The Fight to Protect California Resource Gains Ground in Assembly

(SACRAMENTO) – Today, the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources approved SB 120, authored by Senator Richard D. Roth, in a 7 to 0 vote. SB 120, which enjoys a broad coalition of supporters including U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Governor Jerry Brown and Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, enhances protections to California’s deserts by creating a definitive process for the state to assess proposals to export desert groundwater to other regions of the state.

“For decades, California has applied and required scientific reviews to major projects such as the desert water extraction proposal we have discussed today. With the uncertainty of our climate and the reality of California’s catastrophic wildfires and drought, now is not the time to play ‘fast and loose' with the processes that protect our precious aquifers,” said Senator Richard D. Roth (D-Riverside). “Water extraction projects must be subjected to a thorough review that is of the highest scientific standards. It would be a breach of longstanding and crucial protocol for this legislative body to be idle at a time of grave importance.”

The controversial Cadiz Water Project proposes to extract up to 50,000 acre-feet of water annually from beneath the Mojave Desert and export the water to agencies 200 miles away. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that the natural recharge rate of this basin from rainfall is from 2,000 to 10,000 acre-feet a year – a range that is from 5 to 25 times less than the 50,000 acre-feet of annual extraction envisioned by the project.

No federal or state government agency or court has reviewed the underlying scientific research that Cadiz offers to argue that it will not harm the state and federal lands around Cadiz.

“The discrepancies between numbers from the U.S. Geological Survey and Cadiz Inc. are alarming at best and dangerous at worst – imperiling an entire ecosystem,” said Senator Roth. “It is our duty, once again to be the regulator of last resort.”

# # #

Senator Richard D. Roth represents the 31st State Senate District, which includes the communities of Corona, Eastvale, Jurupa Valley, March Air Reserve Base, Moreno Valley, Norco, Perris and Riverside. Prior to his election, he served for 32 years in the United States Air Force, retiring in 2007 in the grade of Major General.