In 2024, after years of deliberation, California water officials adopted landmark rules that will guide future water use and conservation in the state. The “Making Conservation a California Way of Life” framework went into...more
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
Republican attorneys general from 20 U.S. states sued the Biden administration on Tuesday, seeking to block new reforms to the U.S. environmental review process for major projects such as transmission lines and wind and solar...more
In a new study, researchers from NYU, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Defend Our Health have estimated the costs of plastic exposure on the U.S. healthcare system. In 2018, several common endocrine disruptors, a...more
July 17, 2023 Of Counsel On June 7, 2023, Governor Tina Kotek signed into law SB 718, which provides an additional layer of protection for Oregon water right holders in drought-stricken counties. The new law goes into effect...more
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
Relying on the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to block recently adopted executive branch regulations, Congress on Wednesday approved a resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s planned protections for...more
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and numerous industry associations on Wednesday filed lawsuits in Texas district court over the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ definition of...more
Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday unveiled a 2023 state budget proposal that includes significant cuts to climate investments due to an estimated budget gap of $22.5 billion for the 2023-2024 fiscal year....more
On January 10, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom announced his $297 billion budget proposal for 2023-2024, which includes a $22.5 billion budget deficit. Despite environmental/climate change programs facing $6 billion in cuts,...more
The U.S .Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing tougher standards for fine particle pollution, sometimes known as soot. The proposed regulations announced on Friday would set maximum levels of 9 to 10 micrograms...more
Governor Gavin Newsom announced a revamped water strategy on August 11, 2022, in response to updated projections that California could witness a 10% reduction in water supply by 2040 due to the accelerated impacts of climate...more
As drought conditions intensify throughout the western United States, water allocation and procurement continue to be contentious issues. While the problem is easily identified—demand keeps increasing, but supply is...more
Best Best & Krieger LLP, representing the City of Paso Robles, successfully defended the City in a jury trial that found the water suppliers had acquired prescriptive groundwater rights to the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin...more
On Thursday, May 17th, the California Legislature took a big step forward on the path towards making conservation a California way of life by passing two key bills – Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668 – that, together,...more
The State Water Resources Control Board exceeded its jurisdictional authority under Water Code section 1052 when it issued curtailment notices to pre-1914 and riparian water rights holders, a Santa Clara County Superior Court...more
Everyone is in pursuit of happiness - that elusive state in the human psyche that is not merely a positive mood but a state of well-being with a sense of meaning and deep satisfaction. Happiness is fast becoming a measure for...more
The State Water Resources Control Board released this week a formal proposal to extend the emergency statewide drought regulations that have been in effect for California in various forms since early 2015. Cities, counties,...more
While everyone in California is being asked to conserve water in response to the historic drought, public agencies will be impacted in a different way — how they conduct business....more