Mealey's Water Rights : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Water Rights

May 05, 2023
Utah Tribe Sues Rancher In Federal Court In Latest Attempt To Enforce Water Rights

SALT LAKE CITY — After having a tribal court judgment in its favor nullified by two federal courts in a trespass and water rights dispute with a rancher, a Utah Indian tribe has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah seeking declaratory relief and damages on claims that also include theft by conversion and nuisance.
April 19, 2023
Government Responds To Supreme Court Query In Navajo Nation Water Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government does not track how much water the Navajo Nation uses and is not able to determine the tribe’s per capita or total water use, the solicitor general says in a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court in response to a question posed by one of the justices during oral argument in March.
April 18, 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.
April 18, 2023
California Water District Appeals Denial Of Takings Claims Against United States

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California water district has appealed to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals the denial of its takings claim against the United States for diverting water for an endangered fish species.
April 18, 2023
U.S. Supreme Court Review Sought For 9th Circuit Ruling On ESA Water Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three California Central Coast entities have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the federal government has no discretion to divert water from the Twitchell Dam for the benefit of steelhead fish trying to migrate upstream.
April 18, 2023
Biden Vetoes Congress’ Nullification Of WOTUS Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joseph R. Biden has vetoed a joint resolution that attempted to nullify the administration’s “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, saying the rule carefully sets bounds for waters protected by the Clean Water Act and provides “clear rules” to advance infrastructure projects while protecting water quality and public health.
April 18, 2023
Reduced Colorado River Water Releases Are Alternatives In Interior Impact Statement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior has released a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) to potentially revise the operating guidelines for the Glen Canyon and Hoover dams, revisions that could include alternatives to reduced releases from the Glen Canyon Dam.
April 18, 2023
U.S. High Court Denies Review Of Tribal Water Rights Case Affecting Other Users

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition by two individuals and a landowners’ association to review a federal agreement for tribal reserved water rights that the petitioners say subjects their water rights to federal enforcement.
April 18, 2023
Kentucky Federal Judge Weighs Injunction For WOTUS Rule After Initial Denial

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge on April 17 took under submission emergency motions by Kentucky and private-sector plaintiffs for an injunction against the current “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule pending the plaintiffs’ appeal of the judge’s March 31 denial of preliminary injunction.
April 18, 2023
Arizona Municipalities Can’t Enjoin Colorado River Farm-To- Town Water Transfer

PRESCOTT, Ariz. — An Arizona federal judge denied a motion by four municipalities to preliminarily enjoin the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s approval of a partial assignment and transfer of Colorado River water from a farm to a town, saying the plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claims and are not likely to suffer irreparable harm.
April 18, 2023
Arizona Federal Judge: 2 Landowners Forfeited Decreed Water Rights By Nonuse

TUCSON, Ariz. — An Arizona federal judge has ruled that two landowners forfeited their decreed rights to Gila River water for not putting the rights to beneficial use for five consecutive years, rejecting arguments that previous floods made the land unsuitable for irrigation and cultivation.
April 17, 2023
Having Lost Injunction, Tribe Defends Summary Judgment Bid In Trinity River Case

FRESNO, Calif. — After convincing a judge that the balance of harms did not rise to the level required for granting a tribe’s motion enjoining the Trinity River water plan, the government asked the court to stay summary judgment briefing and for expedited consideration of its motion to dismiss. In an April 14 response, the tribe told the federal California court there is nothing stopping the court from receiving briefing on motions to dismiss and for summary judgment and that doing so would conserve judicial resources.
April 17, 2023
North Dakota Federal Judge Enjoins WOTUS Rule In 24 Plaintiff States

BISMARCK, N.D. — A North Dakota federal judge has preliminarily enjoined enforcement of the revised definition of “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) in 24 states that challenged the rule, finding that the rule would cause them to incur significant costs.
March 24, 2023
New Mexico High Court Suspends Lawyer For Attacks On Judge In Tribal Water Case

SANTA FE, N.M. — The New Mexico Supreme Court has suspended for at least 18 months an attorney for making “unfounded” statements that a judge presiding over a Native American water rights case had a conflict of interest and might fix the case in favor of the tribe.
March 21, 2023
9th Circuit Partly Reverses Dismissal Of Claim That Canal Fix Will Hurt Aquifer

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal district court correctly dismissed environmental claims involving a federal repair of a leaky irrigation canal but abused its discretion by not granting a city leave to file an amended complaint, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled.
March 20, 2023
Judge Enjoins WOTUS Rule, But Only In Texas And Idaho, Not Nationwide

GALVESTON, Texas — One day before the Biden administration’s waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule was set to take effect, a Texas federal judge on March 19 granted a motion by Texas and Idaho to preliminarily enjoin the rule in those two states but denied a request by 18 trade associations in a second case to enjoin the rule nationally.
March 20, 2023
United States’ Trust Duty For Navajo Nation Water Argued Before Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the Southwest United States experiencing extreme drought conditions at a time when the average Navajo Nation resident in Arizona uses only 7 gallons of water a day, the federal government needs to exercise its treaty-promised trust duty to the tribe to see if it can obtain water from the lower Colorado River, an attorney for the tribe told the U.S. Supreme Court this morning in a long-running water rights dispute.
March 07, 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.
March 07, 2023
Riparian Rights Lawsuit Dismissed With Leave To Amend; Judge Advises On Basis

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge has dismissed with leave to refile property owners’ claims that federal operation of a dam violates the property owners’ riparian rights, but the judge specified what laws an amended complaint is best brought under to avoid another dismissal.
March 07, 2023
Tribe Files 3rd Motion For Injunction Against Trinity River Water Plan

FRESNO, Calif. — California’s Hoopa Valley Tribe has asked a federal court to issue a preliminary injunction against a Trinity River water flow plan that the tribe says will come at the expense of a reduced flow for the spring and summer.
March 06, 2023
Utah Appeals Court: Water Rights Interference Case Isn’t An Adjudication Issue

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah court erred in ruling that it lacked jurisdiction in a water rights interference case and sending the case to a water basin general adjudication, the Utah Court of Appeals said in remanding.
March 06, 2023
Oregon Appeals Court Affirms State Water Department Water Rights Determination

SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Court of Appeals has affirmed a determination by the Oregon Water Resources Department about the water rights of three municipalities and forecasts of water use effects on endangered fish.
March 06, 2023
United States Didn’t Accept Trust Duty For Navajo Nation Water, Supreme Court Told

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Navajo Nation’s attempt to hold the federal government liable for breaching its trust duty to provide water for the tribe, including from the Colorado River, fails because the claim “does not rest on any specific trust duty that the government has expressly accepted,” the government argues in its March 3 reply brief on the merits in the U.S. Supreme Court.
March 06, 2023
22 States Seek Injunction Against New WOTUS Rule Or Delay Pending Sackett Ruling

BISMARCK, N.D. — Twenty-two states have asked a North Dakota federal judge to enter a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration’s waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, saying that if the rule goes into effect on March 20, it “will trigger significant burdens for the States, who administer costly and time-intensive permitting and other programs under the CWA [Clean Water Act].”
March 03, 2023
Washington Appeals Court: State Agency Policy Didn’t Cause Injury In Water Case

SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington appellate court said that a county water conservation board did not suffer an injury-in-fact when the state Department of Ecology applied a department policy and that the board lacks standing to challenge how the department handled the division of a private water right being held in trust by the state.