Jewell

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER (DOC. 3)

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Friant Water Authority (“Fri-ant”) is a California joint powers authority that consists of twenty-one member water, water conservation, water storage and irrigation districts, as well as the City of Fresno, all located on the east side of the southern San Joaquin Valley. Friant and its member agencies 1 (collectively, “Plain *1133 tiffs”) bring this lawsuit against the United States Department of the Interior (“Interi- or”), Interior’s member agency, the United States Bureau of Reclamation (“Reclamation” or “the Bureau”), as well as various federal officers 2 (collectively, “Federal Defendants”). Also named as defendants are Grassland Water District (“GWD”) and Grassland Resource Conservation District (“GRCD”) (collectively, “Grasslands”). See generally Doc. 1 (“Compl”).

Friant’s members contract with Reclamation for the delivery of water from the Friant Unit of the Central Valley Project (“CVP”). One of the principal features of the Fri ant Unit is Fri ant Dam, located in the foothills northeast of the City of Fresno, which impounds the waters of the upper San…