Westlands Water District suing feds for $1b

[XemaSab]

Suit alleges Interior Department failed to clean up salty water poisoning west Valley farmland.

Westlands Water District is suing the federal government for $1 billion, claiming the Interior Department failed to deliver a court-ordered cleanup of salty irrigation drainage.

About a dozen years after an appellate court upheld the cleanup order, bad water trapped below the ground surface still slowly poisons west Valley farmland. The swath of compromised land is two-thirds the size of Los Angeles.

"We're tired of waiting," said Westlands general manager Thomas Birmingham. "We've been paying for drainage service for decades. The land is sustaining irreparable harm."

The suit was filed last month in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. Interior officials declined comment on pending litigation.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/02/02/2707932/westlands-water-district-sues.html#storylink=cpy

In other news, fat guy sues doctor for not making him lose weight.

[hunter]

1. There's a quote in the article that pretty much sums it up...

"Westlands has been fleecing the taxpayers for years, and this latest action just continues their pattern of gaming the system to continue polluting and grabbing water," said Patricia Schifferle, director for Pacific Advocates, a consulting group in Northern California.

The mess needs to be cleaned up and a good first step would be dismembering the Westlands Water District and abandoning the worst of the salt-tainted farmland.

[XemaSab]

2. Exactly

That billion would be better spent buying out saline areas and using them for a combination of wildlife habitat and solar development.

[hunter]

3. A pretty good historical accounting of the mess...

http://www.lloydgcarter.com/content/110704496_westlands-drainage-delay-no-389

The answer is so simple. If they weren't dumping water on these toxic soils they wouldn't need drains. No water, no drains, the naturally occurring toxins stay put.

The least expensive and most environmentally sound solution is to simply stop farming this toxic dirt.

Geez. Working class people are always scrambling around moving from place to place trying to make a living. What makes these farmers so special?

Oh yeah, they've got rich and bought themselves a few politicians...