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EBMUD Sued Over Pardee Dam Expansion

by Bill Jennings, CSPA Executive Director
November 20, 2009 -- On 19 November 2009, The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), Foothill Conservancy and Friends of the River filed a lawsuit against the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) in Amador County Superior Court to protect the Mokelumne River from the proposed expansion of Pardee Reservoir. The expansion is included in the EBMUD’s 2040 water plan, which was approved by the EBMUD Board of Directors October 13.

The lawsuit seeks to overturn the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on which the water plan and reservoir expansion are based. The EIR included review of one expansion option that would significantly increase storage capacity, diminish instream flow and flood the entire Middle Bar reach of the Mokelumne River and up to a mile of the Electra Run above Highway 49. The EBMUD board retained four alternatives for a new Pardee Dam, three of which would increase storage, further reduce flows for already depleted fisheries and destroy the Middle Bar reach and historic 1912 Middle Bar Bridge. The threatened area is valued for its whitewater boating, fishing, scenery, wildlife and cultural and historic resources. The new dam also threatens collapsing fisheries downstream in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

“EBMUD is a municipal vampire that has drained the Mokelumne to the point it's on life support,” said CSPA Executive Director Bill Jennings, adding, “Having spurned reasonable alternatives that would have assured its customers of a reliable water supply, it now demands more from a river that has no 'more' to give, if its going to survive. Enough is enough!”

“The Mokelumne River is not the property of East Bay MUD, and they are not above the law,” Foothill Conservancy Executive Director Chris Wright said in announcing the litigation. “Their program EIR doesn’t comply with the California Environmental Quality Act, but EBMUD approved it anyway—just like they kept the reservoir expansion in their plan over the objections of so many people, organizations, agencies, elected officials and local governments.

The suit alleges that East Bay MUD violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by failing to adequately analyze and mitigate the impacts on the Mokelumne River and Amador and Calaveras counties from the new Pardee Dam.  It further states that EBMUD’s approval was uninformed and not supported by the type of analysis and findings necessary under CEQA before EBMUD may shift the harm of its future water supply program onto already depleted Mokelumne fisheries, a crashing Delta ecosystem and Sierra foothill communities.  EBMUD essentially ignored and failed to respond to numerous concerns raised by foothill communities, fishing and public interest groups, and government agencies dedicated to protecting fisheries, the Delta and foothill resources.  The suit asks the court to set aside EBMUD’s approval of the 2040 water plan.

Attorneys Michael W. Graf of El Cerrito and Thomas P. Infusino of Pine Grave are representing CSPA, Foothills Conservancy and Friends of the River in the lawsuit.

CSPA Mokelumne Suit