The state of California is asserting landownership rights along a proposed pipeline’s path that would help carry groundwater from a remote part of the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County to Orange County and other communities.

The California Lands Commission asked Cadiz Inc. to fill out an application for a lease permit on a 200-foot-wide by 1-mile-long slice on the project’s proposed 43-mile pipeline.

Environmentalists say this is a major development that could derail, or slow down, a project that’s gained steam in the Trump Administration.