FEATURE ARTICLE
U.S. Supreme Court Uses Its Equitable Powers to Force Nebraska to Disgorge Gains from Its Knowing Violation of a Water Resources Compact by Denise Scofield, Esq. and Nicholas E. Morrell, Esq., Morgan Lewis 187
WESTERN WATER NEWS
New Mexico’s Kirtland Air Force Base’s Jet Fuel Spill Update—First Remediation Well Designed to Extract Contaminated Groundwater Scheduled to Start Pumping191
LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS
One Billion Dollars in Emergency Funds for Drought Relief Approved by California Legislature and Signed by Governor Brown194
REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS
California State Water Resources Control Board Adopts Nation’s First Statewide Plan to Address Trash in All State Water Bodies196
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Issues Water Quality Certification for Controversial Columbia River Coal Export Project198
JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS
Federal:
Eleventh Circuit Directs Army Corps of Engineers to Reevaluate Clean Water Act General Permit for Coal Mining Operations201
Black Warrior Riverkeeper v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ___F.3d___, Case No. 14-12357 (11th Cir. Mar. 23, 2015).
Eighth Circuit Finds U.S. Army Corps’ Jurisdictional Determination Is Reviewable, Creating a Conflict with the Fifth Circuit203
Hawkes Co., Inc. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ___F.3d___, Case No. 13-3067 (8th Cir. Apr. 10, 2015).
District Court Holds a State Retains Discretion under the Clean Water Act to Enact and Enforce a Method of Identifying Impaired Waters205
Florida Wildlife Federation v. Gina McCarthy, ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 8:13-cv-2084-T-23 (M.D. Fl. Mar. 16, 2015).
District Court Rules that the State of Alabama Is Entitled to a Jury Trial on its Claims under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 Arising from the BP Oil
Spill206
In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig ‘Deepwater Horizon’ in the Gulf of Mexico, ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 2179 (E.D. La. 2015).
State:
Separate California Court of Appeal Decisions Create Uncertainty about the Applicability of Proposition 218 to Groundwater Extraction Fees208
Great Oaks Water Co. v. Santa Clara Valley Water District, ___Cal.App.4th___, Case No. H035260 (6th Dist. Mar. 2015); City of San Buenaventura v. United Water Conservation District, ___Cal.App.4th___, Case No. B251810 (2nd Dist. Mar. 2015).
Colorado Supreme Court Issues Important Decision Clarifying Water Right Abandonment Statute and the Use of Undecreed Diversion Point211
Wolfe v. Jim Hutton Educational Foundation, 2015 CO 17, ___P.3d___ (Colo. 2015)
Washington Appellate Court Finds State Growth Management Act Does Not Require Independent County Regulation of Exempt Wells212
Whatcom County, et al. v. Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board, Case Nos. 70796–5–I, 72132–1–I, 70896–1–I (Wash.App. Feb. 23, 2015).
