Westlands Water District v. United States Department of the Interior

For forty years, most of the Trinity River’s water has been diverted to the Sacramento River basin. Congress mandated that some of that water be returned to the Trinity River in order to revive its chinook salmon, coho salmon, and steel-head trout populations, which have been decimated by the decades of reduced water flows. California municipal water agencies and power districts (“Plaintiffs”) challenged the plan to redirect Trinity River water, arguing that the procedural requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq. (1970) (“NEPA”), and the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq. (1973) (“ESA”), were not met.

Ruling on cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court enjoined parts of the restoration program devised by federal agencies and the Hoopa Valley Tribe (“Hoopa Valley”), mandated that non-flow restoration measures be implemented, and ordered the federal agencies to supplement their Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) to cover issues neglected or inadequately addressed in previous studies.

We affirm in part and reverse in part. We reverse the conclusion that the scope of the EIS and the range of alternatives…