FEATURE ARTICLE
Environmental Justice in General Plans: Strategic Considerations by Michele A. Staples, Esq., Jackson Tidus, A Law Corporation, Irvine, California117
CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS
Settlement Agreement and Federal Funding Move Friant-Kern Canal Project Out to Bid123
City of Antioch Awards $87 Million Contract for New Desalination
Plant124
New Pumped-Storage Project Proposed at Kern County’s Lake Isa-
bella125
LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS
Congress Passes Consolidated Appropriations Act, HR 133, Which Includes Funding for Several California Water Projects127
REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS
EPA Finalizes Guidance on Implementation of U.S. Supreme Court’s ‘Functional Equivalent’ CWA Test in the Maui Case for Discharges to Groundwater that Reach Surface Waters130
State Water Resources Control Board Provides Comments on ‘Critically Overdrafted’ Basin Groundwater Sustainability Plans131
RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS
U.S. Supreme Court:
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Decision to Credit New Mexico for Evaporation Loss for Water Stored by New Mexico for Texas under the Pecos River Compact134
Texas v. New Mexico, ___U.S.___, 141 S.Ct. 509 (2020).
Circuit Court of Appeals:
Eleventh Circuit Finds Mere Allegations of a Hydrological Connection Are Insufficient for a Criminal Conviction under the Clean Water Act135
United States v. Coleman, Unpub., Case No. 19-15127 (11th Cir. Dec 21, 2020).
District Court:
Monsanto PCB Clean Water Act Class Action Settlement Rejected by the District Court137
City of Long Beach v. Monsanto Company, et al., ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. CV 16-3493 FMO (C.D. Cal. Nov. 25, 2020).
RECENT CALIFORNIA DECISIONS
District Court of Appeal:
Fifth District Court Reverses Denial of Writ of Mandate Challenging Water Board Administrative Penalties Without Consideration of Certain Defen-
ses139
Malaga County Water District v. State Water Resources Control Board, ___Cal.App.5th___, Case No. F075868 (5th Dist. Dec. 10, 2020).
First District Court Holds Regional Water Board, Acting as Responsible Agency under CEQA, Could Impose Additional Mitigation Measures under the Porter-Cologne Act141
Santa Clara Valley Water District v. San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, 59 Cal.App.5th 199 (1st Dist. 2020).
Superior Court:
Superior Court Limits Reach of Recent Water Quality Control Plan Amendments143
San Joaquin Tributaries Authority v. State Water Resources Control Board, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2019-80003133 (Hearing Dec. 4, 2020; order filed Dec. 17, 2020).
