Western Water Law & Policy Reporter

FEATURE ARTICLE

California Governor Brown’s Unprecedented April 1, 2015 Drought Executive Order Is No Joke by Derek Hoffman, Esq. and Michael Duane Davis, Esq., Gresham Savage Nolan 219

WESTERN WATER NEWS

Reduction of Hydropower Electricity Generation Caused by California’s Drought Has Led to Millions of Tons of Additional Greenhouse Gas

Emissions225

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS

California State Water Resources Control Board Approves Joint Petition for Temporary Water Transfers and Exchanges In Response to Drought227

Idaho Water and Sewer District Appeals EPA Issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit to the Environmental Appeals Board229

JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Federal:

Ninth Circuit Ends Two Decades of Litigation over the Pesticide Element of California’s State Implementation Plan under the Federal Clean Air Act. .231

El Comite para el Bienestar de Earlimart v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ___F.3d___, Case No. 12-74184 (9th Cir. May 8, 2015).

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Mississippi River Water Quality Rule Discretion— With a Reasonable Explanation—Is Reinforced by Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals233

Gulf Restoration Network v McCarthy, 783 F.3d 227 (5th Cir. 2015).

Federal Circuit Affirms Denial of Hopi Tribe’s Claim that the United States Must Provide Safe Drinking Water on the Reservation235

Hopi Tribe v. U.S., ___F.3d___, Case No. 2014:5018 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 2, 2015).

District Court Finds NPDES Permit Does Not Require Compliance with State’s Water Quality Standards for Color, Odor, and Turbidity236

Altamaha Riverkeeper, Inc. v. Rayonier, Inc., ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. CV 214-44 (S.D. Ga. 2015).

District Court Defers to Virginia State Agency in Granting Summary Judgment to Coal Company in Clean Water Act Citizen Suit238

Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards v. Red River Coal Company, Inc., ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 2:14-CV-00024 (W.D. Va. Apr. 13, 2014).

State:

California Court of Appeal Upholds Municipal Water District’s Exercise of Eminent Domain to Acquire Private Utility’s Water Service Assets240

Golden State Water Company v. Casitas Municipal Water District, ___Cal.App.4th___, Case No. B255408 (2nd Dist. Apr. 14, 2015).

Colorado Supreme Court Finds that the Statutory Timeline for Preparation of a Water Rights Abandonment List Is Non-Jurisdictional242

Concerning the Protest of Tom McKenna and McKenna Ranch to the Revised Abandonment List of Water Rights in Water Division No. 2, 2015 CO 8, ___P.3d___ (Colo. 2015).

Texas Court of Appeal Finds the Prior Appropriation Doctrine Trumps Agency Authority to Issue Drought Related Curtailment Orders244

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality v. Texas Farm Bureau, Case No. 13-13-0041-CV (Tex.App. Apr. 2, 2015).