[VIDEO] The Price of an Aging Infrastructure on the Environment
The Water Values Podcast - How Can We Resolve Water Conflicts?
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
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
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
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
Legislators in Washington State introduced parallel bills that would authorize funding for two water adjudications in Washington State. A water rights adjudication effectively brings all water users in a watershed into one...more
Over the past decade, proponents of an effort to remove four dams on the lower Klamath River have hit a series of roadblocks. The most recent came on July 16, 2020, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted...more
Under Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 543A.305, a “water right associated with [a] hydroelectric project” converts to a permanent in-stream water right “[f]ive years after the use of water under [the] hydroelectric water right...more
Paul Weiland recently participated in the 2020 California Water Law Symposium, held at San Francisco's Golden Gate University School of Law. The theme of this year's Symposium was "Federalism & Water: Shifts in State/Federal...more
Telecommunications - AB 1699 Telecommunications: mobile Internet service providers: first response agencies: emergencies - Fire officials experienced a significant data transmission slowdown of their mobile emergency...more
On August 30, 2019, the Colville Tribe submitted a request to the Washington State Department of Ecology seeking to quantify the Tribes’ water rights through general stream adjudications. A general stream adjudication is a...more
Here’s one for the history buffs! A quiet feud between the State of New York and the Town of Oyster Bay over the Town’s underwater boundary has been resolved (for now) in Murphy v. Town of Oyster Bay, — N.Y.S.3d —-, 2019 WL...more
This article discusses a specific aspect of the Utah Lake/Jordan River General Water Rights Adjudication: options if you miss the deadline for filing a Statement of Water User’s Claim and your water rights end up on the List...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
While California’s drought state-of-emergency has been lifted, legal battles aimed at limiting groundwater extractions linger....more
The Klamath River Renewal Corporation (the “corporation”) recently submitted a plan for the removal of four dams on the lower Klamath River to the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC). ...more
The South Carolina Supreme Court (“Court”) addressed in a May 30th opinion a judicial challenge to the South Carolina Surface Water Withdrawal, Permitting, Use, and Reporting Act (“Act”). See Jowers v. South Carolina Dept. of...more
In late May 2018, the Klamath Tribes filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California seeking to shut down the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Irrigation Project, which supplies...more
With the release of California’s budget trailer bill came proposed new legislation that would add an Administrative Hearing Office within the State Water Resources Control Board....more
This checklist provides a summary of state water right reporting requirements and applicable deadlines for users of surface or groundwater in California for calendar year 2018. If you have questions about the information...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
The Michigan Court of Appeals addressed in a January 16th opinion an action in which the Plaintiff sought to limit the rights of non-riparian lot owners to maintain a dock at the end of a dedicated private road abutting a...more
California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed AB 313, which would have shifted the hearing process for certain water rights enforcement actions to a new Water Rights Division within the Office of Administrative Hearings. However, his...more