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U.S. NEWS Saturday 9 November 2019
Interior proposes coveted deal to ex-

client of agency head

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER law that made the West- the rural California water
Associated Press lands' proposed deal pos- district has been seeking
WASHINGTON (AP) — The sible, allowing water dis- to bargain down the pay-
Interior Department is pro- tricts to lock up permanent back amount, and want
posing to award one of contracts for water from to see what the contract
the first contracts for fed- California's federal water obliges Westlands to pay.
eral water in perpetuity to project. Danko, the Interior spokes-
a powerful rural California The 2016 law had been woman, said the proposed
water district that had long sought for decades by deal would result in the
employed Secretary David water districts in California, government being paid
Bernhardt as a lobbyist. where frequent droughts back a decade early.
Conservation groups are sometimes led to water ra- Meanwhile, California At- In this March 28, 2019, file photo, David Bernhardt speaks
demanding fuller disclo- tioning and dying crops. It torney General Xavier before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
sure of financial terms and reshaped the federal han- Becerra on Friday an- at his confirmation hearing to head the Interior Department, on
an environmental review dling of water in the U.S. nounced a proposed Capitol Hill in Washington.
of the proposed deal for state with the largest econ- settlement with Westlands Associated Press
the California's Westlands omy. over allegations that the major component of the Scenic Rivers Act.
Water District, the nation's Environmental groups say district broke state law by state's water delivery sys- The settlement bars West-
largest agricultural water a permanent deal would leading a project to raise tem. lands from participating
supplier. let California's water con- the height of the Shasta Opponents say raising the in any effort to raise the
The water district serves tractors forgo future nego- Dam. dam would harm the tribu- dam. It follows a judge's
some of country's wealthi- tiations before the public The dam holds back the tary McCloud River and its preliminary injunction in
est and most politically in- and environmental groups, northern Sacramento River wild trout fishery protected July halting the district's
fluential corporate farmers. further threatening the sur- and its tributaries and is a by the California Wild and participation.q
Bernhardt served as a lob- vival of some of the endan-
byist for Westlands until gered native fish and other
2016, the year before he wildlife that also need the
joined Interior, initially as water.
deputy secretary. Interior's Bureau of Recla-
"The Interior Department mation posted notice on
needs to look out for the its website Oct. 25 of the
public interest, and not just proposed contract and
serve the financial inter- the 60-day public com-
ests of their former lobby- ment period, which ends
ing clients," said Rep. Jared over the Christmas holiday.
Huffman, a Democrat from Other water districts are lin-
California. ing up behind Westlands
Responding to questions, to negotiate their own per-
Interior spokeswoman Car- manent contracts.
ol Danko said the handling Westland's contract would
of the Westlands' contract give it permanent claim
was delegated entirely to to enough water to sup-
California staffers of the ply more than 2 million
Bureau of Reclamation, California households, al-
which is under the Depart- though federal suppliers in
ment of Interior. practice typically divvy up
The agency will make a fi- water each year based on
nal decision after the legal- available supply.
ly mandated public com- The water comes from the
ment period, she said. federal Central Valley Proj-
Doug Obegi, a senior attor- ect, a massive, federally
ney at the Natural Resourc- built network of dams, tun-
es Defense Council, said nels and canals that pipes
the handling of the con- water from greener North-
tract raises concerns Inte- ern California to farms and
rior "is trying to give West- cities of the more populat-
lands a sweetheart deal." ed south.
Bernhardt's past lobbying The 2016 law allows West-
work — much of it for in- lands and other water dis-
dustries with business be- tricts to lock in the water
fore Interior — has led en- contracts for good if they
vironmental groups and repay the federal govern-
Democratic lawmakers to ment for their share of the
accuse him of lack of trans- Central Valley Project's
parency and the appear- costs.
ance of conflict of interest Interior said in its statement
in his work at the agency. Thursday that Westlands
As a lobbyist, he was in- owes the federal govern-
volved in negotiations on ment $480.7 million. En-
a contentious 2016 federal vironmental groups say