On December 21, 2023, I published a post on the Center for California Water Resources Policy and Management’s DeltaCurrents blog discussing integration of resource optimization into endangered species policy to improve...more
12/28/2023
/ California ,
Critical Habitat ,
Endangered Species ,
Environmental Policies ,
Habitat Conservation Plan ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
Water ,
Water Conservation ,
Water Resources Facilities ,
Water Supplies ,
Wildlife Protection
Recently, I authored a post for DeltaCurrents, the Center for California Water Resources Policy and Management's blog. The focus of the piece is on the ways in which science can play a role in the success of the so-called...more
Last Friday, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California issued an order on competing motions in the coordinated cases challenging the 2019 biological opinions (BiOps) that govern operation of California’s...more
The State of California recently sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue to the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior and concurrently filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California...more
2/27/2020
/ Central Valley ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Infrastructure ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Natural Resources ,
Notice of Intent ,
Secretary of Commerce ,
Secretary of the Interior ,
State and Local Government ,
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Water Quality Control Boards ,
Water Resources Control Board ,
Water Supplies
On February 19, 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued a Record of Decision (ROD) on the reinitiation of consultation on the coordinated long-term operations of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project. At the...more
2/26/2020
/ Bureau of Reclamation ,
Central Valley ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Governor Newsom ,
Groundwater Management Plan ,
State and Local Government ,
State Water Project ,
Trump Administration ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
Water ,
Water Conservation ,
Water Supplies
On November 21, 2019, the California Secretary for Natural Resources announced California’s decision to sue the federal government over its biological opinions for continuing operations of the California State Water Project...more
On November 17, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition for writ of certiorari filed by Glenn Colusa Irrigation District and others seeking to overturn a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit...more
As we reported here, on October 6, 2014, a number of public water agencies and other entities that represent agricultural and municipal water users in California filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme...more
On July 30, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the issuance of a jurisdictional determination (JD) by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is not a final agency action subject to...more
In The Aransas Project v. Shaw, the Fifth Circuit reversed a lower court’s finding that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality violated section 9 of the Endangered Species Act through its combined actions and inactions...more
In 2007, Mingo Logan Coal Company received a Clean Water Act permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to discharge dredged or fill material from a mountain top coal mine in West Virginia into three...more
In a ruling that adds to the complexity of the federal regulatory landscape, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held that the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") has the authority to...more
On March 14, 2013, the State of California announced that it has released the first 4 of 12 chapters of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). California plans to release the next three chapters on March 27, and the...more
Recently, House Representatives John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA), Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton, CA), Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento, CA), George Miller (D-Martinez, CA), and Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena, CA) introduced H.R. 6484...more