"In a report, the Interior Department’s internal watchdog said it found no evidence that David Bernhardt violated lobbying laws with a California water client".
"The Interior Department’s internal watchdog on Thursday said it found no evidence that former secretary David Bernhardt violated lobbying laws regarding a former client, a California water district that is the nation’s largest agricultural water supplier, although he continued to advise them on legislative matters on occasion after he stopped being their lobbyist.
The former client, the Westlands Water District, reached a deal with the federal government in 2020 — while Bernhardt was interior secretary — to get permanent access to irrigation water for farmers and rural communities along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
Last fall, a California judge declined to validate the contract, which has been criticized by environmentalists as a sweetheart deal favoring corporate agriculture in the drought-parched state."
Joshua Partlow reports for the Washington Post May 19, 2022.
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