FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
L
December 17, 2025

Contact:
Olivia Tanager, 504-400-3113, [email protected]

Sierra Club Files Lawsuit Against Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) for Degrading Biodiversity in the Owens Valley

BISHOP, CA – The Sierra Club, joined by Friends of the Inyo, and the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission, filed a lawsuit today against Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). The legal action directs them to comply with their obligations under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to revegetate abandoned agricultural lands in the Laws area as part of the 2003 Laws Irrigation Project.

A large portion of the City of Los Angeles’ water comes from the Eastern Sierra. Beginning in 1997, LADWP made a series of commitments to mitigate the harms that came from their groundwater pumping in the Owens Valley. By pumping and exporting water, significant parts of the valley had dried up and become weedy and sources of dust. These mitigation projects were intended to revegetate barren areas, suppress dust, and restore vital ecosystems in the Owens Valley. The revegetation mitigation projects are important for restoring a variety of habitats and biodiversity.

In 2023, the Sierra Club initiated a series of meetings with the 1997 MOU Parties (LADWP, Inyo County, Owens Valley Committee, Sierra Club, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and California State Lands Commission) to review the status of over 40 mitigation projects. LADWP has declared that a majority of these mitigation projects have met their goals. However, the revegetation projects, such as those at Laws, have been the most difficult to complete and LADWP agrees that six have not yet met their goals, even after more than 20 years.

The Laws revegetation projects at issue here are only some of the mitigation measures that LADWP is obligated to execute throughout the Owens Valley.

“We are asking LADWP to do better, to bring back some richness that was once throughout the Owens Valley.” said Lynn Boulton, Conservation Chair for the Range of Light Group of the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter. “This and other failed mitigation projects like Five Bridges are examples of how mitigation looks good on paper, but it rarely produces the promised result.”

“LADWP started the Laws Irrigation Project in 2003 with a commitment in their Mitigated Negative Declaration to revegetate abandoned irrigated pastures in the Laws area by 2013,” said Mark Bagley, Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter member, and 1997 MOU Party Representative. “For the past two years Sierra Club and others have been meeting with LADWP and expressing our concerns that the Laws revegetation projects were not properly implemented and have not been successfully completed. LADWP has disregarded our concerns, so we have been forced to ask the Court to order LADWP to live up to their obligations under the California Environmental Quality Act.”