Page 8 - gateking051309

Castaic Lake Water Agency (Dec. 1, 2003, B164027) [nonpub. opn. at p. 3] (Friends II).)

In October 2002, the trial court denied the request to enjoin the transfer, and another

appeal ensued. In December 2003, Division Four of our court affirmed the denial of

injunctive relief. (Ibid.)
In February 2005, the California Water Impact Network (CWIN) dismissed its

petition with prejudice.

C. The Second CEQA Case Involving the Transfer of 41,000 AFY of

SWP Water from KCWA to CLWA

In 2004 (after Division Four decided Friends II), the CLWA certified an EIR for
the permanent transfer of 41,000 AFY of SWP water from the Kern County Water

District (KCWD). In January 2005, CWIN filed a petition for writ of mandate in the

3
Ventura County Superior Court, challenging the EIR. According to CWIN’s petition,
the EIR did not adequately discuss the threat posed by the permanent transfer of the

water, i.e., the promotion of large-scale urban sprawl in Ventura and Los Angeles

Counties, while diverting water forever from Kern County. On the same day that CWIN

filed its petition, the Planning and Conservation League filed its own petition in Ventura
County Superior Court challenging the transfer of water from KCWD to CLWA. The

two petitions in Ventura County were consolidated, and, in June 2005, the consolidated

Ventura County petitions were transferred to the Los Angeles County Superior Court and

assigned case number BS098724.

On April 2, 2007, the trial court (Hon. James Chalfant) ruled that CLWA properly
acted as the lead agency for the preparation of the 2004 EIR for the water transfer from

KCWD to CLWA, and that CLWA’s 2004 EIR “was properly prepared,” except for one

element –– the EIR did not explain that the availability of water from the SWP “may be

3
CWIN filed its petition in the Ventura County Superior Court about one month
before it filed its request for dismissal of its action in the Los Angeles County Superior
Court (case No. BS056954) in which its request for a preliminary injunction had been
denied. (See III., B., ante; and see also Friends II, supra, B164027.)

8