And so far, that’s been the case the Trump administration lists the Cadiz project as number fifteen of fifty national emergency and security projects earmarked for federal support as key infrastructure priorities. Thirty-five years after its initial investment-set against a perplexing backdrop of ongoing setbacks, including embattled public relations, shareholder rebellion and constant legal wrangling-it seems that Cadiz Inc.’s land speculation may just pay off if certain political twists of fate continue to work in itsfavor. Cadiz will likely continue with its modest farming enterprise until its ultimate goal, mining and exporting the water below them to distant coastal Southern California municipalities, is fully realized. ![]() In addition, the entity has operated an agricultural “front” growing lemons, grapes and other seasonal crops on 9,600 acres at its Cadiz Valley property. amassed additional properties, including remnant checkerboarded parcels previously owned by the railroad. Instead, it was seemingly there for Cadiz’s taking. Because this groundwater was far from demand and prohibitively expensive to ship, the federal government never apportioned the water out to would-be users. Studies conducted by Liggett confirmed their suspicion-the Cadiz and Fenner Valleys sat upon a vast, untapped groundwater resource. ![]() The two snatched up the bulk of their landholdings in 1983, including all associated water rights, after scouring Landsat imagery of the eastern Mojave Desert in their quest for a hydrologically isolated region that could yield a potential waterborne financial bonanza. A contentious public-private water grab may change that.Ĭadiz Inc.’s two founders are Keith Brackpool a controversial British investor who had previously pleaded guilty to “ criminal charges that included dealing in securities without a license” in the U.K., and Mark Liggett, a corporate mining hydrologist. The scarce surface water that seeps into the aquifer through gravitational forces is part of an unfathomable aqueous process that has occurred, largely uninterrupted, for thousands of years. Below Cadiz Inc.’s holdings lies the Fenner Basin, an ancient aquifer estimated to hold between seventeen million and thirty-four million acre-feet of water, slowly replenished by infrequent rainfall events occurring in the surrounding federally protected desert mountain ranges. ![]() Here, a string of alphabetically named desert towns of Amboy, Bolo, Cadiz, Danby, Essex, Fenner and others were first established as eastern Mojave railroad water stops. Cadiz Inc.’s 34,000-acre property is located just south of the old Santa Fe railroad line between one of the last undeveloped stretches of historic Route 66.
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