BEC Drought Water Bank Lawsuit Update

Butte Environmental Council’s DWB lawsuit continues through the court system.

In brief overview, February 2009 the Governor of California issued a proclamation claiming an emergency drought,
a declaration that provides an exemption to the California Environmental Quality Act for implementing increased
water transfers. His action would have facilitated the taking of additional water from the Sacramento Valley to the
San Joaquin Valley. BEC hired the legal team of Lippe, Gaffney and Wagner to challenge the exemption on the basis
that a drought is not an emergency situation caused by nature but rather a regulatory drought caused by the State’s
mismanagement of the people’s water.

California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and the California Water Impact Network joined BEC as partners (in
name only) in the case in April 2009. A long list of water districts and agencies were added to the State’s case (California Department of Water Resources et al.) as parties in interest.
The State filed two major efforts to stop the case from being heard, and these efforts failed. The merits of the case
were heard by Judge Vilardi on January 25, 2010.

The court’s docket has the Case Summary and Register of Actions, containing the many legal documents submitted
to date. For full detail see http://apps.alameda.courts.ca.gov/domainweb/html/index.html. Enter case no.
RG09446708.

Since the Decision of the Court was filed (on March 15, 2010), many additions to the Register of Actions have been
made. Most recently (Dec. 2, 2010), there is a Notice of Motion Filed for Butte Environmental Council. This document
sets a hearing date for Tues., Feb. 1, 2011 at 2:00 pm in Pleasanton before Judge Alice Vilardi. Since Judge Vilardi’s
finding in BEC et al.’s favor last March, the actions filed regard the settlement of the case.

From the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of the Environmental News.