Comments
THE ENVIRONMENT - In a major victory for environmental-justice advocates in and beyond California, the State Lands Commission (SLC) at its Dec. 17 meeting in Sacramento delivered a devastating blow to Cadiz, the floundering water company aligned with the Trump Administration. For more than 30 years, the politically engaged Cadiz Inc. has targeted ancient aquifers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties for draining and selling off their water to reap enormous private profits.
The Cadiz scheme threatens irreparable harm to the Mojave desert economy and ecosystem. Its far-fetched pipe dream relies in part on pumping out the aquifers at rates 25 times their natural replenishment while scavenging existing gas lines, many underground, in an attempt to gain permits to reuse them for piping away the water. But on Tuesday, SLC chair and state Controller Malia Cohen moved to exclude Cadiz from a lease for a defunct gas pipeline and to de-commission that pipeline’s path across a portion of state land.
“Leases are awarded at the discretion of the Commission on a case by case basis,” Cohen stated. She cited Cadiz’s woeful record of tens of millions of dollars in debt and alluded to its deceptive pattern of public-relations maneuvers that raise serious questions of its own viability and about public integrity. “There is a history of this company avoiding transparency,” Cohen added.
Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis voted for the motion along with the representative of Gov. Gavin Newsom in the state Department of Finance. The unanimous 3-0 vote is a major win for common sense and the common good, as more than 20 speakers reminded commissioners in public comment.
Ft. Mojave Indian Tribe chair Tim Williams came north from his nation’s land straddling three states along the Colorado River to bear witness to the importance of protecting people, sacred land, water, and wildlife. Echoing the tribe in testimony were Esperanza Vielma of the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water (EJCW) and Neal Desai of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA).
Tim Williams, chair of the Ft. Mojave Indian Tribe, urged State Lands Commissioners to exclude Cadiz from any lease while decommissioning the pipeline. He stands with Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis, a commissioner, after her vote that spelled victory for the environment and against Cadiz.
Action by the SLC to protect the environment and honesty in governance of land use is a big defeat for Cadiz’s aggressive lobbying that several targets have likened to intimidation. Witnesses at the meeting included Lorraine Enriquez of the Redlands Area Democrats, Charming Evelyn of the Sierra Club, and Juanita Chavez of the Dolores Huerta Foundation. Chavez called out Cadiz for misusing and deceitfully circulating the image of the foundation’s namesake without permission to falsely characterize her as their ally, which she manifestly is not.
The SLC’s action also signals a defeat for Donald Trump and other foes of sustainability, desert parks, and good stewardship who have enabled the Cadiz scheme—often while paid by the company. Such efforts defy a 2019 state law (SB 307) and have even violated federal law, as a federal judge ruled in September 2022.
The ancient aquifers targeted by Cadiz for draining, for its private enrichment, are essential to survival of the fragile and magnificent ecosystem of Joshua Tree, the Morongo Basin, Bonanza Springs, and the parks and sacred lands of indigenous peoples of the Mojave. The thriving desert economy tied to tourism generates $7.6 billion annually and supports 73,000 jobs.
The fight to end the existential danger that Cadiz poses to the desert economy and environment is far from over. But the victory this week to decommission a pipeline without interference by the company is a hard-won, crucial step of progress toward that environmental-justice goal.
State Lands Commissioners listen as commission staff outline how Cadiz aimed to acquire an outdated natural-gas pipeline near Barstow in order to move water from ancient aquifers and sell it for profit to customers outside the region.
State Controller Malia Cohen chairs the State Lands Commission (SLC) and moved to exclude Cadiz from any lease involving the defunct pipeline. She stands here with Hans Johnson of the East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD), who also testified. “There is a history of this company avoiding transparency,” Controller Cohen told the audience at the SLC meeting on December 17.
The kit fox is one of the vulnerable species in the Mojave desert that is dependent on desert springs and natural water seeps that could be destroyed by the Cadiz water-pumping scheme.
The late Senator Dianne Feinstein fought Cadiz for 31 years as U.S. Senator. One of the last letters she wrote, in August 2023, signed also by Sen. Alex Padilla, urged the federal government to protect desert water from being plundered by the company.
(Hans Johnson is a longtime leader for LGBTQ+ human rights, environmental justice, and public education. His columns appear in national news outlets including USA Today and in top daily news outlets of more than 20 states. A resident of Eagle Rock, he is also president of East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD), the largest grassroots Democratic club in California, with more than 1,100 members.)
