Statement by Senator Dianne Feinstein
- On the MWD vote against the Cadiz Water Storage Project -
October 7, 2002

"This is the right decision. The Cadiz project may have harmed the Desert and was not in the best interest of the MWD or the State of California. I commend the Board.

As the author of the California Desert Protection Act, I carefully examined the plan for Cadiz to store and sell water from an aquifer under the Mojave Desert.

Based on information from the U.S. Geological Survey and other scientists, I came to the conclusion that the project may have adversely affected the future of the California Desert and it should not be allowed to proceed.

Now that the Board has made its final decision, the MWD should continue to seek out other ways to increase California's water supply in a cost-effective and environmentally sound way without the questions and controversy associated with the Cadiz Project."

###