04 Sep CALIFORNIA SENATE BILL 120 DEFEATED
Bill aiming to block the Cadiz Water Project held in committee and will not become law
LOS ANGELES, CA –Cadiz Inc. [NASDAQ:CDZI] (“Cadiz”, the “Company”), announced today that on Friday, August 31, 2018, California Senate Bill 120 (Roth, D-Riverside) (“SB 120”) was held in the Senate’s Appropriations Committee by a vote of 7-0 just prior to the conclusion of the 2017-2018 session. As a result, SB 120, a “gut-and-amend” bill that proponents attempted to move through the legislature in just 5 days, will not become a law of the State of California.
We believe SB 120 was bad public policy that put California infrastructure development and jobs at risk, undermined California’s environmental laws and removed certainty from the state’s already rigorous permitting process. More than 70 organizations representing labor, business, water, transportation, and civic interests registered their opposition to SB 120 in less than one week.
SB 120 was targeted specifically at the Cadiz Water Project, in an attempt, we believe, by project opponents to stop its advancement via a misinformation campaign that relied on a litany of discredited myths and ignored the development history of the Project.
For nearly a decade, the Project, which will conserve 50,000 acre-feet per year at our private property and make it available for municipal uses in Southern California, has been reviewed by public agencies and the Courts in accordance with the law. More than 130 local, state and federal agencies were invited to participate in the Project’s review. Thousands of people commented and testified. The conclusions of the open, transparent environmental review process – including findings that the Project can be operated sustainably – were validated by independent justices in 12 separate court cases.
The company has been focused for 30 years on sustainable management of desert resources as evidenced by our organic farming, 7,500-acre desert tortoise preserve, and our Court-verified water project. We remain committed to this sustainable business objective in all we do.