LA Weekly

David Zahniser of Copley News Service has done some careful math to suggest that if L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gets his way, the new head of the Metropolitan Water District will resurrect a project by Santa Monica-based Cadiz, Inc. for a groundwater-depleting, infrastructure-intensive water storage facility in the sensitive Mojave Desert.

The MWD struck down the Cadiz deal in 2002 partially on the grounds that it would violate the Desert Protection Act. But Assemblyman Richard Katz, whom Villaraigosa favors for the top MWD slot, has been chatting up his students and others about the possible merits of the project. What's more, Cadiz has been suing for breach of contract, and the four board members, appointed by former Mayor James Hahn, who voted against settling have been replaced by Villaraigosa. And then:

Since 1999, Villaraigosa has received at least $61,450 in campaign contributions from Cadiz, its executives and its board of directors, according to Ethics Commission reports. Villaraigosa worked for Cadiz as a consultant in 2001 and 2002, and the company's president, Keith Brackpool, has been one of the mayor's close friends, a political fund-raiser who directed $25,000 toward Villaraigosa's inaugural ball, which raised money for after-school programs.

It's a not an airtight case -- Villaraigosa's office denies any plans to resuscitate the project -- but Zahniser raises some pretty good questions. There's no doubt among environmentalists that Cadiz would drive the already troubled bighorn sheep to the brink of extirpation from the desert, as the groundwater mining would deplete the seeps and springs upon which they depend. And then there's the threat the project poses to the desert tortoise, desert air quality and the pristine open space of the Mojave National Preserve. On top of that, at water costs nearly 50 percent higher than the going rate, it's probably a bad deal.

Then again, bringing up the Cadiz issue could be one way of blocking intense lobbying efforts by Villaraigosa and Katz himself. But this is something watch.

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