Water
Meeting information needs for water markets: Understanding water diversion and use
New CLEE report examines a prerequisite for fair and effective water markets
by Nell Green Nylen and Molly Bruce Water scarcity is a growing problem for agriculture and ecosystems across the U.S. Southwest. In many areas, unsustainable water use has overstretched local water supplies, and climate change is making these supplies more volatile. Water markets have the potential to enhance climate resilience by helping water users adapt …
CONTINUE READINGThe Battle for Congress: Key U.S. House Races in California
These elections could prove critically important to how much the next President can reshape energy and environmental policy.
These are key races for control of the House: if they did all flip and Democrats held their remaining seats, Hakeem Jeffries would be the next Speaker. The battle for control of the U.S. House is going to be very tight. Democrats need to pick up only four seats to flip control – something that will be especially important for them if Trump wins and Republicans win the Senate as expected. Especially in that scenario, control of the House will have a big impact on climate and energy policy, one way or the other. It doesn’t look like climate or energy are major issues in the key U.S. House races in California. Only one candidate (Dave Min) devotes significant attention to them. To avoid unintentionally distorting anyone’s views, these descriptions are taken straight from their campaign websites.
CONTINUE READING“Salt Lakes in Crisis: Legal Responses to Ecological Catastrophes”
Upcoming U.C. Davis Law Review Symposium To Provide Interdisciplinary Focus On Threatened Western U.S. Lakes
On Friday, September 20th, the student-run U.C. Davis Law Review will host a most timely conference examining an environmental crisis facing many of the American West’s iconic “terminal lakes.” That term refers to lakes that have no natural outlet. For many years, protracted droughts and human diversions from freshwater rivers and streams feeding those lakes …
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CONTINUE READINGAssessing the First Decade of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
You’re Invited to “10 Years In: A SGMA Report Card”–A Conference at U.C. Davis Law School on 9/6
A decade ago, California stood out–and not in a good way–as the only Western state without comprehensive state laws monitoring and regulating groundwater pumping and use. But in 2014, following years of severe and protracted California drought, and both agricultural and urban water users compensating for depleted surface water flows by pumping groundwater in unprecedented …
Continue reading “Assessing the First Decade of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia can help meet its climate goals by removing SERP’s sunset date
By Molly Bruce, Dave Smith, Michael Kiparsky, Derek Hitchcock, Peter Van De Burgt, Sydney Chamberlin, Megan Cleveland
Many regulatory clearances like permits aim to guard against projects that pose harm to the environment. However, permitting can also undercut environmental restoration efforts. While restoration is designed to remedy environmental harms and improve resilience to climate change, permitting can substantially increase project costs and slow or altogether impede environmentally beneficial projects. Striking an effective …
Continue reading “California can help meet its climate goals by removing SERP’s sunset date”
CONTINUE READINGThe Ten Most Important U.S. Environmental Laws
Some of the choices may surprise you.
What are America’s most important environmental laws? Some are familiar, such as the federal air and water pollution laws, and the Endangered Species Act. But there are other people rarely hear about — even in environmental law courses — but have done a lot to protect the environment.
CONTINUE READINGThe “Silver Bullet” Required to Improve California’s Water Rights System: More & Better Data
California Lags Behind Other Western States in Obtaining Critically-Needed & Available Water Diversion Data
Recently I’ve posted stories about efforts to enforce California’s water laws in the face of efforts by some diverters to evade and ignore limits on their ability to privatize public water resources–especially in times of critical drought. One post focused on the federal government’s successful criminal prosecution of a San Joaquin Valley water district manager …
CONTINUE READINGReforming California’s Financial Penalties for Water Theft Will Create an Effective Deterrent
Overdue State Water Reform Legislation Likely Be Enacted in 2024–Finally
In a Legal Planet Post earlier this week, I recounted the saga of how federal prosecutors recently secured the criminal conviction of Dennis Falaschi, the former San Joaquin Valley water district general manager who oversaw the decades-long theft of millions of gallons of publicly-owned water from California’s Central Valley Project. That successful prosecution certainly qualifies …
CONTINUE READINGA Brazen California Water Heist Revealed, Prosecuted & Punished
San Joaquin Valley Water District Manager Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Steal Public Water for 20+ Years
Recently, former Panoche Drainage District general manager Dennis Falaschi pled guilty in federal district court in Fresno to having conspired to steal millions of gallons of publicly-owned water from California’s Central Valley Project (CVP) for private gain. This surreptitious water theft apparently had been going on for well over two decades before Falaschi was finally …
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CONTINUE READINGTemporary Takings and the Adaptation Dilemma
Current law penalizes adaptation measures because of the risk of takings liability.
Is it unconstitutional for the government to build a levee that reduces the risk of urban flooding but diverts the water to nearby farmlands? The answer could be yes, unless the government pays for flood easements on the rural lands. But if the government doesn’t build the levee, it faces no liability from the urban …
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