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About this Blog

Welcome to the S&W Environmental, Natural Resources, Oil and Gas Law Blog. This blog is a resource for the regulated community to stay current on new developments impacting the environmental, natural resources and energy sectors. It provides timely updates on a broad range of federal, state and local environmental topics — including proposed legislation and government rulemakings — that impact regulated industries throughout the southwest and the nation as a whole.

The Rise of Reclaimed Water:  Reuse of Water in Arizona, Already Important, is Primed to Grow Alongside Increasing Scarcity of Other Water Sources

It seems that not a day goes by without another news story bringing Arizona to the forefront of a national dialogue about water security in a time of drought, changing climate, and growing population. This article is Part 6 of Snell & Wilmer’s series providing context for that dialogue as it applies to Arizona’s diverse […]

Long Term Storage Credits: Securing Arizona’s Water Future

This article is Part 5 of Snell & Wilmer’s series on Arizona’s water supply and legal framework. So far in this series we have examined the most common and most-used water sources in Arizona’s diverse water portfolio:  groundwater, surface water, and Colorado River water. This article describes Arizona’s long-term storage credit (LTSC) system, which provides […]

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Two Idaho Homeowners Finally Clarify Scope of Clean Water Act

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court curtailed the federal government’s powers to regulate private property under the auspices of the Clean Water Act (CWA).  The Court in Sackett v. EPA held that “the CWA extends to only those “wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are ‘waters of the United States’ in their […]

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JH
Associate

Congress Holds Oversight Hearing Regarding the Antiquities Act and the Bureau of Land Managements Proposed Rule on Conservation and Landscape Health

On Wednesday, May 24, 2023, the Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing titled “Examining the Biden Administration’s Efforts to Limit Access to Public Lands.”  In addition to discussing the Biden Administration’s actions and proposed actions in designating National Monuments via the Antiquities Act, testimony largely focused on […]

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AR
Environmental & Regulatory Policy Advisor

Perchlorate…. It’s baaaack

While various States have enacted various regulations covering a wide variety of differing standards over the years, the EPA never created a national standard for remedial or drinking water levels. Finally, after decades of considering proposals and counter proposals, the EPA made a “final” determination in July 2020 during the Trump administration that perchlorate was […]

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MK

The Law of the Colorado River:  An Opportunity for Change

The Department of Interior announced on Monday, May 22, 2023 an agreement with the Lower Basin states to conserve 3 million acre-feet (“MAF”) of water in Lake Mead for the next four years, with 2.3 MAF paid for with funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.  The balance of 700,000 acre-feet will need to be conserved […]

Controversial BLM 3.0 Proposal Released for Public Comment

On April 3, 2023, the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) published a proposed rule to promote the conservation of the 245 million acres of public lands it manages.  The proposal purports to advance “BLM’s mission to manage the public lands for multiple use and sustained yield by prioritizing the health and resilience of ecosystems across […]

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Arizona’s In-State Surface Water Resources:  Appropriable Water, Used Appropriately, Fosters Economic Development

This article is Part 3 of a series providing information about the resilience of Arizona’s water supplies during a time in which the news is dominated by stories about drought and scarcity.  As we noted in Part 1, Arizona has a very diverse water portfolio to draw on, including Colorado River water, in-state surface water, […]

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More than Just a Drop in the Bucket, Arizona Groundwater Supplies Pose Problems and Potential Solutions for Policy Makers

While the local and national press inundate us with articles about the dire nature of Arizona’s water supplies and questions about why people are even allowed to live in a desert, careful planning by water leaders over decades has created resilient responses to these challenges that are unmatched in the Southwest and perhaps the nation.  […]

As an Excellent Winter Transitions to an Uncertain Spring, How Secure are Arizona’s Water Supplies?

Arizona’s water supplies have been front page news for months.  Both local and national media have reported on increasingly serious shortages on the Colorado River and the inability of the states that rely on the River to reach consensus on how to share those shortages.  Other outlets have reported on issues relating to Arizona’s groundwater […]

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