National Parks Conservation Association v. Ryan Zinke

Mojave Trails National Monument

U.S. District Court for Central District of California - George H. Wu

photo: Bob Wick, BLM

Background

On February 12, 2016, then-President Barack Obama established the Mojave Trails National Monument, which added protection for neighboring natural springs from being extracted from and pipelined through the monument, which complicated natural resource company Cadiz Inc.'s plan to move ahead with a proposal to pump groundwater on land surrounded by the national monument and sell the water to California cities. The Obama administration’s Department of the Interior also wrote an opinion that required federal review for projects that could affect national parks and other public lands.

In September 2017, the Trump administration’s Department of the Interior’s acting solicitor and principal deputy solicitor wrote a new opinion that removed federal oversight of projects using certain railroad rights of way, allowing developers to evade federal review for projects that could impact national parks and other public lands. In October 2017, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sent an official letter to Cadiz Inc. echoing the solicitor general’s opinion.

Court Challenges

On April 3, 2018, the National Parks Conservationist Association (NPCA) filed a lawsuit (18-cv-00753) that challenged the Trump administration’s Department of the Interior solicitor’s 2017 opinion, as well as the BLM decision that the construction and operation of a 43-mile-long pipeline associated with the Cadiz Inc. project within the Mojave Trails National Monument may proceed without proper federal oversight.

The NPCA's filing claimed that the Department of the Interior's action blocked scientists from the National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey from reviewing and regulating the Cadiz Inc. project, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. Federal scientists previously have found that Cadiz Inc. would extract up to 25 times more groundwater than is naturally recharged, severely damaging resources throughout the Mojave Desert. In November 2017, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a similar lawsuit— Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management (17-cv-08587) —which also challenged the Department of the Interior solicitor’s opinion.

On July 25, 2018, Judge McFadden, granted the Department of Justice’s motion to transfer the case to the District for Central California, where a similar case is pending. McFadden cited the “local interest in deciding local controversies at home…”

On September 24, 2018, Judge Wu granted Cadiz Inc. and Cadiz Real Estate the right to intervene as co-defendants. The case is now in California District Court (18-cv-6775) and will be argued along with the Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management case (17-cv-8587).

What's Next

On June 21, 2019, Judge Wu granted plaintiffs' motions for summary judgment holding that the 2017 determination violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Wu held that it was contrary to law and failed to explain its reversal from the Obama-era determination.

Plaintiffs

  • National Parks Conservation Association

Defendants

  • U.S. Department of the Interior
  • Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke
  • U.S. Bureau of Land Management
  • U.S. Bureau of Land Management Director Brian