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
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
A report published last week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that the former Exide Technologies battery recycling plant and surrounding properties in southeast Los Angeles County qualify for...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
NJDEP is tasked with a multitude of responsibilities including overseeing statewide environmental governance through the divisions of Water Resource Management, Air Quality Energy and Materials Sustainability, Contaminated...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today designated two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that have been used in cookware, carpets, and firefighting foams as hazardous substances, an action...more
Like much of the western and southwestern U.S., California has experienced drought conditions on and off for decades. Fortunately, the regulatory landscape is starting to catch up with water treatment technology, paving the...more
A lawsuit challenging the federal government’s interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s latest ruling in Sackett v. EPA on waters of the United States, or WOTUS, was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of...more
On March 12, 2024, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) announced updates to the “Make Conservation a California Way of Life” framework that is based on SB 606 and AB 1668 from 2018. The changes seek to...more
The California Department of Conservation last Friday released a proposal to stop issuing permits for well stimulation treatments, commonly known as fracking. Most fracking operations in California are carried out in oil...more
State and federal officials move forward plans and policies for water conservation, conveyance, and climate resilience. The winter of 2022-23 brought historic levels of precipitation to California after years of deep...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
A San Jerardo cooperative in the Salinas area, together with environmental organizations, have sued the state, demanding stricter rules to govern the amount of fertilizer farmers can use. They allege that nitrate...more
If there is one truism in California water, it is that there is not enough of it. In part to try to help address that issue, on December 19, 2023, the California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) adopted...more
A group of 18 California children – ranging in ages from 8 to 17 – has filed a new constitutional climate case in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...more
The future of California water storage reached a major milestone on Thursday with the finalization of plans for the Sites Reservoir in Northern California. The reservoir would be the second largest off-stream reservoir in the...more
The California 2023 Legislative Session ended on September 14, 2023 and presented Governor Gavin Newsom with several important changes to California’s water-related statutes. Newsom had until October 14, 2023 to sign all...more
On October 8, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 389 (“SB 389”), which amended § 1051 of the Water Code to expand the investigatory authority of the State Water Resources Control Board (“Water Board”)....more
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
Governor Gavin Newsom signed more than a dozen significant environmental bills over the weekend, including a first-in-the-nation law requiring corporations doing business in California with more than $1 billion a year in...more
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
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) on Tuesday released a new rule that reduces the number of federally protected waters by more than half following a Supreme Court...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that it would investigate the California State Water Resources Control Board (Board) after some Native American tribes and environmental groups complained the...more
The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) is accepting public comment through July 28 on new recommendations to expedite permits for seawater desalination plants in the state....more
Publication of the Water Resources Infrastructure NPS marks a milestone for water infrastructure projects as it is the first NPS for water resources pursuant to the 2008 Act, coming 15 years after the regime’s creation. First...more