Judge declines to block All American Canal proposal

From the San Diego Union Tribune, via B&C:

In a case with implications across the arid West and into Mexico, a federal judge has refused to block a controversial water conservation plan aimed at providing San Diego with a vast new supply from the Imperial Valley.

The ruling this week by Nevada federal Judge Philip Pro lifts a potential legal hurdle to the $251 million project that involves building a lined 23-mile section of the All-American Canal near the Mexicali border. The project could save 56,000 acre feet of water – enough for about 112,000 households – from seeping into the ground every year. But, in doing so, Mexican farmers will lose that groundwater they have counted on for decades.

“This is a battle for the future of our city, of our region – and today's ruling only strengthens our resolve to halt the canal project,” said Juan Ignacio Guajardo, a member of a business group called Consejo de Desarollo Económico de Mexicali.

Describing many of the claims of damage as “speculative,” Pro's order denies a petition by two U.S. environmental organizations and the Mexicali business group to block the project.