San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority v. United States Department of the Interior

ORDER RE DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS FOR LACK OF STANDING AND FOR FAILURE TO CHALLENGE A FINAL AGENCY ACTION (DOC. 69)

I. INTRODUCTION

This case presents a conflict between two provisions of the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act (“CVPIA”), Pub. L. No. 102-575, 106 Stat. 4700 (1992). CVPIA § 3406(b)(2) requires the Secretary of the Interior (the “Secretary”) to dedicate 800,000 acre feet (“AF”) of water to serve certain fish and wildlife restoration purposes. CVPIA § 3411(b) requires the Secretary to comply with a 1985 Agreement Between the United States of America and the Department of Water Resources of the State of California for Coordinated Operation of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project (otherwise referenced as “Coordinated Operations Agreement” or “COA”), which in turn requires the Bureau of Reclamation (“Reclamation”) to export as much water as possible when the Delta is in “excess water” 1 conditions.

Plaintiffs, San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority (“Authority”) and one of the Authority’s Member Districts, West-lands Water District (“Westlands”), filed this lawsuit on June 9, 2011, during a period when the Delta was in “excess water…