Center for Biological Diversity v. County of San Bernardino

247 Cal. App. 4th 326, 201 Cal. Rptr. 3d 898, 2016 Cal. App. LEXIS 382
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 10, 2016
DocketG051058
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 247 Cal. App. 4th 326 (Center for Biological Diversity v. County of San Bernardino) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Center for Biological Diversity v. County of San Bernardino, 247 Cal. App. 4th 326, 201 Cal. Rptr. 3d 898, 2016 Cal. App. LEXIS 382 (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Opinion

FYBEL, J.

Introduction

A proposed project to pump fresh groundwater from an underground aquifer located below real property owned by Cadiz, Inc. (Cadiz), in the Mojave Desert (the Project) spawned six related cases. The Project is a public/private partnership, the purposes of which are to prevent waste of the water in the aquifer, and to ultimately transport the water to customers in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties.

In this case, the Center for Biological Diversity, San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society, and Sierra Club, San Gorgonio Chapter (collectively, CBD), and the National Parks Conservation Association (National Parks) filed a petition for a writ of mandate in the trial court, challenging the approval of the Project under the California Environmental Quality Act *332 (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.). 1 The named respondents were the Santa Margarita Water District (Santa Margarita) as the lead agency for the Project; the Board of Directors of the Santa Margarita Water District; the County of San Bernardino, a responsible agency for the Project (the County); and the Board of Supervisors of the County. The trial court denied the petition for a writ of mandate, and Appellants raise several issues in this appeal.

First, Appellants contend that Santa Margarita was improperly designated as the lead agency for the Project, and that this error so tainted the environmental review process that such designation requires preparation of a new environmental impact report (EIR). We disagree. Santa Margarita was properly designated as the lead agency because it is jointly carrying out the Project with the property owner, Cadiz, and because it is the agency with the principal authority for approving and supervising the Project as a whole. Because we find no error in the designation of Santa Margarita as the lead agency, we need not address the issue of prejudice.

Second, Appellants argue that the EIR’s project description was inaccurate and misleading because the Project was described as a means of conserving water, but will not save from evaporation an amount of water equal to the amount being pumped from the aquifer over the life of the Project. We conclude that the Project is consistent with the EIR’s purpose and objectives because it will conserve water otherwise lost to brine and evaporation, and will improve water supplies throughout many areas of the State of California.

Third, Appellants argue that the EIR is misleading because it does not provide an accurate duration for pumping by the Project. We disagree. The EIR sets a definite length of time during which pumping under the Project may occur. The additional time permitted for pumping if contingencies require that the pumping be extended do not alter the total amount of water that may be withdrawn. Although the EIR and other documents included as part of the environmental review contemplate that the parties might wish to extend the pumping for an additional term of years after the stated completion date of the Project, any further term is not reasonably foreseeable at this time. Indeed, the EIR specifically provides that any extensions of the Project term would require further, separate environmental review.

Fourth and finally, Appellants contend that the Project will pump more water from the aquifer than is contemplated by and discussed in the EIR. Having reviewed the EIR and related documents, we conclude that they do not permit withdrawal of water in excess of the amounts specified in the EIR, so there is nothing inaccurate or misleading about the Project description.

*333 In sum, when the appropriate standard of review is applied, we conclude there was no prejudicial abuse of discretion in approving the Project and certifying the EIR. Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s judgment denying Appellants’ petition for a writ of mandate.

Statement of Facts and Procedural History

Cadiz owns land in the County, which overlies the Cadiz Valley and Fenner Valley aquifer system in the Mojave Desert. The aquifer is estimated to hold 17 to 34 million acre-feet of fresh groundwater. Currently, this groundwater flows downward to dry lakes, where it mixes with highly salinated groundwater before evaporating. Once the groundwater reaches the dry lakes, it becomes unusable as fresh water. The stated “fundamental” purpose of the Project is to save “substantial quantities of groundwater” that are being lost to evaporation and excess salinity.

The Project would have two distinct but related components: (1) groundwater conservation and recovery and (2) imported water storage. In the first part of the Project (phase 1), approximately 34 new wells will be constructed on Cadiz’s land to extract an average of 50,000 acre-feet of groundwater from the aquifer every year for 50 years; as many as 75,000 acre-feet of groundwater may be extracted in any given year. 2 Cadiz must pump the groundwater “in accordance with agreements with Cadiz Inc. and the Cadiz Groundwater Management, Monitoring and Mitigation Plan (GMMMP).”

The water will be transported via a 43-mile underground water conveyance pipeline to the Colorado River Aqueduct; the aqueduct will then transport the water to the Project participants, including Santa Margarita. Twenty percent of the Project’s groundwater yield will be reserved for users in the County; the remaining 80 percent will be delivered to other water providers with whom Cadiz has contracted.

The Project participants will use the water from the Project for their customers located in Fos Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties. The Project will be managed and operated by a private, nonprofit entity, Fenner Valley Mutual Water Company (Fenner Valley), formed by Cadiz.

In the second part of the Project (phase 2), the Project participants will be able to send any surplus surface water supplies back to the Project site, to be held in storage in spreading basins until they are needed. Phase 2 is not *334 currently under consideration; additional environmental review will be required before phase 2 proceeds.

Santa Margarita posted a notice of preparation of a draft EIR for the Project in March 2011. In June 2011, the County and Santa Margarita executed a memorandum of understanding that provided that Santa Margarita would act as the lead agency, and the County would act as a responsible agency (the 2011 Memorandum). In December 2011, Santa Margarita released the draft EIR for public review and comment.

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Bluebook (online)
247 Cal. App. 4th 326, 201 Cal. Rptr. 3d 898, 2016 Cal. App. LEXIS 382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/center-for-biological-diversity-v-county-of-san-bernardino-calctapp-2016.