Mealey's Water Rights
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April 12, 2022
Summary Judgment, Dismissal Of Clean Water Rule Case Appealed By Ohio, Tennessee
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio and Tennessee on April 4 appealed to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals an Ohio federal judge’s March 23 order denying summary judgment on their challenge of the 2015 Clean Water Rule and his dismissal of the states’ seven-year-old lawsuit as moot in light of changed circumstances.
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April 12, 2022
Amici: Don’t Exempt Senior Water Right Holders From Water Curtailment Orders
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Two Native American tribes, a Filipino organization and an environmental group on March 10 filed an amicus curiae brief urging a California appeals court to find that senior irrigators in California’s Sacramento and San Joaquin River watersheds are not exempt from water curtailment orders issued by the California State Water Control Board (SWCB) during a 2015 drought.
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April 12, 2022
Irrigation District Asks 9th Circuit To Order Decision On 1-Year-Old Motion
SAN FRANCISCO — An Oregon irrigation district on March 24 petitioned the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to grant its mandamus petition and order a federal district court to promptly rule on the district’s one-year-old emergency motion for a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) allowing the district to use its rights to water in the Upper Klamath Lake for irrigation.
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April 11, 2022
Judge Issues Split Dismissal Rulings In Water Release Case By Tribes, Fishermen
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on March 24 denied a motion by the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) to dismiss the United States’ cross-claim in a water lawsuit by a Native American tribe, two fishing organizations and an environmental group but granted dismissal of a supplemental complaint.
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April 11, 2022
California Appeals Court: San Diego Prevailed In Water Rate Case, Is Due Costs, Fees
SAN FRANCISCO — A California appeals court on March 17 affirmed a trial court’s ruling that the San Diego County Water Authority (San Diego) is the prevailing party in a long-running water rate case against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan) and is due $326,918 in attorney fees and costs.
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April 11, 2022
Magistrate: Plaintiff Out In Water Case After Not Replacing Suspended Lawyer
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico federal magistrate judge on April 6 recommended dismissing a water users association from a water law enforcement complaint against the United States, New Mexico and a Native American tribe because the association’s lawyer was suspended from practice and it did not respond to an order to retain new counsel by March 16.
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April 08, 2022
Suit To Quiet Title To Water Diversion Point In Federal Area Dismissed As Untimely
BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho federal judge on March 31 dismissed as untimely a quiet title action involving access to a water diversion point inside a federal recreation area.
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April 08, 2022
Interior Secretary Rescinds 1975 Memo Regulating Tribal Water Use Actions
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on April 7 rescinded a 1975 departmental memorandum that told Bureau of Indian Affairs superintendents and directors to disapprove any Native American tribal actions to regulate water use on reservations and that required Interior’s review and approval, according to a press release.
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March 30, 2022
Montana Supreme Court Affirms Group’s Challenge To New Water Law Is Unripe
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court on March 8 affirmed a lower court ruling that a nonprofit group’s challenge to a new state law governing the transfer of private water rights on state school trust lands is unripe.
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March 21, 2022
High Court Passes On Water Rights Dispute Between Washington Tribes, Ranchers
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 21 took the advice of the federal government and denied review of a challenge by ranchers to Native American control over water rights in which the government argued that federal law and court precedents recognize that tribes have sovereign power to control their own lands and waters.
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March 09, 2022
California County, Sierra Club Ask Appeals Court To Affirm Ruling In Lease Case
LOS ANGELES — Mono County and the Sierra Club on Feb. 4 urged a California appeals court to affirm a trial court ruling that a change in leases for Los Angeles-owned land constituted a project that is subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirement for an environmental impact statement.
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March 08, 2022
Multiplaintiff, Interstate Or Notable Water Rights Cases
New developments in the following multiplaintiff, interstate or notable water rights cases are marked in boldface type.
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March 08, 2022
California Water Districts Say Farmer’s Complaint Belongs In State Court
FRESNO, Calif. — Two California water districts on Feb. 28 asked a federal court to dismiss a complaint filed by an almond farmer, saying his dissatisfaction with a decision over a water reuse plan belongs in state court and not federal court.
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March 08, 2022
Environmental Groups Appeal Green River Block Exchange Water Contract
DENVER — Five environmental groups on Feb. 2 asked the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to find that a water contract negotiated between the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Utah violated the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because the agencies failed to take a “hard look” at the contract’s effect on future water supply.
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March 08, 2022
8 ‘Disadvantaged Communities’ Seek To Oppose BLM Pullback From Cadiz Water Project
LOS ANGELES — Eight organizations representing disadvantaged communities on Feb. 4 filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit filed by environmentalist groups challenging the Cadiz water project, saying the United States’ attempt to withdraw federal land right-of-way grants would leave them without representation of their interests in a clean water supply.
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March 08, 2022
Judge Asks If 1 Of The Oldest Clean Water Rule Cases Is Mooted By New Rule
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio federal judge presiding over one of the oldest Clean Water Rule cases on March 4 ordered the parties to file simultaneous briefs addressing whether the lawsuit is moot in light of a December 2021 version of the rule.
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March 08, 2022
Hawaii High Court: Water Permits Need Environmental Review, Beneficial Finding
HONOLULU — The Hawaii Supreme Court on March 3 said the state was not authorized to issue revocable permits for a for-profit company and an irrigation district to use millions of gallons of water in Maui without conducting an environmental assessment and finding that the permits benefitted the state.
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March 07, 2022
Interior Department Allocates $1.7B In Infrastructure Money For Tribal Water Pacts
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior announced Feb. 22 that it will allocate $1.7 billion from the recently approved federal infrastructure bill for outstanding federal payments for Native American water settlements.
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March 07, 2022
California Appeals Court Affirms Breach Of Water Contract But Axes $3M
SAN DIEGO — A California appeals court on Feb. 23 affirmed a verdict that the successor to a developer breached an agreement to provide free, trucked-in water for life to a property owner but said the trial court erred in giving the plaintiff $3 million for future damages since the contract was terminated after a verdict was rendered.
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March 07, 2022
U.S. Supreme Court Takes Up Petition About Tribal Water Rights Control On March 18
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court will consider a petition challenging Native American control over water rights at the court’s March 18 conference, according to a March 2 docket entry.
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March 03, 2022
3 States In Supreme Court Water Case Talk Settlement But Ask For A Trial Date
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Texas, New Mexico and Colorado on March 1 told a U.S. Supreme Court special master that they are continuing to discuss a settlement of their interstate water dispute over distribution of waters of the Rio Grande basin and asked him to set a trial date for mid- to late fall.
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February 25, 2022
California Appeals Court: Environmental Report About Water Project OK Under CEQA
LOS ANGELES — The Second District California Court of Appeal on Feb. 23 reversed a trial court writ of mandamus, finding that an environmental impact report (EIR) prepared for a water storage project is adequate under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
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February 25, 2022
California Appeals Court Says Watermaster Can’t Appeal A Water Decree Decision
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California appeals court on Feb. 23 said a court-appointed watermaster does not have the right to appeal a trial court’s order interpreting a water decree because the watermaster disagrees with the court’s interpretation.
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February 24, 2022
United States: Tribes Have Sovereign Power Over Their Own Water Rights
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Feb. 10 told the U.S. Supreme Court that it should deny review of a challenge involving Native American control over water rights, saying federal law and court precedents recognize that tribes have sovereign power to control their own lands and waters.
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February 24, 2022
Groundwater Leaseholder: Water District Reduced Water Take In Ultra Vires Action
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas company that claims that it has groundwater leases on Feb. 15 sued a local groundwater district alleging that the district wrongly declared that a water permit was invalid and reduced the company’s permit from 28,500 acre-feet of water to zero acre-feet.