In July 2012, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled in Natural Resources Defense Council v. Salazar, 686 F.3d 1092 (9th Cir. 2012), that the decision by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to renew a series of water service contracts in connection with the Central Valley Project did not constitute “agency action”
Water Supply
Flow of Polluted Water from Lined to Unlined Section of River Doesn’t Constitute “Discharge of a Pollutant”
By Julie Jones on
Posted in Environmental Regulation, Water Supply
The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion that the flow of polluted water from a concrete channel to an unlined section of the same river constituted a “discharge of pollutants.” Los Angeles County Flood Control Dist. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
Environmental organizations sued the Los Angeles County…
CEQA Doesn’t Apply to Declaration of Water Emergency Authorized by Judgment Governing Groundwater Basin
By Geoffrey Robinson on
Posted in CEQA, Water Supply
A water replenishment district’s declaration of a water emergency was not subject to CEQA because the declaration itself had no environmental impact, it was authorized under the terms of a judgment imposing a physical solution on the groundwater basin, and the district had no discretion to alter the terms of the judgment which specify the…
U.C. Santa Cruz Expansion Plan EIR Overturned
By Barbara Schussman on
Posted in CEQA, Water Supply
In Habitat and Watershed Caretakers v. City of Santa Cruz, the court of appeal set aside the EIR for long-term development of the U.C. Santa Cruz campus.
The city and the University of California had settled litigation challenging the University’s development plan. A key provision of the agreement required the city to seek Local…
Water Supply Uncertainty Sinks Another EIR
By Marie Cooper on
Posted in CEQA, Water Supply
After wading through a detailed discussion relating to biological impacts (see Perkins Coie Update), the court in Preserve Wild Santee v. City of Santee dove into issues surrounding an EIR’s analysis of water supplies. The court found the EIR invalid in part because it failed to consider the uncertainty of State Water Project water…
Water Supply Agreement for Casino Fails CEQA and LAFCO Tests
By Julie Jones on
In a case packed with hot-button issues — CEQA exemptions, water supply impacts, climate change, LAFCO regulation of land uses, and preemption of state law on tribal lands — a court of appeal has ruled that the El Dorado Irrigation District erred in approving an agreement to supply water to a tribal casino.
Background. In…