Central Delta Water Agency v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING MULTIPLE MOTIONS TO DISMISS (DOCS. 106, 107, 112, 113, 114, 116, 118), GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART WATER AGENCY DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO STRIKE (DOC. 173), AND DENYING AS MOOT STATE DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO QUASH SERVICE (DOC. 105).

I. INTRODUCTION

This case concerns the ongoing development and preliminary environmental review of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (“BDCP”), a yet-to-be consummated collaborative approach to restoring the Saeramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem, while also protecting water supplies. See Defendants’ Request for Judicial Notice (“DRJN”), Ex. A, BDCP: An Overview and Update (March 2009) (“Overview and Update”). Plaintiffs, Central Delta Water Agency and South Delta Water Agency, filed this lawsuit against the members of the BDCP “Steering Committee,” alleg ing that: (1) defendants initiated the scoping process under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) and the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) without releasing to the public a sufficiently detailed BDCP project description; (2) in retaining a contractor to study the BDCP’s possible environmental impacts, defendants violated federal…