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A federal court last week (September 14, 2022) pulled the pipeline permit for the controversial Cadiz water mining project. The permit was granted to Cadiz Inc. Land Holdings in the final days of 2020, and has been opposed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Native American Land Conservancy and the National Parks Conservation Association, among other organizations.
The controversial Cadiz water project aimed to drain the Mojave Desert of an unsustainable 16 billion gallons of water annually and use an existing pipeline to send that water to the Santa Margarita Water District and thirsty households in coastal Orange Country. Those opposed to the project assert it would have a disastrous impact on Tribal Nations, local communities, and protected lands like Mojave Trails National Monument and Mojave National Preserve. The court’s decision to pull Cadiz’s pipeline rights-of-way followed evidence that the Trump administration, in its zeal to greenlight the project, had skirted tribal consultation, environmental assessments, and other legally required steps in the approval process.
In the days after the decision, Cadiz Inc. Land Holdings has issued a statement saying that the loss of the permit will have little impact on their overall plans, though Native American and Conservation groups have both called the decision a major victory.
