An appellate court has shot down a lawsuit challenging the Department of Water Resources’ decision to extend contracts for the State Water Project to 2085.
Environmental and sportfishing groups claimed doing so would violate the California Environmental Quality Act and the Delta Reform Act, which established conservation goals for the region in 2009. They pushed for DWR to consider how shutting down the project would eliminate environmental impacts.
The judge ruled that given the SWP’s “critical role in distributing water to millions of residents in the state and hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, the department was not required to envision a world in which the contracts terminate and the State Water Project comes to a halt.”
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Jennifer Pierre, general manager of the State Water Contractors, applauded the decision. She noted that without the extension, contractors must pay any outstanding costs by 2035.
“You wouldn’t finance a house with a 17-year mortgage if you could choose to bring your monthly interest payments down by using a 30-year mortgage,” said Pierre. “This is no different.”
