On Oct. 28, the fate of California American Water’s test well in Marina will hang in the balance. In June, the Water Ratepayers Association of the Monterey Peninsula – a water watchdog group led by longtime Cal Am critic Ron Weitzman – filed a lawsuit against Monterey County and the California Coastal Commission alleging the two entities are failing to enforce the North Monterey County Local Coastal Plan by allowing the test well, which it states will cause “permanent damage” to local groundwater resources. Furthermore, the suit alleges the test well violates California water rights law in that Cal Am has no water rights in the groundwater basin.
“People are so nervous about the water situation that they are able to overlook the fact that Cal Am doesn’t have any water rights,” say attorney David Balch, who is representing WRAMP. (Balch is also an attorney for the People’s Project, Nader Agha’s competing desalination project in Moss Landing.) “The emperor has no clothes.”
The suit asks that the test well be shut down. If that were to happen, Cal Am’s proposed desalination project would again be delayed.
The county counsel’s office argues that the county doesn’t have jurisdiction over the well because it’s in the city of Marina.
“The county doesn’t have legal authority to go in and tell Cal Am to shut down the test well,” says Senior Deputy County Counsel Wendy Strimling.
Attorneys representing Cal Am also responded to the suit, and among their arguments are that any challenges to the legality of the test well had to be made within 60 days of the Coastal Commission’s approval of the project in November 2014.
“The claims have no merit,” Cal Am spokesman Kevin Tilden says. “But because they’re pursuing it, we have to spend the time refuting it.”
The next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28 in Monterey County Superior Court.
UPDATE 3:45pm 10/28/16:
WRAMP attorney David Balch says most of today's hearing was centered around whether the CPUC might have exclusive jurisdiction to rule on the issue. The court granted Balch an opportunity to amend WRAMP's lawsuit to address the CPUC jurisdictional question.
He says he will file the amended suit in two weeks.
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