Friends of the Santa Clara River v. Castaic Lake Water Agency

Introduction

In 1995, the California State Department of Water Resources (DWR) and water contractors of the State Water Project (SWP) reached a historic agreement, known as the Monterey Agreement, changing the allocations between agricultural and urban contractors of entitlements to SWP water. A major component of the Monterey Agreement was the transfer of entitlements up to 130,000 acre-feet per year from agricultural contractors to urban contractors, on a willing buyer-willing seller basis. Pursuant to the Monterey Agreement, respondent Castaic Lake Water Agency (respondent) purchased from the Kern County Water Agency (KCWA) and its member district the Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa Water Storage District (WRMWSD) entitlement to 41,000 acre-feet per year of SWP water.

Respondent approved this transfer after certifying a project environmental impact report (EIR) pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Public Resources Code section 21000 et seq. In the present case appellant Friends of the Santa Clara River (appellant), a nonprofit California corporation, challenges the sufficiency of respondent’s EIR.

Previously, the Central Coast Water Authority (CCWA)…