In an opinion originally filed on February 23, and later modified and ordered published on March 22, 2022, the Second District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s judgment invalidating the Kern Water Bank Authority’s...more
The Third Appellate District held that the State Water Resources Control Board has the authority to issue temporary emergency regulations and curtailment orders which establish minimum flow requirements, regulate unreasonable...more
New California Law to Help Achieve SGMA Requirements - Assembly Bill 658, signed into law last week, creates new temporary diversion permits allowing for excess surface water capture during high-flow events. Permits...more
The Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) grants the public a powerful right of access to records in the possession of federal agencies. However, this right of access is subject to nine distinct exemptions. ...more
As in years past, Brownstein’s California Water Group is pleased to provide you with our California Water Rights: Compliance Checklist for 2019. This checklist provides a summary of state water right reporting requirements...more
The New York Supreme Court (Appellate Division) addressed a procedural issue associated with an action seeking damages and injunctive relief involving allegations that defendants were responsible for property damage as a...more
In Friends of the River v. National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California rejected challenges to Army Corps of Engineers and National Marine Fisheries Service decisions...more
On January 8, the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) heard back-to-back oral arguments in two major water rights disputes between states: Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado, and Florida v. Georgia. While the merits...more
The California State Water Board (“Board”) recently adopted what it describes as a “new statewide policy establishing strict environmental standards for cannabis cultivation in order to protect water flows and water quality...more
On August 22, the State Water Resources Control Board (“State Water Board”) held an informational meeting to answer questions and get the public up to speed on California’s new surface water diversion reporting requirements....more
The State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday issued a notice lifting water diversion restrictions for the holders of all senior water rights in the Sacramento-San Joaquin watersheds and Delta. The Board issued the...more
In ONRC Action v. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the Bureau of Reclamation was not required to secure a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES")...more
The fact that California is suffering its fourth year of drought conditions is not a new story — how the State should address this water shortage is the subject of much debate. The California State Water Resources Control...more
In the first of possibly many enforcement actions this year, the State Water Resource Control Board issued a draft cease-and-desist order against West Side Irrigation District in Tracy, Calif., demanding the District curb its...more
Any plans to “substantially divert” water from a river or stream requires notification to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Court of Appeal found. In reversing a lower court’s decision that favored...more
On June 4, 2015, the Court of Appeal ruled that California Fish and Game Code section 1602 (“Section 1602”) unambiguously requires notification to the Department of Fish and Wildlife (“Department”) if an entity or individual...more
Under CEQA, a “trustee agency” is a “state agency having jurisdiction by law over natural resources affected by a project which are held in trust for the people of the State of California” and “[t]he California Department of...more
In a decision that will have ripple effects on water diversions throughout California, the Court of Appeal held that section 1602 of the Fish and Game Code requires notification to the Department of Fish and Wildlife...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
Water users in Siskiyou County have avoided an additional hurdle to exercising their valid water rights, according to the Siskiyou County Superior Court. On December 24, 2012, Judge Karen L. Dixon held that the legislature...more