INJUNCTION SOUGHT AGAINST DANGEROUS CANAL PROJECT

Federal Government Admits, but Disregards, Proposed Canal's Increased
Drowning Risks, and Harms to Endangered Species, Air Quality, Sacred Indian Burial Sites, and the Salton Sea

LAS VEGAS (February 2, 2006) - A politically charged lawsuit took a new
turn today as several environmental and civic organizations filed papers seeking an immediate halt to the Federal Government's attempts to build a risky canal project at the US-Mexico border. Newly released information from the government shows that the proposed new All American Canal will cause even more critical water shortages to endangered habitat and farmlands of Mexicali and will eliminate safeguards to prevent drowning deaths, turning it into a "human death trap."

The lawsuit, entitled CDEM v. U.S., Case No. 2:05-cv-0870-PMP (LRL), is a challenge by Mexican andU.S. entities to the construction of a new concrete-lined All American Canal in southeast California. Construction of the new canal is set to begin by June, and would transfer water from the arid and impoverished inland region to affluent coastal San Diego. The last
environmental review of the project took place in 1994, and no open public review or comments have been taken in the intervening 12 years, despite significant changes in the surrounding economy and ecology since that time. Plaintiffs today filed a Motion for Summary Judgment and for a Preliminary Injunction, which describes the government's attempts to circumvent the legal requirements of public participation.

"In its zeal to get more water to San Diego's elite, the Federal Government has turned a blind eye to the project's serious flaws," said the Plaintiffs' lead attorney, R. Gaylord Smith of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith. "Its own records reveal numerous threatened harms - to humans, animals, the
Salton Sea, regional air quality, sacred Native American sites, and to the economic vitality of a growing border community. It's a violation of the law, and of the public's trust, to build this canal without considering all the facts."

Information released by the government hours after the final contracts
for the project were approved in January reveal that serious human, wildlife, and ecological impacts were disregarded by the Federal Government, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. Among the newly discovered information is that the original plans for the canal included "escape routes" to prevent humans and large animals from drowning in the canal. Those escape routes were later scrapped to save money. Dozens of people drown in the All American Canal every year, and increased deaths are likely because the new concrete-walled canal is steeper and the water flows faster. Mexican immigrants are the primary victims.

"It is callous and outrageous," says Dr. Stephanie Pincetl, a UCLA
professor and CURE board member. "The government knows about the dangers, but is actively ignoring them." CDEM's René Acuña, Executive Director of the lead Mexican plaintiff, charged "The U.S. government knows
that the canal is a human death trap, but doesn't care because the people dying are migrants."

Plaintiffs in the case include CDEM, a leading civic and economic development corporation in Mexicali; the City of Calexico; Citizens United for Resources and the Environment (CURE), a California non-profit promoting sustainable development and resource management; and Desert Citizens Against Pollution (DCAP), a community-based non-profit concerned with air quality and environmental justice issues.

Copies of the Injunction Motion are available online at
www.lbbslaw.com.

Download the PDF version here.