Click the link below to view the complete Westlands Drain Settlement that was filed on September 16, 2015 in federal court in Fresno.

• Federal Defendants’ Notice of Filing Settlement Agreement (Case 1:88-cv-00634-LJO-DLB Document 1001)

Note especially:

• Page 43: Attachment C — Draft Legislation
• Page 40: Additional taxpayer transfers to Westlands — Attachment B — Title Transfer of Facilities

Also see:

• Excellent explanation of the history and current settlement: Duped into a Bad Water Deal
• AquAlliance’s previous analysis of the proposed Westlands deal
• Special Report: Retiring Toxic Farmland in Western San Joaquin Valley Would Save Water, Environment & Taxpayer Money
• Public Records 1, GCID 0: AquAlliance wins receipt of requested public information

Taxpayers for Common Sense — Weekly Wastebasket:
Our weekly reality-check for federal spending. 

9.18.15 — The Department of Interior did their best naive teenager impression when they negotiated a deal with Westlands Water District who channeled their inner used car salesman. Not surprisingly, Westlands got a sweet deal while DOI turned Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker. In the end the government got little other than relieved of an empty threat, out several hundred million dollars, and promised to sell a ton of subsidized water for the next 50-100 years to a greedy group that could use it to grow crops, resell it, or whatever – all this in the midst of record drought. Wow.

Even amongst water districts, which have been forming to provide irrigation water to areas in California since the late 1800s, Westlands is known as a big bully. Quick to litigate, the 600,000 acre water district is young, only forming after the Bureau of Reclamation stupidly started providing them with federal water in the 1960s. Stupidly because the land that makes up the Westlands Water District is rife with salts and selenium which, after years of irrigation, turn productive land into barren land. Then, when excess water is drained, create a toxic soup that turned the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge into a freak show of deformed birds.

After the Kesterson debacle, DOI walked away until a court ruled that providing water to Westlands meant that the U.S. also had to provide a system to drain that water. That started the machinations. At various times there were courts involved, negotiations, and deals. In 2007, DOI estimated providing drainage to Westlands would cost $2.7 billion – $2.7 billion that wasn’t authorized by Congress, but even if it was Westlands (the beneficiaries) would have to repay over time. This plan even included Westlands retiring 200,000 acres (out of the district’s roughly 600,000 acres) that would reduce drainage issues.

That deal didn’t happen and now we have this highway robbery before us. Westlands would absolve the U.S. of providing drainage, promising to take care of it by themselves. Or not, or whatever. The roughly $350 million Westlands owes taxpayers for capital costs on their water project would be forgiven and they would gain ownership of all the pipes, pumps, and other federal property in the water district. They would retire a paltry 100,000 acres of land, much of which reportedly has already been retired anyway. And they would get their water, with a new contract that bases its current apportionment on the inflated contract totals of 50 years ago. But everyone thinks that the current drought and future climate change will inevitably lead to all water users getting smaller contract amounts in the future. Not Westlands, theirs will be locked in by this binding settlement – and by law (yes, Congress has to approve the deal which may be its only saving grace).

Of course Westlands doesn’t actually have to do anything about its own drainage. It could continue to grow until they can’t anymore and start selling the water. Or they could use the affected lands for solar energy development and sell the water. Or they could retire more acres and grow more profitable crops on a smaller subset of lands. The point is, they are getting a sweetheart deal because DOI is not smart enough to understand they’re being snookered. Or they just don’t care. At the end of the day, taxpayers are being ripped off because DOI gave away the store to the country’s largest irrigation district and its wealthy agricultural corporations.

Click link to view online: Weekly Wastebasket Volume: XX No. 38

State senator Jim Nielsen, assembly member James Gallagher, and congressional representative Doug LaMalfa are holding a meeting on September 22nd in Chico (details below). We are suspicious of their motives due to their:

1) unknown “panel of experts;”
2)  historic avoidance of interest in protecting groundwater;
3) public support for building Sites Reservoir with Proposition 1 tax money that will benefit only water sellers 20 years from now; and
4) behind-the-scenes support for groundwater substitution water transfer/sales from “willing sellers” in the Northern Sacramento Valley to “willing buyers” throughout the state.

North State Water Action Forum
Tuesday, September 22, 2015 – 6 to 8pm

Join Senator Jim Nielsen, Assemblyman James Gallagher,
Congressman Doug LaMalfa, and a panel of Northern California Water Experts
at a public forum to learn more about California’s water system
and how you can take action
to help improve the state’s outdated water infrastructure.

Manzanita Place
1705 Manzanita Avenue – Chico, CA 95926

For more information contact the District Office at (530) 879-7424 or visit www.sen.ca.gov/nielsen

A very dangerous development is heading to Congress. Worth billions in taxpayer dollars, Westlands Irrigation District appears poised to get a secure water contract despite their junior water claims and without acreage limitations. There is also no requirement to “solve” their toxic runoff drainage problem.

This is a scam of staggering proportions. Congress will need to approve the deal that was negotiated by the Bureau of Reclamation in secret. 40 some years trying to reign in Westlands desert agriculture seems to be down the drain unless Congress stops this outrage. And that will take all of us protesting this taxpayer give-away with no accountability for Westlands grabbing Sacramento Valley/Trinity River water in a secure contract and fouling San Joaquin Valley groundwater or discharging these contaminants to rivers and aqueducts of that region. Westlands is also the largest buyer of additional water sold out of the Sacramento Valley to grow permanent crops in one of the most arid parts of California. Read this explosive article:

Los Angeles Times, 9.11.15 – The federal government is poised to sign a settlement with the Westlands Water District that would resolve a decades-long legal fight over badly drained, tainted farmland on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.

U.S. Interior Department officials on Friday told three Northern California congressmen that the department could sign the agreement as early as Tuesday.

“The deal is done. There is no more negotiation,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, (D-San Rafael), who was briefed on the settlement along with Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) and Rep. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove).

McNerney and Huffman said Interior representatives did not show them a copy of the proposed settlement, but informed the three legislators that it was similar to a 2013 draft agreement.

Under the draft, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would be relieved of its obligation to provide drainage to several hundred thousands of acres of Westlands cropland. The district would permanently retire 100,000 acres of ill-drained fields and agree to a cap on water deliveries that amounts to 75% of its current contract amount.

In return, the reclamation bureau would let Westlands off the hook for the roughly $350 million the irrigation district owes federal taxpayers for construction of a portion of Central Valley Project facilities. The government would also lift limits on the size of Westlands farms eligible for subsidized water deliveries and give the district an open-ended water contract that did not require periodic renewal.

The Interior Department declined to discuss the matter. “No settlement has been finalized at this point in time and therefore we are unable to comment in greater detail,” Kevin Thompson, the agency’s deputy director of communications, said in an email.

In an interview, Tom Birmingham, Westlands general manager, said he did not know when Interior would sign the agreement, but added “I’m hopeful it will be very, very soon.”

Birmingham said he expects the district board to approve the settlement. Once signed by Interior and Westlands, the agreement would go to Congress for approval.

Westlands is the biggest — and most contentious — contractor in California’s sprawling federal irrigation system. So a deal that changes the terms of its water contract and forgives its substantial debt will be heavily scrutinized.

“Westlands is going to get away with a lot here,” McNerney contended.

Thanks to local geology and a high water table, the soil in a good portion of Westlands is loaded with mineral salts and selenium, a natural trace element. The salts are harmful to crops and when concentrated in field drainage, the selenium reaches levels that are toxic to wildlife.

After waterfowl in a wildlife refuge were poisoned by Westlands drain water in the 1980s, the reclamation bureau shut down the region’s master drain. That led to decades of legal wrangling and ultimately a court order that the federal government was under legal obligation to provide drainage.

In 2007, the reclamation bureau proposed a $2.7-billion project that would have permanently retired 200,000 acres of badly drained cropland and also called for treatment facilities to cleanse tainted drain water from other fields.

The high price tag doomed the proposal, spurring continued negotiations to settle the issue.

Under the pending settlement, Birmingham said “the government will save in excess of $2 billion … will be indemnified against any liability resulting from the failure to provide drainage” and the district will assume responsibility to treat the drain water.

But environmentalists and others worry that changing Westlands’ contract terms could give the district a firmer hold on water deliveries from the environmentally troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They also say the agreement won’t end the vexing problem of tainted drainage that has long plagued the San Joaquin Valley’s west side.

“They’re clearly not solving the drainage problem and the broader impacts that have made that such a big deal for so long,” Huffman said. “Westlands is not going to retire enough land. They’re not going to commit to the kind of irrigation practices” outlined in the 2007 proposal.

“We’re going to ask hard questions,” he added.

bettina.boxall@latimes.com
Twitter: @boxall
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times

AquAlliance submitted technical comments with historical background on Glenn Colusa Irrigation District’s environmental impact report to install 5 more production wells to add to their existing portfolio of 5 production wells. The 10-wells “… would be operated as needed during dry and critically dry water years to achieve a maximum cumulative total annual pumping volume of 28,500 ac-ft,” in an 8.5 month period. (DEIR at p.2-1 and 2-3) This amount of water is more than what the entire City of Chico uses in 12 months with California Water Service Company wells.

Click here to view technical comments document.