[VIDEO] The Price of an Aging Infrastructure on the Environment
The Water Values Podcast - How Can We Resolve Water Conflicts?
On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals of Virginia issued a significant decision concerning easements in Barr, et al. v. Garten Development, LLC. The Court held that where a deed that released “easements” conveyed by a previous...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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will lead an investigation into the Tijuana-U.S. cross-border sewage crisis, measuring the potential health impacts on people who live and work near where millions of gallons of...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
Water rights holders in Whatcom County and northern Skagit County will be affected by a court adjudication case filed in May 2024 by the Washington State Department of Ecology ("Ecology"). Ecology filed this general water...more
What Happened? On June 21, 2024, the Supreme Court narrowly held that three states could not enter a consent decree to settle their interstate water dispute without the support of the intervening federal government. The...more
With the current term of the Supreme Court soon to end, the run of decisions in which the Justices have been unanimous or close to it is being displaced by the “tougher” ones, in which there is substantial disagreement....more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued five decisions today: United States v. Rahimi, No. 22-915: This Second Amendment case addresses the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), which makes it a crime for an...more
Despite California’s record high levels of precipitation in 2023, water scarcity remains a pressing issue. Governments have turned to using the power of eminent domain to acquire investor-owned utilities in an effort to...more
On May 23, 2024, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a published opinion in Natural Resources Defense Council et al. v. Debra Haaland et al. (Case No. 21-15163) (“NRDC v. Haaland”) rejecting the plaintiffs’ challenges...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
Update: The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) officially kicked off the Nooksack adjudication, a legal process that will determine the priority of water rights in Whatcom County and portions of Skagit County....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
The Alberta government has identified, and is taking proactive steps to address, the looming threat of a severe drought this year. As negotiations unfold to secure water-sharing agreements, a cascade of legal and economic...more
The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) announced it will begin an adjudication of water rights in Water Resources Inventory Area 1 (WRIA1), including the Nooksack River system, in April 2024. An adjudication is the...more
B&D is pleased to present the final installment of our 2024 Litigation Look Ahead series. (Read part five covering the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act here.) In this edition, our...more
Although historically viewed as a waste, produced water that comes to the surface as part of the oil and gas production stream now potentially has value. Produced water can be recycled and reused as part of hydraulic...more
An ongoing, historic drought in California has compelled California state legislators to rethink the state’s long-standing treatment of water rights. While the recent heavy snowpack and wet spring and summer have alleviated...more
The power to enforce a rule intended to slash air pollution associated with warehouses could one day rest in the hands of citizens who are willing to go to federal court. Several Inland members of Congress recently signed a...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
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
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
A coalition of environmental groups filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against the State of Utah’s Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, and Division of Water Rights (the Agencies), alleging...more
On February 27, 2023, in a much anticipated decision, California’s Second District Court of Appeal overruled the trial court by determining that the State Water Resources Control Board (“State Water Board”) did not violate...more