New developments in the following multiplaintiff, interstate or notable water rights cases are marked in boldface type.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An Oregon water district has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that it says gives two Native American tribes “veto” power over state water rights adjudications in the Klamath Basin.
A California federal judge has asked parties in a waters of the United States (WOTUS) case what bearing the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sackett v. EPA has on the case, and in a separate WOTUS case, two states have asked the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals how it would like to proceed in their appeal now that Sackett is decided.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has dismissed as moot an appeal by eight California community groups that sought to stop the vacatur of a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approval of the reuse of a gas pipeline for water that would potentially benefit their communities.
SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington state appeals court panel on June 6 ruled that a county water board made no showing under a court rule that it needs to preserve witness testimony in a prospective water rights case.
SAN FRANCISCO — In a 2-1 ruling, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 5 said a federal district court did not err by refusing to remand a federal water release lawsuit by the Klamath Irrigation District (KID) against the Bureau of Reclamation to an Oregon court.
SALEM, Ore. — An Oregon irrigation district has petitioned a state trial court to declare unlawful an order by the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) that prohibits the district from delivering any water stored in its own reservoir to its patrons.
PHOENIX — An Arizona Native American tribe and two state water districts have stipulated to dismissal of the tribe’s water quality complaint after the parties say they negotiated a settlement.
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs on June 1 announced during a press conference that due to a projected groundwater shortfall over the next 100 years, the Arizona Department of Water Resources has been ordered to pause approval of new “assured water determinations” that rely on groundwater.
DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a federal district court that a lawsuit by Audubon of Kansas seeking to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to enforce a federal water right on a large Kansas wildlife refuge is moot because of a subsequent development in a decades-long dispute with the state and a water district.
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court affirmed a trial court’s reversal of the approval of a company’s water use permit, agreeing that the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) erred in granting the company’s application.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an opinion and three concurring opinions, the U.S. Supreme Court on May 25 adopted the court’s plurality opinion in the 2006 Rapanos case to define the waters of the United States (WOTUS) for purposes of enforcing the Clean Water Act.
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has granted a motion by Kentucky and business plaintiffs to enjoin the Biden administration’s waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, saying the plaintiffs have made sufficient general allegations of injury, have shown a reasonable chance of injury to establish standing and are “likely to prevail” in their challenge to the validity of the rule.
New developments in the following multiplaintiff, interstate or notable water rights cases are marked in boldface type.
LOS ANGELES — A California groundwater management agency is opposing a lawsuit by a city challenging an ordinance allocating groundwater in the Oxnard and Pleasant Valley groundwater basins.
CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) of a state court order holding the federal agency in contempt of a 1934 water rights adjudication and granting property owners access to a national park to perform maintenance on creeks, saying that because the lower court has reserved a final ruling on terms of an injunction, an appeal “is not proper at this time.”
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has clarified that its administrative stay of the “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule applies only in Kentucky while the court considers an injunction and the merits of the case.
SAN FRANCISCO — Federal government agencies and water users in the Klamath Basin in Oregon and California have filed oppositions to a motion for a preliminary injunction enjoining the federal government’s drought-related management of water in Klamath Lake and the Klamath River.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court decision that claims to water rights in the Lower Rio Grande stream system are barred by the doctrine of res judicata, having been the subject of litigation from 1906 to 2021.
DENVER — A unanimous Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that the state engineer had authority to order a cattle feedlot to comply with the engineer’s orders in regard to the feedlot’s use of irrigation water for cattle watering and to require it to comply with terms that would replace water and protect the water rights of other residents.