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Montana V. Wyoming: An Opportunity To Right The Course For Coalbed Methane Development And Prior Appropriation, Michelle Bryan Mudd
Montana V. Wyoming: An Opportunity To Right The Course For Coalbed Methane Development And Prior Appropriation, Michelle Bryan Mudd
Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal
Part I of this Article provides a brief background on the Yellowstone River Compact and the Montana v. Wyoming litigation. This part further explains the Special Master’s analysis of the CBM issue, as well as the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on improved irrigation efficiency. When viewed together, these decisions provide an important framework for determining how the parties’ regulation of CBM development should proceed. Part II then describes the magnitude of the CBM groundwater pumping issue and asserts that the posture of the Montana v. Wyoming case provides a unique opportunity not only to set Powder River Basin CBM development …
A Water Story With Original Jurisdiction And A Doctrine For Changing Uses, Melosa Granda
A Water Story With Original Jurisdiction And A Doctrine For Changing Uses, Melosa Granda
Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal
This is a story of how two rivers in the remote reaches of Wyoming and Montana, and the underlying water, became a federal case before the United States Supreme Court. It is an account of a local water dispute whose resolution will likely impact the course of water law, and more importantly, water throughout the entire country.
Alice In Groundwater Land: Water Supply Assessments And Subsurface Water Supplies, Kevin M. O'Brien
Alice In Groundwater Land: Water Supply Assessments And Subsurface Water Supplies, Kevin M. O'Brien
Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal
The purpose of this Article is to explore the preparation of Water Supply Assessments in the context of subsurface water supplies. The term “subsurface water supplies” is used here rather than “groundwater” because, as discussed below, the proponent of a development project may propose to utilize a subsurface water supply (such as water produced from beneath the surface of land via a well or a flowing spring) that is not properly classified as groundwater because it falls within the legal definition of subterranean stream flow. In such a case, the supply would be subject to the water rights permitting jurisdiction …
Friant Dam Holding Contracts: Not An Entitlement To Water Supply Under Sb 610, Barry Epstein
Friant Dam Holding Contracts: Not An Entitlement To Water Supply Under Sb 610, Barry Epstein
Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal
Nearly ten years ago, California’s Legislature enacted Senate Bill (SB) 610, a new law requiring that any proposed large development project receiving local land use approvals be supported by a Water Supply Assessment demonstrating available water supply to meet the project’s 20-year forecast water demand. While some, perhaps most, proposed large development projects are within the service territory of large, public or private municipal water purveyors whose entitlement to the water they deliver is well-established (though not necessarily adequate or secure), developments outside the service territory of such water purveyors can require more scrutiny of the underlying water rights entitlement …
Water Rights Law - Peterson V. Department Of The Interior: Are Contract Rights Ever Property Rights Under The Reclamation Reform Act?, Charlotte Robertson
Water Rights Law - Peterson V. Department Of The Interior: Are Contract Rights Ever Property Rights Under The Reclamation Reform Act?, Charlotte Robertson
Golden Gate University Law Review
In Peterson v. Department of the Interior the Ninth Circuit held that section 203(b) of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (RRA), a comprehensive amendment of the Federal Reclamation Act, did not unconstitutionally take the property of state Water Districts in California's Central Valley without due process or compensation. The court found that pre-existing water delivery contracts with the Bureau of Reclamation did not confer a constitutionally protectable right to receive federally subsidized water upon the Water Districts. In Peterson, the first ruling by any circuit court on a direct challenge to the RRA, the Ninth Circuit examined the retroactive …
Aligning Visions For The Bay-Delta: Market-Based Ecosystem Restoration Through Agricultural Efficiency Improvements, Derek Adrian Hoye
Aligning Visions For The Bay-Delta: Market-Based Ecosystem Restoration Through Agricultural Efficiency Improvements, Derek Adrian Hoye
Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal
This Comment proposes a comprehensive solution that could generate enormous water savings by increasing the efficiency of agriculture. Part II outlines the basics of California water law, specifically focusing on laws pertaining to water conservation and transfer. Part III analyzes the systems used in three other states to deal with water shortages and declining ecosystems. Part IV presents a proposal for conserving agricultural water, promoting irrigation efficiency through an educational outreach program, and using the water-transfer market as an economic incentive for efficiency. This proposal supplements the recommendations of the Strategic Plan with practical implementation analysis and achievable goals.