Hearing will resume tomorrow at 9:30
From the State Water Resources Control Board:
“This ruling addresses the outstanding motions to stay this proceeding until Petitioners announce a decision as to whether they intend to implement the WaterFix Project in stages and, if so, release a final supplement to the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project and any other necessary supporting documentation. This ruling also addresses certain other recently-filed procedural motions.
For the reasons discussed below, we hereby deny all outstanding requests to stay this proceeding. The evidentiary portion of Part 2 shall commence at 9:30 am on February 22, 2018, as currently scheduled.”
Regarding the motion to stay Part 2 of the hearing, the hearing officers ruled:
“After reviewing the parties’ briefing on the subject, we find that proceeding with Part 2 of this water right hearing as currently scheduled makes the most efficient use of the State Water Board’s and the parties’ time and resources taking into consideration all relevant factors, including present uncertainty over how Petitioners intend to proceed with the WaterFix Project.
First, DWR’s recent statements do not indicate a decision to abandon its current WaterFix Project proposal and instead implement the project in stages. For this reason, a stay of the proceeding would be both premature and needlessly disruptive. Second, even if Petitioners already had decided to implement WaterFix in stages, Part 2 still would be necessary and relevant to the potential impacts of the complete project and the State Water Board’s consideration of whether to approve the changes associated with the completed project and, if so, under what conditions. Third, the parties have already submitted their testimony and exhibits for Part 2. Revising their cases-in-chief to address staged implementation would take time and effort, which could prove to be unnecessary.
For these reasons, the most efficient way forward is to continue to hear evidence relevant to the complete project while Petitioners analyze and consider staged implementation. We will postpone evidence and argument regarding any potential differences in project benefits and impacts from staged implementation until a subsequent part of the hearing.”
Read the full ruling letter here: 20180221_cwf_ruling
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