Mono to LADWP: See you in Court
Mono County to sue over Long Valley water reduction
Historically, there is only one thing that gets the attention of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP): Litigation. The Mono County Board of Supervisors will seek an injunction and writ of mandate to stop a water grab by the water Goliath that seeks to dry up pasturelands in Long Valley.
The County will file next week.
Mono County leaders have urged the largest utility in the U.S. to reconsider its plans to stop supplying water to lessees on its land around Crowley Lake. The Board of Supervisors has sent letters to members of Congress and environmental groups, and they have, in turn, written to LADWP.
County Supervisors have talked to LADWP Commissioners and the discussed the grave economic impacts to tourism, the ranchers and the County if the water stops. Ranchers have been willing to compromise, County Counsel Stacy Simon told the Supervisors at a meeting on Tuesday, August 7, and cut their water demands by 60-80 percent.
She said she could only describe the reaction to the proposal from the utility as “total rejection.”
Supervisor Fred Stump said the County has been stonewalled. Supervisor Stacy Corless said LADWP’s destructive and systematic misuse of the lands are the reason there are environmental mitigations necessary in the state.
LADWP claims that climate change is affecting the amount of water available and states that everyone must tighten their belts. LADWP’s plan to terminate irrigation on 6,400 acres of Long Valley pastureland would result in about 32,000 acre-feet of water being diverted from the area (about 65 Rose Bowls).
