“Despite Bernhardt’s clear conflicts of interest and his involvement in decisions that are currently under investigation for ethics violations, he can’t stop carrying water for his powerful former client,” said Jayson O’Neill, Deputy Director of Western Values Project. Interior spokesperson Carol Danko claimed that Bernhardt played no role in the decision to grant the contract to the controversial water agency, but public trust advocates disagree. The Western Values Project today slammed Bernhardt for his “clear conflicts of interest” in the water deal. "Other water districts have asked the department for similar deals but the bureau has so far only completed Westlands’ contract," according to Roll Call: Reclamation on Friday announced that it has released the Westlands draft repayment contract and has extended the 60-day public comment period until January 8, 2020. Conservation, environmental justice and public interest groups today responded with outrage to an Associated Press report that Secretary David Bernhardt’s Interior Department is poised to award one of the first contracts for federal water “in perpetuity” to the powerful Westlands Water District - Bernhardt’s former lobby client and largest agricultural water district in the U.S.Ī draft Bureau of Reclamation contract dated October 22 reveals that Interior plans to deliver Westlands up to 1.15 million acre-feet of water a year, more than double the water supply used by the City of Los Angeles in 2018.
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