Press Release
Save the Mesa has denounced the claim by a Nipomo Community Services District director that a recent lawsuit filed by the 150-member citizens group has caused the NCSD to raise its customers' water rates.
"The suit filed by Save the Mesa is only a fraction of the NCSD's lawsuit activity," said Bill Robinson, president of Save the Mesa, a nonprofit group that seeks to retain the rural quality of life of the Nipomo Mesa and surrounding areas.
Indeed, an analysis of NCSD's legal fees for the past four months (April through August) shows that the funds spent to respond to Save the Mesa's lawsuit are about five percent of the agency's total legal costs.
Robinson spoke out in response to a quote, in the weekly Adobe newspaper, by NCSD director Bob Blair, who said, "If Save the Mesa would stop suing us, we wouldn't have to raise rates." The reporter, April Charlton, used the quote in an Aug. 16 story without verifying its validity or providing Save the Mesa an opportunity to set the record straight.
In fact, the NCSD is currently involved in litigation with more than 750 entities concerning water usage and has been issued a citation by the Department of Health Services for an insufficient water resources plan.
Considering the $750,000 the NCSD has spent on its effort to prescript the water rights of hundreds of local homeowners—which entails lawyer fees of $600 per hour—logic would suggest these actions go much further to cause rates to go up than the suit filed by Save the Mesa.
Also, the story stated that Save the Mesa has filed "several" lawsuits against the NCSD. In fact, Save the Mesa has filed one.
Save the Mesa filed the lawsuit earlier this year when the NCSD approved running a water pipeline more than two miles out of its service district, through agricultural lands, to provide water to a bluff-top development near the Santa Barbara County line. According to established environmental law, such a growth-inducing action requires an environmental impact report, which a majority of NCSD directors voted to forego.
Save the Mesa's lawsuit, Robinson continued, "is a legal right of any citizen in the community." The California Environmental Quality Act, in fact, is only enforced by the public "through litigation or the threat thereof."
"We strongly believe the judge will find that the NCSD has violated existing law and will be required to conduct an EIR before extending a pipeline 2.5 miles out of its current service area," Robinson said, "as well as develop the state-required urban water management plan."
Save the Mesa will continue to advocate for development that is compatible with resources, Robinson concluded, and to challenge unwise growth and planning practices that negatively impact the quality of life for current residents.
To read the text of the opening brief of Save the Mesa's lawsuit, log onto www.savethemesa.org and click on the "Legal Matters" link [http://savethemesa.org/legal.html]. Δ
News
Contact
Save the Mesa
PO Box 1481
Nipomo, CA 93444
805.489.8384
