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California Environmental Law & Policy Update 4.25.25

Governor Gavin Newsom is pushing to lay the groundwork for building a $20-billion water tunnel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta before his term expires, and state water regulators are considering whether to grant a...more

California Environmental Law & Policy Update - Special Water Supply Edition

President Donald Trump on Monday issued a memorandum directing the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the Interior to develop a new plan within 90 days “to route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to...more

From Waves to Wells Seawater Desalination and Coastal Groundwater Basins

Traditional sources of freshwater are dwindling as a result of increased demand, reduced natural replenishment, volatile weather patterns, and extended-duration droughts. Desalination, the industrial-scale removal of salt...more

Special Water Supply Edition: California Environmental Law & Policy Update 10.25.24

California officials have joined a legal effort to restore water to the Kern River after an abrupt shutoff of water dried up the river and killed thousands of fish in Bakersfield....more

Special Water Supply Edition: California Environmental Law & Policy Update 7.19.24

A judge has temporarily blocked a plan by a California state water board to take over monitoring groundwater use in a portion of the crop-rich San Joaquin Valley, according to a copy of the decision obtained on July 16. Kings...more

California Water Board Adopts Direct Potable Reuse Regulations to Increase Water Supply - 2024 Land Use, Environmental & Natural...

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent executive order, calling on state agencies to create a comprehensive Water Resilience Portfolio, has set goals for recycling at least 800,000 acre-feet of water per year by 2030 and...more

Special Water Supply Edition: California Environmental Law & Policy Update 4.12.24

Powerful pumps that supply much of California’s population with water have killed several thousand threatened and endangered fish this year, prompting environmental groups to demand that state and federal agencies take...more

Special Water Supply Edition: California Environmental Law & Policy Update 1.12.24

Top water officials for the seven Colorado River Basin states met in December 2023 at the Colorado River Water Users Association conference to resume negotiating a new compromise for how they will share — and cut back on —...more

Updates on California Water Law: New Legislation and Regulations

The California 2023 Legislative Session ended on September 14, 2023, and presented the Governor with several important changes to California’s water-related statutes. The Governor had until October 14, 2023, to sign all...more

Special Water Supply Edition: California Environmental Law & Policy Update 9.22.23

California legislators have passed a bill articulating the scope of the State Water Resources Control Board’s authority to investigate water rights. Senate Bill 389, which will go to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk for a final...more

Special Water Supply Edition: California Environmental Law & Policy Update - 6.16.23

When ranchers violated an emergency order to stop pumping water from the Shasta River in 2022, state officials fined them $4,000, or roughly $50 each. Now California legislators are weighing a bill that would triple fines for...more

California Water Policy: How Will Water — Or Lack Thereof — Impact Our Economy in the 21st Century?

How does California’s drought — or on the other end of the spectrum, an overabundance of water — impact our economy, infrastructure, and real estate development? David Osias and Barry Epstein, both partners at the law firm...more

2023 Land Use, Environmental, & Natural Resources Update

In last year’s update, we provided an overview of federal and California regulatory actions designed to protect public health and the environment from the impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These actions...more

Special Water Supply Edition: California Environmental Law & Policy Update - 3.17.23

With torrential rains drenching California, state water regulators have endorsed a plan to divert floodwaters from the San Joaquin River to replenish groundwater that has been depleted by heavy agricultural pumping during...more

Special Drought Edition: California Environmental Law & Policy Update - December 2022

In early November, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case brought by the Navajo Nation that could have far-reaching impacts on tribal water rights in the Colorado River Basin....more

Court of Appeal Upholds Decision that State Water Board Lacks Jurisdiction to Curtail Water Use by Pre-1914 Water Rights Holders

On Monday, September 12, 2022, a California Court of Appeal upheld a decision that the State Water Resources Control Board (the “Board”) lacks jurisdictional authority to issue curtailment notices to pre-1914 appropriative...more

Special Drought Edition: California Environmental Law & Policy Update

California legislators reject bill to curb agricultural groundwater pumping - The Bakersfield Californian – September 4 - California lawmakers have rejected proposed legislation seeking to rein in agricultural...more

Special Drought Edition: California Environmental Law & Policy Update - June 2022

As severe drought conditions continue across the western U.S., Allen Matkins will begin publishing a quarterly newsletter focused on recent legal, regulatory, and policy issues impacting water users and suppliers in...more

Drought Continues and Groundwater Regulations Heat Up in California

THE DROUGHT CRISIS - 2021 was the driest year California has experienced in a century. At the end of the water year, spanning October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021, the State received only 11.87 inches of precipitation,...more

2021 Land Use, Environmental & Natural Resources Update

With the end of the first quarter of 2021 approaching, we thought it timely to issue an update on selected recent developments and proposed changes in law and policy touching environmental, land use, and natural resource...more

Groundwater Pumpers Beware: The Public Trust Doctrine is Lurking

The Third District Appellate Court recently issued a long-awaited decision in Environmental Law Foundation vs. State Water Resources Control Board (ELF v. SWRCB). The decision confirms the expansive scope of California's...more

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