Western Water Law & Policy Reporter

FEATURE ARTICLE

Water Transfers, the Federal Clean Water Act and Agency Deference—What’s Right and What’s Wrong with the Current Process by Peter Nichols, Esq., Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti, LLP, Boulder, Colorado279

WESTERN WATER NEWS

Recent Settlement to Require U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Obtain Clean Water Act Permits for Columbia River Dams286

Arizona’s Salt River Project Update—Water Transfers Via Blue Ridge Pip-

line287

LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS

U.S. Senators Introduce Bill to Streamline Permitting Process to Construct Surface Water Storage Projects on Federal Lands289

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS

Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board Suggests a Fifth Prong for the Four-Part Test in Appeal of Hospital Water Right291

California State Water Resources Control Board Adopts Emergency Regulations for Urban Water Conservation and to Curtail Diversions in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Systems292

California Announces New Drinking Water Standard for Hexavalent Chromium—Declares Previously Contaminated Water Safe to Drink295

LAWSUITS FILED OR PENDING

WildEarth Guardians Files Suit in the Federal District Court in New Mexico against the Bureau of and Army Corps over Rio Grande River Operations to Conserve Endangered Species in Middle Rio Grande297

JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Federal:

Fifth Circuit Finds Property Owner Lacks Subject Matter Jurisdiction to Review U.S. Army Corps’’ Clean Water Act Jurisdictional Determination300

Belle Co., L.L.C. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ___F.3d___, Case No. 13-30262 (5th Cir. Jul. 30, 2014)

Fourth Circuit Denies Protection of Permit Shield Defense in the Absence of Strict Compliance with CWA Permit Disclosure Requirements302

Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards v. A&G Coal Corporation, ___F.3d___, Case No. 13-2050 (4th Cir. July 11, 2014).

State:

California Court of Appeal Finds Interim Central Valley Project Renewal Contracts Are Exempt from Review under the California Environmental Quality Act304

North Coast Rivers Alliance v. Westlands Water District, 227 Cal.App.4th 832 (Cal.App. 2014).