Legal Expert: BLM Position on Cadiz “Must Be Set Aside”
Southern California attorney Andrew Henderson has published an article in the prestigious legal publication The Daily Journal that explains why the federal Bureau of Land Management’s position on the Cadiz Water Project’s proposed co-location of its water pipeline in the right-of-way of the Arizona & California Railroad was “mishandled” and “must be set aside” if legally challenged.
The right-of-way of the Arizona & California Railroad near the Cadiz Water Project.
After praising the recent Court of Appeal affirmation of the soundness of the Project’s environmental review, Henderson explains how BLM’s position on the pipeline omits the “straightforward reasoning” of an earlier federal Solicitor General’s opinion on the permitting of infrastructure in railroad rights-of-way. In its place, Henderson wrote, BLM put “a tautology [a pretzel-like logical argument] of the type that courts typically recognize as unhelpful, meaningless and pretentious.” He then quotes an earlier court decision that stated:
Such tautologies may be quite effective when dealing with a stubborn two-year-old, but they are hardly the type of argument conductive to persuading a court of law.
Stubborn two-year-olds rarely prevail in court, and Henderson concludes:
If the project’s proponents are forced to proceed to federal court against BLM, they should have no difficulty showing how cynically BLM staff has acted … and why BLM’s stance in [its] 2015 letter must be set aside.
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