New Upstream Pit Permitting Rules — Energy Law Insights
PFAS in Focus: Forever-Engineering With Trent Stober, HDR - Reflections on Water Podcast
On-Demand Webinar | Flood or Drought? A Discussion of the Election’s Potential Legislative Impacts on the Water Sector
[WEBINAR] Fairly (or Unfairly?) Traceable: Are Discharges Through Groundwater Subject to the Clean Water Act?
Water Rights with Eric Garner: Prescriptive Rights
Context is Crucial in Examining BLM’s Proposed Rule for Fracking On Federal Land
On January 21, 2026, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) published its Best Management Practices of the Sustainable Management of Groundwater – Land Subsidence (Subsidence BMPs). The press release details the...more
The Court of Appeal affirmed rulings that a water district’s groundwater replenishment charges were unconstitutional “taxes” because the District failed to prove the cost-allocation requirement of Proposition 26’s...more
Federal wildlife officials on Monday denied listing the Western Coast Chinook salmon as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act....more
The Court of Appeal again confirmed that the rights to floodwater captured and stored in an aquifer beneath property were not personal property but rather appurtenant to the land and were transferred with the property during...more
Exxon Mobil last Friday filed suit in federal court challenging two California laws that would require the oil company to report greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the use of its products globally. The 30-page complaint,...more
California law requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to create, promulgate, and update every five years the California Water Plan (Plan). The Plan is intended to provide a comprehensive strategy for the sustainable...more
The California Court of Appeal has ruled that preliminary work can begin on the Delta Conveyance Project, a controversial proposal to build a 14-mile underground tunnel to transport water from Northern California southward....more
Beginning January 1, 2025, the “Making Conservation a California Way of Life” regulatory framework requires urban retail water suppliers — not individual households or businesses — to adopt a series of “urban water use...more
The Court of Appeal confirmed that the rights to floodwater captured and stored in an aquifer beneath property were not personal property but rather appurtenant to the land and were transferred with the property during a...more
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
On March 14, 2025, the Court of Appeal for California’s Fifth Appellate District issued its decision in Sandton Agriculture Investments III v. 4-S Ranch Partners, 2025 S.O.S. 659. That case provided guidance on ownership of...more
The California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) has begun its process to develop a new statewide Urban Stormwater Infiltration Policy. The goal of the proposed new policy is to establish statewide...more
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
In a settlement approved by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board on November 13, the City of Oceanside agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine for two separate spills that sent raw sewage into the Buena Vista Creek...more
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
The time for Newsom to sign or veto bills has now passed. Of the nine bills discussed herein, Newsom signed seven and vetoed two. Please see the update below each bill that discusses its resolution....more
Farmers in southern Tulare County will face greater scrutiny for groundwater pumping after the state placed the region on probation following a lengthy hearing in Sacramento on Tuesday....more
The 2024 legislative session ended on August 31, meaning the legislature passed all bills for this year. All of the bills are currently with Governor Newsom. He has until September 30 to sign or veto any bills. Any bills not...more
A California Superior Court judge ruled last week that Sonoma County must do more to ensure responsible groundwater pumping under the state’s Public Trust Doctrine, which holds that rivers, creeks, and other waterways are...more
A United States District Court (E.D. California) (“Court”) addressed in a July 31st Order a federal question jurisdiction issue arising out of a Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) judicial action. See...more
Climate change threatens to dramatically shrink the amount of water California can deliver over the next 20 years and could significantly reduce supplies available from the State Water Project according to new projections...more
Environment California (“EC”) filed a July 23rd United States District Court (Central District of California) Clean Water Act citizen suit action against the Port of Los Angeles (“Port”) for alleged violations. See case No....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
In an order filed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle denied a private property owner’s effort to enjoin the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers from enforcing their September 2023...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