Case Explained: CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, ET AL. V. UNITED STATES BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, ET AL.

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-08-17 Docket: 1:20-cv-00706- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, holding that the agency was not required to conduct contract-specific National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review or Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation before converting water service contracts into repayment contracts under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act. The court applied the legal standard that NEPA and Section 7(a)(2) of the ESA require agency action only when the agency possesses discretion to consider environmental effects or take actions to benefit protected species. The panel interpreted 43 U.S.C. § 4011(a) of the WIIN Act as creating a mandatory, nondiscretionary duty for the Bureau to convert water service contracts upon a contractor’s request. The court reasoned that while the statute allows the agency to negotiate terms related to the payment structure, it expressly prohibits the modification of “other water service… contractual rights,” such as water delivery quantities or purposes. Because the WIIN Act stripped the Bureau of any discretion to alter non-payment terms to alleviate environmental harms during the conversion process, the court concluded that the conversion constitutes a nondiscretionary act exempt from specific NEPA and ESA requirements. As a result of this ruling, the Bureau may proceed with converting water service contracts under the WIIN Act without preparing individual environmental impact statements or initiating ESA consultations for each conversion. However, the court clarified that this holding does not exempt the resulting water deliveries from broader environmental review; such deliveries remain subject to programmatic environmental impact statements and biological opinions prepared as part of the ongoing operation of the Central Valley Project. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.