Articles

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Any attorneys out there interested in some MCLE credit are welcome to tune in to a webinar this Friday, at 12 pm PDT, hosted by the Real Property Law Section of the California State Bar.  I'll be debating  Jennifer Maier, of the Environmental Law Foundation, about whether the public trust doctrine &# ...

This week, Pacific Legal Foundation filed an amicus brief in Environmental Law Foundation v. State Water Resources Control Board.  The brief, filed on behalf of the California Farm Bureau Federation, addresses the constitutional consequences of applying the public trust doctrine to groundwater extraction.  The public trust doctrine is a common l ...

Water Rights — The Public Trust Doctrine and The Blob In 1958 American audiences first saw Steve McQueen as a teenager trying to save his town from The Blob, the ever-expanding amoeba-like alien monster that threatened to engulf everything in its path.  This week, almost fifty-six years later, our own Damien Schiff filed this amicus brief ...

Earlier this month, the Sacramento Superior Court held a hearing in Environmental Law Foundation v. State Water Resources Control Board, in which the environmentalist plaintiffs are seeking an expansion of the public trust doctrine to groundwater extraction that negatively affects navigable waters.  We filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Califo ...

This week, the Sacramento Superior Court ruled in Environmental Law Foundation v. State Water Resources Control Board that the public trust doctrine extends to groundwater extraction that affects navigable waters.  The decision is an expansion of the landmark and controversial 1983 decision of the California Supreme Court in National Audubon Socie ...

Last month, the Sacramento Superior Court issued a decision in Environmental Law Foundation v. State Water Resources Control Board, holding among other things that Siskiyou County cannot issue any new well permits unless it assesses the impacts of new groundwater withdrawals on the Scott River.  The decision is the first of a California court hold ...

This week we submitted an amicus letter on behalf of the California Farm Bureau Federation urging the California Supreme Court to accept Siskiyou County’s immediate appeal from a state trial court decision.  That decision holds that the public trust doctrine extends to groundwater extraction that affects navigable waters.  The letter argues ...

Water rights and the public trust doctrine going underground We filed this amicus letter brief in Environmental Law Foundation v. State Water Resources Control Board asking the California Supreme Court to review a disturbing opinion from the Court of Appeal. Historically, the “public trust doctrine” referred to a common law rule that ...

Last week we noted the filing of our amicus letter on behalf of the California Farm Bureau Federation, to support Siskiyou County’s request for the California Supreme Court to review immediately the trial court’s decision extending the public trust doctrine to groundwater extraction.  Shortly thereafter, the Real Party in Interest envi ...