The day after Imperial County leaders voted to push forward with the validation case of the nation’s largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer, officials on the other side of the lawsuit gave their opinion on the continuation of the case.
Imperial Irrigation District officials said they were disappointed with the recent decision to appeal the Quantification Settlement Agreement higher.
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to petition the California Supreme Court to review an earlier court’s decision to essentially validate the set of agreements that sell a portion of the IID’s Colorado River entitlement water to coastal, urban areas. The Third District Court of Appeals decision, released last month, reversed a Sacramento Superior Court judge’s ruling to invalidate the agreements, and the appellate court ordered the case back to the Superior Court for a decision on the environmental issues surrounding the Salton Sea.
Imperial County, its air pollution control district and other parties had sued the IID, the state and other water agencies involved in the water transfer after the QSA was signed in 2003. One portion of the agreement that requires the state to pay for restoration cost in excess of what the water agencies have put aside for the Salton Sea was ruled invalid in 2010 as Sacramento Superior Court Judge Roland Candee said it essentially required the state to write a blank check for restoration costs.
The county released a statement regarding its decision to ask the state Supreme Court to hear the validation case. The county is asking for a determination that the county must be the party that decides whether the water transfer produces an unreasonable economic or environmental impact.
“This petition is necessary to protect Imperial County residents’ health and the environment and give the county a place at the QSA table,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Mike Kelley in a statement Wednesday.
It’s not for certain that the case will reach the Supreme Court as the state’s highest court gets to decide whether to hear the case, said IID board President John Pierre Menvielle.
He preferred that the parties need to move forward in the case, not just push against the validation issue, he said. The environmental issues should be decided and “put to bed.”
“It’s all dealing with Imperial County,” he said, explaining that the IID and county represent the same residents. “We all live here, and hopefully we can get something worked out.”
IID General Manager Kevin Kelley summed up his displeasure with the move succinctly.
“I wish the county hadn’t chosen to appeal this decision, but I can certainly understand why it did,” he said.
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
Imperial Irrigation District officials said they were disappointed with the recent decision to appeal the Quantification Settlement Agreement higher.
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to petition the California Supreme Court to review an earlier court’s decision to essentially validate the set of agreements that sell a portion of the IID’s Colorado River entitlement water to coastal, urban areas. The Third District Court of Appeals decision, released last month, reversed a Sacramento Superior Court judge’s ruling to invalidate the agreements, and the appellate court ordered the case back to the Superior Court for a decision on the environmental issues surrounding the Salton Sea.
Imperial County, its air pollution control district and other parties had sued the IID, the state and other water agencies involved in the water transfer after the QSA was signed in 2003. One portion of the agreement that requires the state to pay for restoration cost in excess of what the water agencies have put aside for the Salton Sea was ruled invalid in 2010 as Sacramento Superior Court Judge Roland Candee said it essentially required the state to write a blank check for restoration costs.
The county released a statement regarding its decision to ask the state Supreme Court to hear the validation case. The county is asking for a determination that the county must be the party that decides whether the water transfer produces an unreasonable economic or environmental impact.
“This petition is necessary to protect Imperial County residents’ health and the environment and give the county a place at the QSA table,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Mike Kelley in a statement Wednesday.
It’s not for certain that the case will reach the Supreme Court as the state’s highest court gets to decide whether to hear the case, said IID board President John Pierre Menvielle.
He preferred that the parties need to move forward in the case, not just push against the validation issue, he said. The environmental issues should be decided and “put to bed.”
“It’s all dealing with Imperial County,” he said, explaining that the IID and county represent the same residents. “We all live here, and hopefully we can get something worked out.”
IID General Manager Kevin Kelley summed up his displeasure with the move succinctly.
“I wish the county hadn’t chosen to appeal this decision, but I can certainly understand why it did,” he said.
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
