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Mealey's Water Rights

January 02, 2024
Oregon Appeals Court: State Must Consider Application To Change Water Diversion

SALEM, Ore. — A panel of the Oregon Court of Appeals has affirmed a decision by a state circuit court directing the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) to consider an application to change the point of diversion for water feeding an “off-channel” reservoir, but for a slightly different reason than given by the trial court.
December 12, 2023
Multiplaintiff, Interstate Or Notable Water Rights Cases

New developments in the following multiplaintiff, interstate or notable water rights cases are marked in boldface type.
December 12, 2023
Overrule United States’ Exception To Rio Grande, States Tell Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Texas, New Mexico and Colorado tell the U.S. Supreme Court that it should overrule an exception by the United States to their consent decree resolving a dispute over the Rio Grande Compact, saying the agreement resolves ambiguities, doesn’t preclude the United States from litigating any of its valid claims and imposes no new obligations on the federal government.
December 12, 2023
Texas, Idaho File Amended WOTUS Complaint Against Sackett ‘Conforming Rule’

GALVESTON, Texas — Texas and Idaho have filed a second amended complaint in Texas federal court arguing that a waters of the United States (WOTUS) ruled promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conform to the U.S. Supreme Court’s WOTUS ruling in Michael Sackett, et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency, et al. violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and should be vacated.
December 12, 2023
Oregon Cattlemen Give Up WOTUS Rule Challenge In Oregon Federal Court

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and the United States have stipulated to the voluntary dismissal of the association’s 2019 complaint involving the waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.
December 12, 2023
Washington Federal Judge: Sackett Decision Didn’t Affect CWA Consent Decree

SEATTLE — The U.S. Supreme Court’s adoption of a definition of wetlands for the purposes of the Clean Water Act (CWA) did not constitute a significant change in circumstances that warranted revision of a consent decree entered between the United States, an Indian tribe and two companies over the companies’ alleged illegal discharges of dredged and fill material into protected waters because the definition was previously unchallenged in the case, a Washington federal judge found in denying the companies’ motion to vacate or modify the consent decree.
December 11, 2023
California High Court Denies Review Of Water Contract Repayment Appellate Ruling

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court has denied a petition to review the dismissal of a water contract validation action filed by the Westlands Water District for lack of essential details.
December 11, 2023
24 States File Amended Complaint Challenging Conforming WOTUS Rule

BISMARCK, N.D. — Twenty-four states have filed an amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota asking the court to declare that the latest Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the Clean Water Act and the U.S. Constitution.
December 11, 2023
5th Circuit Cites U.S.-Mexico Water Rio Grande Treaty In Floating Barrier Case

NEW ORLEANS — Texas’ 1,000-foot floating barrier in the middle of the Rio Grande threatens a treaty crucial to allocation of water between the United States and Mexico, a majority of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in part in allowing a lower court’s preliminary injunction against the barrier to resume pending a resolution on the merits.
December 08, 2023
Montana High Court: It’s Too Late To Challenge 1997 Water Adjudication Settlement

HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court has denied an appeal involving a water adjudication claim, agreeing with a water master and the Montana Water Court that the appellant had willingly entered into a stipulated settlement of disputed claims in 1997 and that there is no evidence that any problem was recently discovered.
December 01, 2023
U.S. High Court To Consider Klamath Water Jurisdiction Petition On Jan. 5

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court will consider at its Jan. 5 conference a certiorari petition in which the Klamath Irrigation District seeks a writ of mandate to remand to Oregon state court its lawsuit asserting primary jurisdiction over the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s operation of the Klamath Project to maintain minimum river levels to comply with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and to benefit two Native American tribes, according to a Nov. 29 docket entry.
November 30, 2023
California Appeals Court: County Groundwater Agency Covers ‘CEMEX Area’ Of Aquifer

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California appeals court has affirmed a trial court’s ruling that a county groundwater sustainability agency and not a city’s competing agency is authorized to manage the so-called CEMEX area of the 180/400 Foot Aquifer Subbasin of the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).
November 27, 2023
United States Urges Supreme Court To Deny Review Of Klamath Water Suit Removal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States says the U.S. Supreme Court should deny a certiorari petition in which the Klamath Irrigation District seeks a writ of mandate to remand to state court its lawsuit asserting primary jurisdiction over the Bureau of Reclamation’s operation of the Kalmath Project and minimum water levels to comply with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and to benefit two Native American tribes.
November 21, 2023
California Appeals Court: Water District Can’t Intervene In All Coordinated Cases

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California state appeals court has affirmed a lower court’s denial of an attempt by the San Joaquin Tributaries Authority (SJTA) to separately intervene in all cases in a Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding (JCCP) challenging California’s adoption of amendments to the water quality control plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary (Bay/Delta Plan), agreeing that the lower court did not err in denying the authority mandatory or permissive intervention under state law.
November 08, 2023
Multiplaintiff, Interstate Or Notable Water Rights Cases

New developments in the following multiplaintiff, interstate or notable water rights cases are marked in boldface type.
November 07, 2023
Deny Tri-State Rio Grande Consent Decree, United States Urges Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States says the U.S. Supreme Court should deny approval of a consent decree settling Rio Grande water disputes among Texas, New Mexico and Colorado because it would resolve a dispute involving the Rio Grande Compact without the consent of the federal government.
November 07, 2023
Judge Dismisses Tribal Members’ Challenge Of Crow Water Rights Settlement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge has dismissed on the merits a complaint by several Montana Native Americans alleging that a tribal water rights settlement agreement and enacting legislation deprive them of their senior water rights and devalue their properties.
November 07, 2023
BlueTriton Water Bottler Sues California Board Over Order Halting Water Extraction

FRESNO, Calif. — Water bottler BlueTriton Brands Inc. filed a complaint in California court against the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) seeking a writ of administrative mandate for declaratory relief and a finding of inverse condemnation due to the state agency’s recent order to stop groundwater extractions.
November 07, 2023
California Judge Enjoins City From Operating Weirs That Reduce Water For Fish

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A California judge has preliminarily enjoined Bakersfield from operating any weirs in a way that would reduce water on the Kern River to levels that would harm fish downstream.
November 03, 2023
New Mexico Appeals Court: Company Forfeited Water Right By Nonuse

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court ruling that a former potash mining company forfeited its water rights by not putting most of the water to beneficial use for more than 40 years.
November 02, 2023
Oregon Appeals Court: New Water Storage Right Permit Conflicts With Trout Right

SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Court of Appeals on Nov. 1 affirmed a conclusion by the Oregon Water Resources Commission denying a water district’s application for a new water storage right because it conflicted with an existing in-stream water right that benefits cutthroat trout in a creek.
November 02, 2023
Supreme Court Won’t Review 9th Circuit Decision On Water Rights Adjudications

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied an Oregon water district’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which it asked the court to reverse a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that it said gives two Native American tribes “veto” power over state water rights adjudications in the Klamath Basin.
October 26, 2023
Washington State Appeals Panel Says Water Right Relinquished For 5 Years Of Nonuse

SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington state appeals court panel ruled that a landowner lost his water right because he failed to use water on his farm for more than five years.
October 20, 2023
9th Circuit: Lower Court Must Address Sovereign Immunity In Water Rights Case

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appels has reversed a district court’s remand of a water rights case to Nevada state court and ordered the federal trial court to address whether the United States’ sovereign immunity prohibits the plaintiffs from trying their case in state court and applying a water adjudication ruling.
October 16, 2023
Supreme Court Grants Certiorari In 2nd Challenge To Chevron Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 13 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari in a second case challenging the doctrine of Chevron deference and ordered that it be briefed on a schedule allowing argument “in tandem” with a pending case pertaining to the same issue, both of which involve challenges to regulations that require fishing vessels to pay federal monitors.