San Bernardino County has partnered with a Cadiz Inc. affiliate to establish a public financing authority that could advance the company’s controversial Mojave Desert groundwater pipeline project, which has faced years of environmental opposition and litigation. The San Bernardino Water and Power Authority announced its formation Monday, Oct. 19, following an inaugural meeting on Oct. 5. The county Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the joint powers agreement with Fenner Gap Mutual Water Co., the Cadiz affiliate, on April 21. The partnership marks another potentially significant development for Cadiz, which has spent decades trying to bring its groundwater in the Cadiz and Fenner valleys, near Amboy, to Southern California communities despite fears that pumping could dry up natural springs and damage fragile desert ecosystems.