Two environmental lawyers are demanding Stanislaus County officials immediately stop issuing new water well drilling permits without first reviewing what impacts they could have on the environment.
They also want the county to revoke 61 large irrigation wells approved during the past five months.
If Stanislaus officials refuse, the lawyers warn they will file a lawsuit within two weeks, claiming the county has violated provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act.
The lawyers, Jerry Cadagan of Sonora and Thomas N. Lippe of San Francisco, say they are representing Protecting Our Water and Environmental Resources, a group Cadagan recently founded.
They said they fear all the new Stanislaus wells may be causing “serious overdraft of the aquifer, possibly resulting in dry wells for existing well owners; adverse effects on flows in the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers, including downstream water quality issues; reduction of levels in surface storage facilities (like Woodward Reservoir and) contamination of groundwater supplies.”
Some of the farmers named in the complaint consider their charges frivolous and their demands unrealistic.
“These wells already have been drilled and they’re operating,” said Wendell Naraghi, whose Naraghi Farms has five well permits – three near Oakdale, two near Denair – on the target list. “The trees already are planted.”
Naraghi said the lawyers may not understand that farmers must order their nut trees two or three years in advance of planting, and obtaining the well drilling permit is one of the last stages in a long process of developing new orchards. He said he already has spent about $140,000 to drill each well, and he followed all of the county’s rules…
Recent Comments