Interior clears Calif. project with friends in high places (E&E News)

E&E NewsOctober 17th, 2017The Mojave Desert Land Trust, a conservation group, also criticized BLM."This latest decision by the Department of the Interior makes clear that the federal government is intent on rolling back environmental protections on public lands in the California desert," said Frazier Haney, the group's conservation director. "It is clear that the State Lands Commission lease issue must be addressed before the Cadiz project can move forward."BLM's move is the latest Trump administration shift in effective support of the Cadiz project.On Sept. 1, notably, the Interior solicitor's office withdrew an Obama-era opinion and replaced it with a different conclusion concerning an 1875 law and railroad companies' rights within their rights of way. The new 25-page solicitor's opinion never mentioned the name "Cadiz," though the company had the most immediate stake in it.Read Full Article