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Supreme Court Calls on Imperial Irrigation District to Submit Response to Michael Abatti

/in , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday instructed the Imperial Irrigation District to submit a response to California farmer Michael Abatti’s request that their longstanding legal battle be taken up by the nation’s highest court.

Scott Harris, clerk of the Supreme Court, wrote to Jennifer Meeker, an attorney for the water and power district, to say that even though IID didn’t feel the need to answer Abatti’s petition, “the Court nevertheless has directed this office to request that a response be filed.”

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EPA Guidance May Exempt Some Water Polluters from Supreme Court Permit Mandate

/in , /by /The Hillby Rachel Frazin

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released a draft guidance that interprets a Supreme Court decision in a way that may exempt some facilities from needing permits to pollute groundwater. In April, the court decided that a permit is required for both direct discharges of pollutants into federally-regulated rivers and oceans as well as their “functional equivalent” in groundwater that flows into regulated waters.

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Imperial County Farmer Michael Abatti Looks to Take Fight with IID to U.S. Supreme Court

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

Having been turned away by the California Supreme Court last week, farmer Michael Abatti looked to have lost his years-long fight with the Imperial Irrigation District over who owns valuable water rights on the Colorado River. But Abatti apparently isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.

In paperwork filed in a state appellate court Monday, Abatti’s legal team indicated that they wanted to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the matter.

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California Supreme Court Refuses to Review Farmer Michael Abatti’s Case Against IID

/in , /by /Palm Spring Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

The tumultuous, years-long legal fight between farmer Michael Abatti and the Imperial Irrigation District — two of Southern California’s powerbrokers — is now finished.

On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court declined Abatti’s petition for review, leaving in place an appellate court’s decision that declared IID the rightful owner of a massive allotment of Colorado River water.

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IID Files Opposition in California Supreme Court Battle With Farmer Michael Abatti

/in , , /by /Palm Spring Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

The years-long fight between the Imperial Irrigation District and farmer Michael Abatti over control of Colorado River water could be nearing its grand finale in the California Supreme Court. After Abatti requested last month that the state’s highest judicial body take up his case, the water district filed its opposition on Monday.

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California Supreme Court Says No Go to Referendum Challenges to Certain State Laws

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Bob Egelko

Once a local water board approves a rate increase, voters cannot prevent it from taking effect by circulating a referendum, though they can seek to reduce it later, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

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Justices Reject Clean Water Act Plea in Blow to Miners

/in , /by /E&E Newsby Pamela King

Supreme Court justices today declined to consider whether moving — but not adding — rocks, sand and other debris within a regulated waterway is subject to Clean Water Act restrictions. The court’s decision not to take up the Eastern Oregon Mining Association’s petition came as a disappointment for operators that use suction dredge mining, an industrial process similar to panning for gold in a river.

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EPA Makes ‘Contorted’ Legal Argument for Permit Rule

/in , , /by /E&E Newsby Pamela King and Hannah Northey

EPA’s final rule that curtails states’ authority over Clean Water Act permitting of pipelines, hydroelectric dams and other energy projects could run afoul of a 1994 Supreme Court ruling that originally granted states that oversight power.

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Clean Water Act Covers Groundwater Discharges, Supreme Court Rules

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Adam Liptak

In a 6-to-3 ruling, the court rejected arguments by a county in Hawaii and the Trump administration that only pollution discharged directly into navigable waters requires permits.

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Supreme Court Leans Toward Expanding Clean Water Act To Protect Oceans From Wastewater

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times by David G. Savage

Supreme Court justices, both conservative and liberal, appeared skeptical Wednesday of a Trump administration argument that the federal Clean Water Act should not apply to sewage plant wastewater that flows into the ground and eventually seeps into federally protected waters, such as rivers or oceans.

The case from Hawaii has emerged as a major test of the federal anti-pollution law’s scope even as the Environmental Protection Agency under President Trump cuts back on enforcement. If justices side with environmentalists, their ruling could extend federal regulation to water treatment plants across the country.

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