Environmentalists Sue to Stop Water Pipeline in Mojave Desert

Environmental groups sued the Trump administration in federal court on Tuesday, claiming its approval of a project that aims to pump billions of gallons from desert aquifers in California’s Mojave Desert to supply thirsty coastal cities is illegal. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety filed the suit against the Bureau of Land Management and Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in Los Angeles federal court over the Trump administration’s decision to erase an Obama-era legal analysis that concluded Cadiz, a private water company, could not use a federal right-of-way for anything besides its designated purpose as a railway. The Trump administration reversed the decision in mid-October, paving the way for the construction of a 43-mile water pipeline that aims to siphon 16 billion gallons of water annually from ancient desert aquifers...more