The Energy 202: Interior greenlights desert water project, prompting call for investigation (Washington Post)
Washington PostOctober 18th, 2017
The Mojave Desert Land Trust, a nonprofit conservation group that has opposed the pipeline, echoed that concern.
“He was one of the folks directing operations at the law firm that was lobbying for Cadiz, and that’s a pretty close link,” said Frazier Haney, conservation director at the land trust, adding that “it’s very troubling that Mr. Bernhardt was on the transition team.”
Haney and other environmentalists fear that tapping Mojave groundwater will siphon water from desert springs that sustain bighorn sheep, migratory birds and other wildlife, whose presence in turn underpins the local desert tourism economy driven by the nearby Mojave National Preserve and Mojave Trails National Monument.
With BLM’s letter, Cadiz can use the existing right-of-way permit for a railroad through the desert for the pipeline. Under Obama, BLM and Office of the Solicitor had determined otherwise. Bernhardt was Interior’s solicitor under President George W. Bush.