Imperial County to serve federal government in new QSA law suit
By: Elizabeth Varin

The county of Imperial has filed a federal lawsuit against federal agencies and is now serving them with the paperwork related to the Quantification Settlement Agreement.

The lawsuit, filed Oct. 8, is separate from one in Superior Court in Sacramento.

The QSA is a collection of agreements that transfers conserved agricultural water from the Imperial Irrigation District to the San Diego County Water Authority, the Metropolitan Water District and the Coachella Valley Water District.

The county and air district are contesting a portion of the QSA agreement, the Colorado River Water Delivery Agreement, saying that the Department of the Interior did not perform a proper “conformity analysis,” said Alene Taber, outside counsel for the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District. This analysis tests whether the agreement conforms to the National Environmental Policy Act.

“We don’t believe the secretary did the appropriate air quality analysis in the first place,” she said.

The county and air district filed their complaint Oct. 8 in the U.S. District Court against the U.S. Department of Interior, its Secretary Ken Salazar, the Bureau of Reclamation and its Commissioner Michael Connor, according to court documents.

Neither spokespersons from the U.S. Department of the Interior and Bureau of Reclamations would comment on the lawsuit as it is ongoing litigation.

Because the deadline to serve documents to the defendants is approaching, the county is serving the papers now, Taber said. Lawyers for the county are going to ask those for the defense for a stay, which would allow the suit to not be prosecuted until a later date.

The county wants to wait until the other QSA lawsuit in Superior Court in Sacramento is finished, she said. The court’s decision is expected soon, and it could be appealed.

On Jan. 14, Superior Court Judge Roland Candee issued a statement upholding a decision made Dec. 10 to tentatively invalidate the QSA. A final decision is expected soon.

That case is not the same as the one that the county is serving federal agencies now, said County Counsel Michael Rood. It is the same basic issue, though.

Water that is now transferred to the coast was once used to irrigate fields, according to a county press release. Runoff from the fields is a primary source of water for the Salton Sea.

With less water going into the sea, exposed shorelines cause more dust, which can cause health problems, according to the release.

“The federal lawsuit is not only necessary to protect the health of Imperial County residents, but also the viability of the county’s economy,” Rood wrote in the press release.

If air pollution from the Salton Sea is not controlled, the county may have to deal with more air quality regulations, he wrote. This would negatively affect the economy as businesses would have to “make up for the federal government’s failure to comply with its own laws and regulations.”

Currently there are no meetings scheduled between defense and plaintiffs lawyers to discuss putting a hold on the suit, Rood said. The Department of the Interior and other groups will have 20 days to respond after they are served.

The Imperial Irrigation District, along with the other three water districts involved in the QSA, are named as real parties of interest, though they are not the intended focus of the suit, according to the press release.

David Osias, one of the litigation lawyers representing IID, said he doesn’t expect this case to have much of an effect on IID.

“The lawsuit is at its very, very early inception,” he said, adding that there would be no immediate effect for IID.

Long-term, there shouldn’t be any effects either because Osias said he expects the plaintiffs to lose. The county’s claims are not substantiated.

The complaint hasn’t even been served yet, and this lawsuit is going to take a long time, he said.