for Trinity River in-basin flows or require contractors to pay for fish restoration and wildlife preservation programs as mandated by a 1992 law, the Central Valley Project Improvement Act.