Hoopa Valley Tribe Sues Federal Government over Water Diversion Plans

HOOPA, Ca. (KIEM) – The Hoopa Valley Tribe is suing the Federal government over water delivery contracts. The Department of the Interior seeks to sign permanent water contracts which would give agribusinesses in the Central Valley water from the Trinity River Basin to land 400 miles away.

The lawsuit claims that the contracts would violate laws that protect the Trinity River salmon- causing irreparable damages to the ecosystem, and violate the Tribe’s federally reserved rights.

The Fishery Director of the Tribe says that The United States Congress promised the Hupa people that decades of mismanagement would be replaced by fishery and river restoration.