Mealey's Water Rights
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March 09, 2021
9th Circuit: Court Erred In Staying U.S. CEQA Claim Against Water Board
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 24 said a district court abused its discretion in partially staying the United States’ lawsuit against the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) because there is little evidence that the government was forum-shopping when it filed a parallel lawsuit in California state court.
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March 09, 2021
Nevada Supreme Court Hears Chief Justice’s Petition For Possible State Water Court
CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada Supreme Court on March 2 conducted a hearing on a petition by the court’s chief justice to consider creation of a commission to study the adjudication of water law cases in Nevada courts.
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March 09, 2021
10th Circuit Vacates Injunction Against Trump-Era Clean Water Rule
DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 2 vacated a federal district court’s preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule: Definition of Waters of the United States, 85 Fed. Reg. 22,250, Apr. 21, 2020, (the 2020 Rule pr NWPR), saying the lower court abused its discretion by finding that the Trump administration’s version of the Clean Water Rule threatened irreparable harm to the State of Colorado.
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March 04, 2021
Special Master Lists Questions For Hearing In Rio Grande High Court Water Case
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A federal circuit court judge sitting as a U.S. Supreme Court special master in the Texas-New Mexico interstate water dispute on March 2 issued an order outlining questions he wants the parties to address during a March 9 hearing on whether the United States should be allowed to intervene in a Texas-New Mexico-Colorado water dispute and, if so, to what extent.
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February 22, 2021
Supreme Court Justices: Is Georgia The Sole Cause Of Florida’s Border Water Woes?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Counsel for Florida and Georgia faced questions Feb. 22 from U.S. Supreme Court justices about Florida’s claims that Georgia is using too much water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin, which the two states share.
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February 10, 2021
President Biden Revokes President Trump’s Clean Water Rule In Day 1 Order
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On the day of his inauguration, President Joseph R. Biden on Jan. 20 issued an executive order that revoked former President Donald Trump’s February 2017 executive order for a review of the Waters of the United States Rule (WOTUS), also known as the Clean Water Rule.
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February 09, 2021
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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February 09, 2021
Abeyance, Stays Sought In 5 Clean Water Rule Cases Pending Biden EPA Review
Federal judges in five lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s 2020 Clean Water Rule on Feb. 1 through 5 ordered the cases held in abeyance or otherwise stayed pending a Biden administration review of “many rules promulgated in the last four years.”
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February 09, 2021
Audubon Seeks Court Order To Force State, Federal Enforcement Of Water Right
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Audubon of Kansas on Jan. 15 filed a mandamus action in Kansas federal court seeking to have the court order the U.S. Interior Department, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Kansas Agriculture Department to enforce the Fish and Wildlife Service’s senior water right for a national wildlife refuge against junior water rights holders that use groundwater for irrigation.
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February 09, 2021
Colorado Supreme Court Reverses Court Ruling On Ditch Water Source
DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court on Jan. 25 reversed a state water court ruling about the source of water in an irrigation ditch, saying the judge ignored evidence from a 1933 court decree and instead relied on a 1936 aerial photograph and evidence that was extrinsic to the 1933 proceeding.
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February 09, 2021
9th Circuit: County Can Pursue Alternate Remedies For Additional Water For Lake
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 28 said a Nevada county may pursue a public trust claim as long as it does not involve the reallocation of water that was adjudicated in a 1936 decree.
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February 08, 2021
California Judge: San Diego Is Prevailing Party In Wheeling Suit For Fees, Costs
SAN FRANCISCO — A California trial court judge on Jan. 13 determined that the San Diego County Water Authority “obtained greater relief” in its water wheeling lawsuit against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and is thus the prevailing party and entitled to fees and costs under a contract and under state law.
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February 08, 2021
Federal Claims Judge Grants Partial Summary Judgment In Water Takings Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal claims court judge on Jan. 14 granted partial summary judgment for the United States in an alleged water takings lawsuit filed by 15 water project customers, finding that because the plaintiffs’ contract is with a water district and not the United States, there is no privity that allows them to sue the United States.
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February 04, 2021
Montana Supreme Court Affirms Water Court’s Fixation Of Water Diversion Point
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court on Feb. 2 denied a family’s appeal of a state water court ruling fixing the diversion point for water rights of an adjoining neighbor, finding that there was substantial evidence to back the court’s decision.
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January 12, 2021
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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January 12, 2021
California Water Company Asks U.S. High Court To Review Water Curtailment Actions
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California water company on Dec. 22 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on whether the state government could invoke emergency “quasi-legislative” powers to curtail the company’s historic use of water from a creek because the state deemed the water use “unreasonable.”
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January 12, 2021
2 Plaintiffs Oppose Dismissal Of Clean Water Rule Suit, Citing Arbitrary Behavior
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Two plaintiffs on Dec. 9 opposed the United States’ cross-motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s Clean Water Rule, arguing that they have standing to bring their suit and that the government’s adoption of the final rule is “arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion.”
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January 12, 2021
Tribe’s Water Contract Conversion Suit Transferred To 2nd California Federal Court
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in northern California on Dec. 21 granted a motion by the United States to transfer a lawsuit filed by a Native American tribe challenging the conversion of water contracts into “repayment contracts” to another federal court where two similar cases are pending.
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January 12, 2021
Colorado Federal Judge Denies Challenge Involving ‘Firming’ Water Project
DENVER — A Colorado federal judge on Dec. 10 denied a petition by seven environmental groups that a federal environmental review of a water project violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Clean Water Act.
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January 12, 2021
California Appeals Court Affirms Ruling In Antelope Valley Adjudication
FRESNO, Calif. — A California appeals court panel on Dec. 9 affirmed an adjudication court’s ruling on a water district’s denial of water rights in in the Antelope Valley water basin and limitations on the amount of water it could export to customers outside the valley.
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January 12, 2021
Oregon Appeals Court Reverses Vacating Of State Agency’s Water Curtailment Order
SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Court of Appeals on Dec. 30 reversed a trial court order vacating a state water curtailment order, saying that the court lacked jurisdiction and that the issue is covered by an agreement among parties and that is in litigation in another state court that is reviewing the Klamath River Basin adjudication.
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January 07, 2021
U.S. High Court To Hear Arguments Feb. 22 In Florida-Georgia Water Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 31 scheduled a hearing for Feb. 22 to hear Florida’s exceptions to a special master’s recommendation that the high court deny equitable apportionment of water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin that Florida shares with Georgia.
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December 21, 2020
10th Circuit Panel Denies Rehearing In Tribal Aboriginal Water Rights Case
DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 18 declined to rehear its finding in a divided opinion that three Native American tribes still possess their aboriginal water rights in the Jemez River in New Mexico because Spain never acted affirmatively to extinguish the rights when it held sovereignty over the land in the 1500s (United States, et al. v. Tom Abousleman, et al., Nos. 18-2164, 18-2167, 10th Cir.).
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December 14, 2020
Supreme Court Backs Water Evaporation Ruling In Texas- New Mexico Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a near-majority vote, the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 14 denied a motion by Texas to review a river master’s award of a credit to New Mexico for evaporated reservoir water in a six-year-old interstate water dispute between the neighboring states (Texas v. New Mexico, No. 65, Orig., U.S. Sup.).
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December 09, 2020
Multiplaintiff, Interstate Or Notable Water Rights Cases
New developments in the following multiplaintiff, interstate or notable water rights cases are marked in boldface type.