Environmental impact statement

It's unprecedented to have a change like this without having opened up a supplemental EIS.

That's short for Environmental Impact Statement.

The letter means today's commissioners are aligned with their position in 2016.

I'm Jenna McMurtry, KHOL News.

I agree that, you know, a lot of our community is really concerned that a small community will have a privilege that other people don't have and that and that doesn't that doesn't seem fair when we talk about the federal register notice let's move to that um it will there be uh an environmental impact statement that people are going to comment on or does there have to be or how does that work absolutely

there does so again in the statute and thanks for for acknowledging that because i think it requires twofold An environmental assessment.

I don't think it's technically an EIS, but an assessment not to get too wonky with you all.

And then federal register.

So there will be a comment period to discuss whether it is for the benefit and necessary for Yosemite.

Well, thanks so much for sharing that information and being so transparent on that.

I think that's really helpful for people to understand.

And especially, I think there was a lot of concern about where does this go? What does the process look like? And that's really helpful to know that the public will have an opportunity to comment on an EA or an EIS or some sort of environmental assessment, as you said, and be able to speak their voice.

The USGS challenged those claims, saying that natural recharge of the aquifer from rain and snow in the desert was between a tenth and a twentieth of what Cadiz and his contractors had proposed.

Despite that, the Interior Department approved the environmental impact statement for Cadiz and offered a right-of-way for a water pipeline across BLM land.

But that projection from the USGS of just how much water was actually going to be able to be pumped from the East Mojave disillusioned the Metropolitan Water District, which decided to end its partnership with Cadiz.

There were lawsuits involved, but basically the economics of it just didn't pencil out for the Met.

In April, the county supervisors approved the merger of the parcels, agreeing with the developers that that merger could proceed under existing zoning without project level CEQA review.

The city of Imperial, which is not to be confused with the county of Imperial, along with the Sierra Club, filed suit to challenge that approach.

In September, a court ruling overturned the lot merger approval and required an Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, which is the CEQA version of the Environmental Impact Statement required by NEPA.

The judge said that the EIR must consider all aspects of the data center's development.

This seems clearly intended to service the data center, but they claim otherwise.

An ongoing point of contention is the use of an Alternative Urban Area-wide Review, AUAR, as a substitute for an Environmental Impact Statement, EIS.

Many residents believe that an EIS is necessary in order to understand the impact of the project.

My impression is that an AUAR is not an appropriate substitute for an EIS in this case.

And then for Logan City, if they convert some of these open canals to covered or lined, we've got some opportunities for maybe some recreational opportunities as well too.

And so Logan City, before my time, decided we would be a partner in sponsoring this project to go through the NRCS and go through this EIS or the Environmental Impact Statement process.

And so we're right there right now.

And so funding was allocated to do the initial designs of the project, but they're just kind of preliminary designs.

We're just coming up with ideas on how to make this all work, get some preliminary costs, and then go through this environmental impact statement.

Well, that's all happened now.

There's been many opportunities for public input.