Ninth Circuit Finds Res Judicata Bars Latest Lawsuit Related to 1987 Tahoe Regional Plan April 2003

United States Supreme Court Upholds Temporary Development Moratorium in Lake Tahoe Area against Takings Challenge June 2002

Fifth Circuit Holds Recovery Is Precluded where Economic Damage Accompanying a Trespass of a Toxic Substance Is Not Foreseeable May 2006

Ninth Circuit Applies Penn Central ‘Takings’ Standard to ‘Generally Applicable Development’ Conditions November 2008

Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to Consider Legality of Oklahoma Laws Preventing Appropriation or Sale of Water to Out-of-State Parties May 2008

Oklahoma Asks Federal Court to Dismiss Suit Challenging State Moratorium on Water Exportation October 2007

Following the District Court’s Upholding of Oklahoma’s Regulation of Water Subject to the Red River Compact, Tarrant Amends Its Complaint and the Litigation Continues February 2010

Tenth Circuit Allows Inter-State Fight over Water to Continue—Finds No Eleventh Amendment Immunity Barring the Action February 2009

News from the West February 2009

Court of Federal Claims Returns Case Alleging EPA Cleanup-Damaged Equipment to District Court August 2006

Colorado Supreme Court Upholds State Engineers’ Order Requiring Ditch Owner to Install Suitable Headgate to Prevent Excess Diversions from Purgatorie River December 2005

Superior Court Judge Strikes Down Los Osos Initiative Related to Siting of Sewer and Wastewater Treatment Facilities June 2006

Massachusetts Supreme Court Finds "Actual Knowledge" of Groundwater Contamination Is Required before State Statute of Limitations Begins to Run on Claim for Property Damage May 2002

Indiana District Court Declines to Apply CERCLA's Contribution and Jurisdictional Bars to Landowner's State Law Cost Recovery Action March 2003

First Circuit Gives Deference to the Department of Labor in Retaliation Suits Brought under the Solid Waste Disposal Act February 2006

Utah Supreme Court Finds Non-Party to State Engineer Proceeding May Intervene in Subsequent Action for Judicial Review February 2010

Can EPA impose CERCLA Liability on Foreign Companies? High Court Requests the Solicitor General’s Opinion in the Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd. Case August 2007

First Circuit Upholds District Court’s Refusal to Take Jurisdiction over Clean Water Act Claim for User Charges January 2004

On Remand, District Court Withdraws Previous Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and Adopts New Definition of Hydraulic Connection between Ground and Surface Water October 2006

New Mexico Supreme Court Reverses State Engineer, Adopts New Test for Surface to Groundwater Transfers May 2006

First Circuit Halts First Legal Challenge to Construction of Wind Energy Project in Nantucket Sound September 2004

Sixth Circuit Affirms Ruling that Tennessee Statute Imposing an Annual Fee on Interstate Hazardous Waste Transporters Is Preempted by Federal Hazardous Materials Transportation Act July 2003

District Court Rules Against Motion for Summary Judgment, Denying PRP’s ‘Useful Product’ Defense to CERCLA Liability November 2008

Supreme Court Denies Certiorari to Ninth and Fifth Circuit Decisions Allowing Permitting Requirements For Discharges From Small Storm Sewer Systems and Small Construction Sites August 2004

Texas Supreme Court Denies Review in Environmental Flow Appropriation Case June 2009

Seventh Circuit Holds that NRDC Lacks Standing to Challenge EPA’S General Permit Scheme for Construction Stormwater Discharge, but Has Standing to Challenge Procedures for Creating the General Permit Scheme August 2005

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Sixth Circuit Enforces Settlement Agreement Reached During Trial over Objection that there Was No Meeting of the Minds on the Issue of Contribution Protection June 2001

Ninth Circuit Addresses Claims that a City and County Unlawfully Discriminated in Failing to Provide Sewer Service to Predominantly Latino Neighborhoods January 2010

Restrictions on Use of Open Areas Not Equivalent to Interest in Land Required for Davis-Stirling Act to Apply December 2001

District Court in Indiana Holds that City May Not Bring Natural Resources Damages Action under CERCLA December 2003

D.C. Circuit Rules that Migratory Bird Treaty Reform Act Limits Protection to Birds that Are Native To U.S. February 2007

Fourth District Upholds Lead Agency’s Right to Select the Entity that Will Receive Mitigation Lands Dedicated by a Developer Pursuant to CEQA October 2009

Ninth Circuit Finds Settlement Agreement between Los Angeles and Congregation Invalid and Unenforceable October 2007

Statute of Limitations for Claims Involving Subdivisions Did Not Apply to Breach of Contract Claims Involving a Development Agreement May 2003

Navajo Nation Sues U.S. Department of the Interior for Breach of Trust on Colorado River Water Rights April 2003

District Court Excludes Proposed Expert Testimony on Legal Subjects March 2005

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State Court: Colorado Supreme Court Clarifies that for Ground-water Used Conjunctively, Historic Use of the Ground-water Right Is Necessary for Change to that Right October 2002

Seventh Circuit Upholds Limited Class Action of "Core Questions" in Pollution Case April 2003

District Court in Rhode Island Finds No Causal Connection between Oil Spill and Diminution of Lobster Catch December 2004

United States Supreme Court Upholds Chicago's Content-Neutral Municipal Park Use Permit Ordinance March 2002

Eighth Circuit Upholds U.S. EPA’s Approval of Iowa’s Clean Water Act § 303(d) List of Impaired Waters November 2009

Tenth Circuit Hears Oral Argument on Private Right of Action to Enforce Interstate Water Compacts May 2004

Ninth Circuit Finds that Army Corps of Engineers Acted within the Confines of NEPA in Not Preparing an EIS in Connection with Oregon Reservoir July 2002

First District Court Holds that ‘Garden Variety’ Inadequate Maintenance Cannot Support a Claim for Inverse Condemnation against a Flood Control Agency October 2006

District Court Affirms Administrative Judge’s Refusal to Consider PRP’s Evidence and Grants EPA Pre-Judgment Interest and Potentially Court Costs January 2004

D.C. Circuit Finds Environmental Analysis under NEPA for Proposed Tribal Casino Sufficient March 2006

Colorado Supreme Court Arguably Rules That an Adjudicated Water Right Is a Prerequisite for Maintaining a Ditch Condemnation Proceeding in District Court May 2007

Landowner with Easement Right of ‘Bathing and Boating’ Cannot Build Bridge to Adjacent Parcel She Does Not Own to Enjoy Easement June 2009

Federal District Court, for the First Time, Invalidates Long-Standing Corps Pricing Policy for Water Supply Storage February 2008

First District Clarifies Calculation of Special Benefits and Proportionality for Assessments Subject to Proposition 218 February 2010

First District Clarifies Calculation of Special Benefits and Proportionality for Assessments Subject to Proposition 218 February 2010

Third District Finds Modified EIR Need Not Be Re- Approved by Planning Commission Before Certification by City Council October 2009

Third District Court Dismisses Action Brought Pursuant to Public Records Act for Failure to Name an Indispensable Party October 2008

Conflicting Provision in Charter City's Municipal Code "Preempts" Procedural Aspect of Proposition 62 under City's Constitutional "Home Rule" Powers January 2002

Colorado Supreme Court Upholds State and Division Engineers’ Curtailment of Senior Irrigation Rights at Undecreed Points of Diversion. August 2004

Upon Reconsideration, Second District Confirms Settlement Reached Between City and Developer in Closed Session Violates the Brown Act June 2006

Second District Finds Settlement Reached between City and Developer in Closed Session Violates the Brown Act November 2005

California Supreme Court Rules on Statutory Deadlines for Filing Actions Challenging Local Zoning and Planning Decisions Based on Preemption October 2004

Federal Actions: Fourth Circuit Affirms Clean Water Act Jurisdiction over Wetlands Connected to Navigable Waters by Manmade Ditch November 2003

Second District Court Prohibits Apportionment of Attorneys’ Fees when Good Faith Improver Cross- Claims to Quiet Title April 2004

Massachusetts Appellate Court Reverses Trial Court’s Finding of No Trespass and Nuisance Based upon Storm Water Overflow April 2007

Eighth Circuit Denies Recovery where Only Attorneys, Not Plaintiffs, Have Incurred Response Costs January 2001

New Mexico’s District Court Limits and Conditions State Engineer’s Use of Active Resource Management Regulations July 2007

News from the West December 2007

District Court Upholds Listing of Coastal Coho Salmon under the Endangered Species Act November 2007

Tenth Circuit Holds that Trout Unlimited’s Remand Order Is Not a Final Appealable Judgment June 2006

Tenth Circuit Holds that Trout Unlimited’s Remand Order Is Not a Final Appealable Judgment June 2006

Ditch and Water Structure Authorizations across Federal Lands: New Case Law Supporting Bypass Flow Requirements December 2004

U.S. District Court Rejects the Forest Service's Issuance of Special-Use Permits Without  Bypass Flow Requirements June 2004

“In All Fairness and Justice”—The Court of Federal Claims Awards California State Water Contractors an Estimated $26 Million for Water Taken to Protect Endangered Fish February 2004

Federal Claims Court Finds that the Fish & Wildlife Services' Restrictions on Water Outflows to Protect the Delta Smelt and Chinook Salmon under the ESA Constitutes a Fifth Amendment "Taking" June 2001

Federal Claims Court Finds that the Fish & Wildlife Services' Restrictions on Water Outflows to Protect the Delta Smelt and Chinook Salmon under the ESA Constitutes a Fifth Amendment "Taking" June 2001

Federal Government Settles with Central Valley Farmers for $16.7 Million in Water Rights Dispute. February 2005

Fifth District Court Finds Agency Engaged in Unlawful Segmentation of its Environmental Review of a Proposed Home Improvement Center December 2007

Fifth District Court of Appeal Holds that Irrigation District May Charge Town for Costs of Treating Water Delivered under Ancient Contractual Obligation August 2006

New Mexico Supreme Court Holds State Engineer Permits to Transfer Location of Water Creates Rebuttable Presumption of Severance May 2005

New Mexico Court of Appeals Holds Water Rights Cannot Be Acquired By Adverse Possession November 2003

District Court Holds Town May Not Regulate Airport Construction under Wetlands Ordinance as It Violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause December 2008

Historic Property Owners Have Standing to Enforce Terms of MOA for Federally Funded Housing Project Against San Francisco, but not Against HUD or the Project Developers February 2001