This week environmental groups brought a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its recent support of a company’s plan to pump 16.3 billion gallons of groundwater each year from a Mojave Desert aquifer to developments in South Orange County and other locations. Los Angeles-Based Cadiz Inc. seeks to build a pipeline that pumps the water […]
This week one of the biggest supporters of California’s water tunnels voted against funding the ambitious California water project (known as “California WaterFix”) proposed Governor Jerry Brown. Westlands Water District voted 7 to 1 against a resolution to help fund the $17 billion set of 40-foot-diameter tunnels underneath the Delta, citing concerns about costs that […]
August 15, 2017 | Category:
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Just before the penalty phase of trial was set to begin on Tuesday, Northern California farmer John Duarte reached a settlement with the federal government, after being fined for plowing over disputed wetlands on his property. With the government seeking a $2.8 million fine and tens of millions of dollars in mitigation expenses, Duarte agreed […]
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Lobbyist, and former Republican Representative, Richard Pombo, has been retained by a California nursery owner facing a potential multi-million dollar fine for violating the Clean Water Act. Nursery owner, John Duarte of Duarte Nursery has retained the Washington, D.C. lobby to help fight his lengthy dispute with federal officials. Simultaneously, Mr. Duarte is facing a […]
In support of its efforts to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule (“Rule”), the Trump Administration is attacking the Obama Administration’s studies touting the supposed economic benefits of implementing the Rule. The Obama Administration had previously calculated that the annual benefits of implementing the Rule would range from $338 million – $554 million, with the […]
This week, two California water agencies filed petitions appealing to the Supreme Court to review a landmark decision that gives Native American tribes groundwater rights. The Coachella Valley Water District and Desert Water Agency are challenging a March decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that the AguaCaliente Band of Cahuilla Indian […]
May 26, 2017 | Category:
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A California farmer is facing a $2.8 million fine and a trial in federal court this summer for failing to get a permit to plow his own field. John Duarte, of Duarte Nursery, bought 450 acres of land near Modesto in 2012, where he planned to grow wheat. While his wheat was planted, it was […]
May 20, 2017 | Category:
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Environmental groups are taking issue with President Trump’s executive order instructing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to consider interpreting the term “navigable waters” in a manner consistent with the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion in Rapanos v. United States. In his opinion Justice Scalia concluded that the Clean Water Act only applies to relatively permanent […]
April 6, 2017 | Category:
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This week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it will hear a case related to the Clean Water Rule, also known as the Waters of the United States rule, promulgated under the Obama administration. The Supreme Court denied the Trump administration’s motion to put the ligation on hold in light of President Trump’s February executive […]
March 25, 2017 | Category:
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This week the Bureau of Reclamation announced the 2017 water allocations for California farmers and many groups are upset over the long-awaited announcement. According to the release, farmers south of the state’s main water hub would only receive 65 percent of their allotted water from the Central Valley Project. Meanwhile, other regions are receiving their […]