• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About

Judge Calls Water District’s Bluff: “It is not even close.”

April 11, 2017 By admin 1 Comment

False Advertising?

At one point during the conflict between the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) and the Oakdale Groundwater Alliance (OGA), Judge Roger Beauchesne scolded OID attorneys for their use of ad hominem tactics, reminding them that personal attacks are usually attempts to hide weak arguments. But it turns out personal attacks were all OID attorneys could offer when the district’s fallowing program was challenged under the authority of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

OID had claimed there were no significant impacts from its proposed “On-farm Conservation Program,” which involved fallowing as many as 3,000 acres of farmland within the district. But in a decision released early last week, Judge Beauchesne found that the district’s “Negative Declaration” was, “a minimalist work project which fails to meet the basic requirements of the law.” He agreed with virtually all of OGA’s objections to the program, writing that, “Each of the criticisms of the Negative Declaration have merit, in the Court’s view.”

The court’s ruling was just the latest in a long series of setbacks for a water district that can’t adjust to twenty-first century realities, especially those requiring transparency and public trust. Signs all over the district read, “Abundant Water, Lowest Cost, Best Management,” but OID has consistently failed to measure up to its extravagant claims.

This year’s attempt to bypass CEQA requirements wasn’t the first time OID management failed to perform due diligence. Back in 2015, the district’s fallowing program was halted when OID water attorney Tim O’Laughlin admitted, “We need a full-blown EIR.” In that same year, the Modesto Bee revealed that OID had failed to meet state and federal re-districting standards going back as far as the 2000 census.

OID entered this most recent court case woefully unprepared to defend its assertion there would be no significant impacts from the fallowing program. In fact, when they attacked the motives of OGA members Louis Brichetto and Robert Frobose, Judge Beauchesne had to remind OID attorneys that, “…it is axiomatic that motive need not be proven either in a criminal case or a civil case.”

In what amounted to a desperate attempt to revise history, OID’s attorneys accused OGA of “misquoting the record.” Judge Beauchesne firmly rejected the OID position, writing that, “The Court disagrees with Respondents that the difference in exact verbiage is ‘almost sanctionable.’ It is not even close.”

Coming as it does within the context of an attempt to recall OID Director Linda Santos, the defeat reveals OID’s pattern of personal attacks and false claims for what it really is—a clumsy attempt at misdirection intended to distract attention from the sleight of hand needed to conceal the true costs of OID’s business plan.

OID’s claims of “abundant water” don’t account for pumping record amounts of groundwater, declining groundwater levels, a critically over drafted groundwater basin, and annexing megafarmers Trinitas Partners while turning away smaller local farmers. The “lowest cost” is true only when OID leaves out legal fees, reimbursements to farmers damaged by OID’s ongoing series of errors, and conversion of land to permanent crops.

The greatest irony of all for OID customers is that Linda Santos has said all along she just wants OID to be open to public view and do things “the right way;” Had OID management listened to her, the district would have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Instead, OID resorted to schoolyard tactics of name-calling and blame-gaming. The judge wasn’t fooled.

 

 

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Linda Santos Oakdale Irrigation District, Oakdale Irrigation District Fallowing Program, Oakdale Irrigation District On Farm Conservation Program, Oakdale Irrigation District recall, Oakdale Irrigation District water sales

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. The Valley Citizen - Nature Environment Politics History Editorials says:
    April 19, 2017 at 8:07 pm

    […] one had spoken in defense of OID policy, and Meserve’s presence had proven a strong reminder of Judge Beauchesne’s support for, “each of the criticisms of the Negative […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Some comments may be held for moderation.

Primary Sidebar

Off The Wire

Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes faces a prison sentence up to 25 years in the first punishments for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
www.washingtonpost.com
Opinion | America?s Poverty Is Built by Design
Opinion | America’s Poverty Is Built by Design
How did the U.S. become a land of economic extremes with the rich getting richer while the working poor grind it out? Deliberately.
www.politico.com
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer's Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has 'No Place' In Congress
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer’s Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has ‘No Place’ In Congress
The Republican Jewish Coalition slammed Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) following a  TPM…
talkingpointsmemo.com
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
After widespread, bipartisan criticism, the governor revised his budget to include $40 million to restore San Joaquin Valley floodplains.
calmatters.org
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
Conventional wisdom had long suggested the opposite.
nymag.com
Spiraling in San Francisco?s Doom Loop
Spiraling in San Francisco’s Doom Loop
What it’s like to live in a city that no longer believes its problems can be fixed.
www.curbed.com
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
The two lots could accommodate about 500 tents and would be an alternative to congregate shelters
www.sandiegouniontribune.com
K-12 enrollment: Does the increase in homeless students indicate a worsening trend?
K-12 enrollment: Does the increase in homeless students indicate a worsening trend?
California’s overall K-12 enrollment declined, but a lack of affordable housing may be fueling an increase in homeless students.
calmatters.org
Sugar Justice: The Clarence Thomas Story
Sugar Justice: The Clarence Thomas Story
Did you see the latest Clarence Thomas bombshell? To head off any…
talkingpointsmemo.com
California's colossal snowpack has yet to melt: 'Less and less places for that water to go'
California’s colossal snowpack has yet to melt: ‘Less and less places for that water to go’
Only about 12 inches of Caliornia’s snow water equivalent melted in April, leaving most of the Sierra Nevada snowpack poised to flow down downhill.
www.latimes.com
The fastest-growing homeless population? Seniors
The fastest-growing homeless population? Seniors
Included in the increasing number of homeless seniors are those experiencing homelessness for the first time after age 50.
calmatters.org
Perspective | The greatest bird artist you?ve never heard of
Perspective | The greatest bird artist you’ve never heard of
Rex Brasher painted more birds than Audubon, and he never owned slaves.
www.washingtonpost.com

Find us on Facebook

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Footer

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Subscribe for Free

* indicates required

Search

• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 The Valley Citizen

Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Editor and publisher: Eric Caine

Website customization and maintenance by Susan Henley Design