For any other public entity, the loss suffered on November 27 by Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) in Fresno’s Fifth Appellate District Court would amount to a wake-up call, but given the resistance to facts of three of its board members, General Manager and water attorney, it’s unlikely any of them will come away with a lesson learned. This, after all, is the water district whose own attorney told them they […]
Oakdale Irrigation District Fallowing Program
Oakdale Irrigation District: “The public be damned”
“Petitioner has bestowed an important public benefit,” says Judge. Imagine tossing 2130 hundred dollar bills into the Stanislaus River to see how long they will float. Sounds crazy, but the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) did something almost as foolish when it decided to contest a suit brought forward by the Oakdale Groundwater Alliance (OGA). The suit was in response to OID’s failure to provide an Environmental Impact Review (EIR) for […]
Judge Calls Water District’s Bluff: “It is not even close.”
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 […]
More Legal Woes for the Irrigation District
For more than ten years, the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) has relied on water sales to balance its books. Over the decade prior to 2014, OID water sales brought in well over thirty million dollars. The bonanza enabled the district to sell water to its customers for well under the cost of delivery. When OID annexed Trinitas Partners into the district in 2013, the terms of the contract were ballyhooed […]
Irrigation District Monetizes Public Water
By a 3 to 2 margin, the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) Board of Directors voted in the third week of March to sell surplus public water outside the boundaries of the district. At the time, nearby urban residents were still under a state order to reduce water use by 36 percent below 2013 usage. Ironically, OID can sell water to outsiders while local residents are still subject to draconian rationing. Supposedly, […]
Can CEQA Save Tulloch Lake?
In 2011, we posted a review of some of the most successful applications of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in the northern San Joaquin Valley. These cases show that CEQA can be an effective planning tool in our region. Unfortunately, because CEQA almost always involves an understanding of environmental law, attorneys’ fees have too often put CEQA review out of the reach of the public citizens it was intended […]
OID CEQA Review Will Change the Water Game
Last year, the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) pumped a near-record amount of groundwater. Nonetheless, OID General Manager Steve Knell and members of the Board of Directors continue to talk about selling “surplus water.” By way of planning for continuing drought conditions, that same Board of Directors last Tuesday considered draining Tulloch Lake, where waterfront homes, fishing, and skiing offer residents and visitors some of the best of California’s natural attractions. […]
Oakdale Water Scheme Hits CEQA Hurdle: Part I
Only a few days ago, it seemed as if the Oakdale Irrigation District’s (OID) “On Farm Conservation Funding Program” was likely to be instituted as early as this year. Though it features a controversial fallowing element, criticism of the program has been muted by a well-orchestrated publicity campaign conducted through press releases produced by former Modesto Bee editor Dave Lyghtle, who now works for Marcia Hermann Design. The Oakdale Irrigation […]
Fire Sale on Water?
Despite little interest thus far in a fallowing program designed to make water available for sales next year, Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) will pursue plans to sell water to Westlands Water District. Though OID General Manager Steve Knell has been under increasing pressure to keep OID water local, his Board of Directors continues to back his strategy of selling “surplus” water when available. Knell and OID attorney Tim O’Laughlin said […]