Pardee expansion plan faces suit

Three conservation groups sued the East Bay Municipal Utility District on Thursday, aiming to halt an expansion of Pardee Reservoir that could flood up to a mile and a half of the Mokelumne River.

The lawsuit alleges that the expansion project’s environmental impact report violates the California Environmental Quality Act by failing to fully analyze and mitigate the impacts of the plan on Amador and Calaveras counties.

The lawsuit was filed in Amador County Superior Court on Nov. 19 by the Foothill Conservancy, Friends of the River and California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
  

Three of the four expansion plans would destroy the 1912 Middle Bar Bridge, which connects the hamlet of Paloma to Jackson. It would also, opponents said, destroy an area renowned for its whitewater rafting, fishing, beauty and rich wildlife.

The same three options would add between 92,000 and 126,000 acre-feet of storage capacity to the reservoir, according to the plan.
Officials from EBMUD and other water districts say adding capacity is vital for meeting water needs in the coming years. The reservoir currently holds 172,000 acre-feet. A acre-foot is the amount of water used by an average suburban household in a year — 325,851 gallons.

“The Mokelumne River is not the property of East Bay MUD, and they are not above the law,” said Chris Wright, Foothill Conservancy executive director, in a statement. “We will do what it takes to protect this special river for communities, people, fish, and wildlife.”

Wright said it is the second lawsuit the group has filed in its 20-year history. The nonprofit is shouldering all legal costs.
The EIR the suit wishes to overturn also covers EBMUD’s Water Supply Management Program 2040, which guides the district’s policy and expansion for the next 30 years.

The document was approved in a 4-2 vote by the EBMUD board at its regular meeting Oct.13, despite strenuous opposition from a variety of conservation groups, including the Foothill Conservancy.