The company Cadiz Inc. has been trying for years to pump groundwater in the Mojave Desert and ship it to thirsty cities in California. Now, the Trump administration has signed off on part of its plan: converting an oil and gas pipeline to transport water across the desert.<\/p>\n
The federal Bureau of Land Management released documents Thursday saying the company\u2019s plan to repurpose 162 miles of the pipeline to transport water \u201cwill not significantly affect\u201d the environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited to achieve this pivotal milestone. After many years of planning and environmental review, the project has now reached the construction stage,\u201d said Susan Kennedy, chair and chief executive of Cadiz.<\/p>\n
Environmental advocates and leaders of Native tribes, who have been fighting the project, criticized the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis groundwater mining proposal would drain the desert and rob the Mojave of its rare springs and wildlife habitat,\u201d said Chance Wilcox, California desert associate director of the National Parks Conservation Assn. \u201cIt\u2019s indefensible that the Trump administration would once again try to revive the pointless Cadiz project, by defying decades of scientific warnings and refusing to conduct an environmental review of the groundwater mining.\u201d<\/p>\n
The application for the federal authorization was filed by the Fenner Gap Mutual Water Co. The documents say the company plans to build seven pump stations, three of them located on federal land managed by the agency.<\/p>\n
The 30-inch steel pipeline runs underground from Cadiz\u2019s desert property, near the town of Amboy, northward to the town of Mojave.<\/p>\n
The Bureau of Land Management said in its authorization that repurposing the pipeline for water \u201cwould comply with all applicable statutes and regulations.\u201d The agency said it has \u201creasonably determined that the impacts of groundwater withdrawal associated with Cadiz\u2019s groundwater extraction project are outside the scope of analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cadiz\u2019s attempts to export water from its property 200 miles east of Los Angeles have drawn controversy for decades.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation<\/a> that requires the project to undergo scientific study and gain approval from the State Lands Commission before it can take water from the Mojave and sell it to California cities.<\/p>\n Activists opposing the company\u2019s plans include civil rights leader Dolores Huerta.<\/p>\n \u201cCadiz spells destruction for water, sacred lands, and the desert economy,\u201d Huerta said in a statement. \u201cIt is exactly this type of greed and injustice that I have dedicated my life to oppose.\u201d<\/p>\n Leaders of nearby tribes have also objected to Cadiz\u2019s plans to pump from the desert aquifer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the living heart of the desert,\u201d said Daniel Leivas, chairman of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe. \u201cTo drain it would be to drain the life out of the entire desert. No profit is worth such desecration.\u201d<\/p>\n Chairman Timothy Williams of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe said the company\u2019s plan \u201cto pump and sell 25 times more groundwater each year than the aquifer can replenish would desecrate our traditional territories.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPumping more groundwater than is sustainably replenished is not only negligent, but dangerous to the American Desert Southwest,\u201d he said in the joint statement with other opponents of the project.<\/p>\n The Los Angeles-based corporation is also seeking to build a new pipeline along a railroad right-of-way to transport water to the south. <\/p>\n Environmental groups have repeatedly filed lawsuits<\/a> challenging the project. <\/p>\n Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, called the Trump administration\u2019s decision \u201ca green light for environmental destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n She said six of the proposed pumping stations that are slated to be built are in the habitat of desert tortoises, a species in decline.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve successfully fended off this project before and we\u2019ll continue to fight to stop this zombie from coming back,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n In 2021, the Biden administration reversed<\/a> a Trump administration decision that had cleared the way for Cadiz to pipe water across public land.<\/p>\n But during President Trump\u2019s second term, the company has again made headway on its plans. In February, Cadiz announced<\/a> that the federal Environmental Protection Agency had invited it to submit an application for a $194-million low-interest loan for the northern pipeline project.<\/p>\n The company said<\/a> in May that it reached an agreement with the federal Bureau of Reclamation to provide funding for a review of its potential role in \u201caugmenting water supplies\u201d along the shrinking Colorado River. <\/p>\n Earlier this month, an Arizona water agency announced<\/a> it signed an initial \u201cmemorandum of understanding\u201d agreement to buy up to 10,000 acre-feet of water per year from Cadiz\u2019s Mojave Groundwater Bank. The Central Arizona Irrigation and Drainage District provides water to farmlands in Pinal County, where growers are dealing with water cutbacks.<\/a> <\/p>\n The company said that for this to happen, it would need to build pipelines and reach deals to exchange water across state lines. <\/p>\n Members of California\u2019s congressional delegation have raised concerns. In a recent letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, California Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla called for a thorough environmental review, saying that federal agencies and peer-reviewed scientific analyses have \u201cwarned of the significant and irreversible impacts that Cadiz\u2019s project could have on federal lands and surrounding communities.\u201d<\/p>\n