A federal judge ruled Thursday that the reversal of a policy by the Bureau of Land Management in 2017 to allow Cadiz Inc. to pump 16 billion gallons of water from an aquifer in the Mojave Desert was “arbitrary and capricious.” Under the Obama administration, the BLM said in 2015 that Cadiz could not use a railroad right-of-way for a water pipeline from Cadiz to the California aqueduct without getting federal permission and an environmental review.
In 2017, the BLM under the Trump administration reversed itself and said Cadiz could use the right-of-way and didn’t need the environmental review. Judge George Wu said the BLM failed to explain “why it considered the same facts in 2015 and 2017 but came to opposing conclusions….” He sent the matter back to the BLM for reconsideration. Cadiz said in a statement that it is confident that the “BLM will swiftly prepare an amended letter responsive to the remand and completely compliant with the Court’s direction.”
