Aqualliance

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs, 1 various water resource management and conservation organizations, challenged Defendants' 2 "10-year water transfer program to move water from sellers located upstream of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta ('Delta') to willing buyers south of the Delta" (the "Project"). ECF No. 16, First Amended Complaint ("FAC") at ¶ 2. Plaintiffs asserted Reclamation's and the Authority's creation and approval of the Project's Final Long-Term Water Transfers Environmental Impact *880 Statement/Environmental Impact Report 3 ("FEIS/R") violated the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq ., and the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA"), Cal. Pub. Res. Code §§ 21000 et seq . Plaintiffs also assert FWS's analysis of the Project's impacts to the giant garter snake ("GGS") and related approval of the Project's Final Biological Opinion ("BiOp") and Incidental Take Statement ("ITS") violated the Endangered Species Act ("ESA"), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531 et seq . FAC at ¶ 1.

The Parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. ECF Nos. 45, 48, 49, 50. On February 15, 2018, the Court issued a 133-page Memorandum Decision and Order granting in part…