The city of Fresno, California, is asking the Supreme Court to weigh in on its long-running battle with the Bureau of Reclamation over the agency’s decision to halt water deliveries during a multiyear drought, as local leaders and other plaintiffs seek $350 million to repay the fair market value of the lost water.
The city, along with more than a dozen irrigation districts and private landowners, is asking the Supreme Court to accept a writ of certiorari and review its case, which centers on the the federal government’s decision to curtail water deliveries in 2014.
“The Bureau of Reclamation decided to leave 15,000 California growers in the dust,” attorney Lawrence Ebner, who is representing Fresno and other plaintiffs, said in a statement.
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has twice rejected Fresno’s lawsuit, first dismissing arguments in 2020 that Reclamation violated the plaintiff’s constitutional property rights — a “taking” without compensation — and then by rejecting claims in 2022 the federal government breached its contracts when it did not deliver flows.
