Environmental and Natural Resources

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 […]

May 23, 2023 | 10 min read | Tagged: Arizona, Bureau of Reclamation, California, Climate Change, Drought, Drought Contingency Plan, Interim Guidelines, Nevada

Fred Breedlove Counsel

John D. Burnside Counsel

John Habib Associate

L. William Staudenmaier Partner

Biden Administration Considers Interrupting the “Law of the River” Status Quo

by Fred Breedlove The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has released its Near-term Colorado River Operations Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, analyzing three paths forward for managing the Colorado River in light of the potentially dire consequences if they fail to act. The Draft SEIS describes three potential choices without making a specific recommendation: (1) do […]

April 12, 2023 | 2 min read | Tagged: Arizona, Bureau of Reclamation, Colorado River, Drought

Fred Breedlove Counsel

Basin States Agree to Reduced Colorado River Deliveries

by Fred Breedlove Less than two weeks ago, we wrote that the Department of Interior proposed reducing Colorado River deliveries in 2022 by 480,000 acre-feet and that Assistant Secretary Trujillo had asked the Basin States for comments on this proposal. Wasting no time at all, the Basin States responded last week. In a letter dated […]

April 25, 2022 | 1 min read | Tagged: Basin States, Colorado River, Drought, Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, Tanya Trujillo, water

Fred Breedlove Counsel

Feds Considering Emergency Reductions to Colorado River Deliveries

by Fred Breedlove In an April 8, 2022 letter to each of the seven Colorado River basin states, the Interior Department asked for comments by April 22 about its plan to reduce releases from Glen Canyon Dam to 7.0 million acre-feet (maf) this year, a reduction of 480,000 acre-feet. In the letter, Assistant Secretary for […]

April 15, 2022 | 1 min read | Tagged: Drought, Glen Canyon Damn, Lake Powell, Tanya Trujillo, water

Fred Breedlove Counsel

California Water Law Update

By Katherine A. McKitterick and Sean M. Sherlock To address the worsening drought, on April 1, 2015, Governor Brown issued Executive Order B-29-15 (“Executive Order”), mandating a 25% reduction in potable urban water consumption. In response, the State Water Resources Control Board has passed emergency regulations that will directly affect water districts and users. And […]

May 11, 2015 | 5 min read | Tagged: California, Conservation, Drought, Proposition 218, state water resources control board, tiered rate, water

Katherine McKitterick Nessan Associate

Sean M. Sherlock Partner