CSPA, CWIN, AquAlliance Sue DWR & State Water Board Over Public Trust

By Bill Jennings, CSPA Executive Director
September 7, 2010 — On 3 September 2010, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), California Water Impact Network (CWIN) and AquAlliance have filed a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court against the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) for multiple violations of the laws protecting public trust resources of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The causes of action are: 1) violation of the public trust, 2) unreasonable method of diversion, unreasonable, 3) unreasonable use of water, 4) violation of Porter-Cologne Act, 5) violation of the 1995 Water quality Control Plan narrative standard for fish and wildlife and 6) violation of SWRCB Decision 1641.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that: 1) the SWRCB and DWR have failed to enforce and violated each of the causes of action, 2) enjoin DWR from diverting water from the Delta and the SWRCB from allowing operation of the State Water Project until they have complied with the law, 3) direct the defendants to remedy their violations of law within a reasonable time and 4) retain jurisdiction until the defendants have complied with the law.

This action is a companion or bookend to our “Chinatown II” lawsuits over the Monterey Plus Agreement, which facilitated dramatically increased exports from the Delta, and the illegal transfer of the Kern Water Bank from public to private hands.

It is another element in the long-term CSPA/CWIN/AquAlliance strategy for protecting the Delta estuary and reversing the illegal and corrupt subversion of California water rights and theft of public trust resources by corporate land barons and low priority water rights holders.

Read the press release.

Read the chronology.

Read the complaint.

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