(Press Release)

Update on Status of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Lawsuits Against Mammoth Community Water District

On July 16th the Mammoth Community Water District filed the administrative records with the Mono County Superior Court for the two lawsuits filed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). The administrative record for the case challenging the adequacy of the District’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the Mammoth Creek By-Pass Fishery Flows consists of over 19,000 pages of documents that were compiled in 33 volumes. The second administrative record addressing the challenge to the District’s approval of the 2010 Urban Water Management Plan is contained in 16 volumes consisting of almost 9,500 pages. The administrative records for the two cases contain documents used by the District to determine the adequacy of the EIR and the UWMP. The Judge will review the evidence contained in the administrative records to form the basis of his decisions on the merits of the two cases.

Next, the Water District and the LADWP will present their agencies’ perspectives on the facts and the law pertinent to the cases through a series of briefs filed with the court. The first briefs will be filed by LADWP on or before September 14th. The District’s reply brief in each case is due on or before November 16th. LADWP may file a final brief in each case responding to the District’s briefs by December 21st. In both lawsuits, LADWP claims that the District’s EIR and UWMP are based on “alleged water rights… that the District simply does not have.” The District does have state-issued water rights for its Mammoth Creek diversions. Copies of the District’s water right licenses and permit are available on the website, stopDWPwatergrab.com.

The hearing on the cases is scheduled for January 29, 2013, at 9 am at the Mono County Courthouse in Mammoth Lakes. The hearing will provide the judge with an opportunity to review the evidence and briefs with the Water District’s and LADWP’s legal teams. Court decisions on the cases are due 90 days following the hearing.

The administrative records for both cases are available, in electronic format, to the public for review at our offices and will be posted on our website in 1-2 weeks.