Environmental and Policy Focus
KPCC - Jun 16
The State Water Contractors, an association of 27 public agencies that purchase water under contract from the State Water Project for delivery to millions of Californians throughout the state, have accused farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of illegally diverting water and have asked state officials to order the farmers to stop. The Contractors filed a complaint on June 16 with the State Water Resources Control Board, claiming that the Delta farmers were stealing water that the contractors had been storing in reservoirs but which had been released to prevent salty bay water from intruding into the Delta. The Contractors say they have provided proof that last year the farmers illegally took an amount equaling the water needed to serve more than 2 million people for one year.
Los Angeles Times - Jun 16
Whittier city officials will move ahead with public hearings next week on the development of the landmark former Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility, despite a lawsuit filed by the Whittier Conservancy on June 10 to block the sale of the property to a developer. The Conservancy claims that the state's decision to extend escrow under a 2011 purchase and sale agreement for an additional two years without environmental review violated state law. Following the public hearings, the City Council will deliberate and vote on whether to move forward with plans for a large retail, commercial, and residential project on the 74-acre site. Nelles, which opened in 1891, is a California State Historical Landmark and was the longest-running state school for juvenile offenders in California.
Courthouse News Service - Jun 12
On June 10, environmental groups filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that federal and state agencies had approved a plan opening up 400,000 acres of land for hydraulic fracturing in Southern California without adequate environmental review. Plaintiffs, the Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres Forestwatch, claim the agencies violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving 100 to 400 wastewater wells over the next 10 years without adequate consideration of air quality and groundwater impacts, and without taking into account new technologies that can extend the life of a well.
San Jose Mercury News - Jun 16
A consumer advocacy division within the Public Utilities Commission will try to overturn strict water conservation rules that took effect this week for 1 million residents of San Jose and neighboring Silicon Valley communities. The San Jose Water Co., a private utility regulated by the PUC which provides 80 percent of San Jose's residents with drinking water, received approval from PUC staff to implement rules giving every single family residence the same monthly allotment of water regardless of the number of family members or size of yard, with surcharges of up to $7.12 per unit for exceeding the limit. However, the same monthly allocations were not imposed on businesses or apartment owners. The new restrictions came in response to Governor Brown's order in April that urban residents cut water use 25 percent statewide to conserve water as California grinds through its fourth year of historic drought.
KQED - Jun 15
In a historic move, some of the state's most senior water rights holders have been notified that they must stop pumping water from streams and rivers. On June 12, the State Water Resources Control Board issued curtailment notices to holders of water rights established between 1903 and 1914, affecting 276 pre-1914 appropriative rights held by 114 right holders in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River watersheds and in the Delta. The notices do not now affect any riparian right holders or holders of appropriative rights established before 1903, but the State Water Board has warned that other watersheds and even more senior rights holders could be curtailed in the near future. Cities and communities are not exempt, and even the city of San Francisco, holding rights dating back to 1901, could be affected in the future. The orders are expected to launch a flurry of lawsuits, with those holding pre-1914 appropriative rights challenging the fundamental authority of the State Water Board, created in 1913, to regulate these senior water rights. Court rulings could dramatically alter how water rights are handled in the state. Although almost 9,000 junior water rights holders have already been ordered to stop using water this year, with a record-low snowpack and worsening drought conditions, the Water Board is now cutting back older rights. Five water districts, including Oakdale, Merced, and Modesto Irrigation Districts, are seeking a stay to halt the curtailment orders. Others within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are also expected to bring legal action.
Courthouse News Service - Jun 15
A California board that protects water from degradation by marijuana farms has issued its first fine: $297,400 against a landowner and a contractor in Shasta County. The multi-agency Cannabis Pilot Project, staffed by state and regional water boards and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, was formed specifically to address adverse environmental impacts caused by marijuana cultivation in California. The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board announced the fine on June 12, stating that unpermitted grading and terracing of land to grow marijuana had caused unlawful discharges of erodible sediment in pristine waters that provide habitat for aquatic organisms in violation of the federal Clean Water Act and state laws. The landowner was also ordered to remediate the damage.
