2019 15th A NNUA L
CALIFORNIA WATER LAW SYMPOSIUM
California Groundwater: SGMA & Beyond Hosted by
Saturday, February 2, 2019 UC Hastings College of the Law
ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM The California Water Law Symposium is a collaborative student-run event that consistently brings together leading minds in water law to discuss California’s critical water issues. Led this year by UC Hastings College of the Law, participant schools include USF School of Law; Golden Gate University School of Law; UC Berkeley School of Law; UC Davis School of Law; Stanford University Law School; and University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Aaron Baker
UC Hastings College of the Law ’08
Thomas Hicks
University of San Francisco School of Law ’05
Steve Westhoff
Susan Gilbert-Mil ler
Elizabeth Sarine
Madeleine Weisz
University of San Francisco School of Law ’11
UC Berkeley School of Law ’12
FACULTY ADVISORS
UC Davis School of Law ’13
Hol ly Doremus
Alice Kaswan
Harrison “Hap” Dunning
Paul Kibel
Richard M. Frank
Dave Owen
UC Berkeley School of Law UC Davis School of Law (King Hall) UC Davis School of Law (King Hall)
Jennifer L. Harder McGeorge School of Law
UC Davis School of Law ’14
University of San Francisco School of Law Golden Gate University School of Law UC Hastings College of the Law
9:00 am – 9:45 am Opening Remarks: UC Hastings Co-Chairs, Lauren Marshall & Olivia Molodanof Introductory Speaker: Dave Owen Keynote Presentation: Felicia Marcus, Fran Pravley & Richard Frank 9:45 am – 11:00 am Panel 1: SGMA for All: Ensuring Equal Access to Clean, Affordable Groundwater (Organized by UC Davis School of Law) Panel 2: Groundwater Contamination: Are We Stuck With It? (Organized by USF School of Law) Break 11:15 am – 12:30 pm Panel 3: Questions of Common Supply: SGMA Requirements for Interconnected Surface Water and Groundwater (Organized by Golden Gate University School of Law) Panel 4: New Developments in Tribal Water Rights: Agua Caliente & SGMA (Organized by Stanford University Law School) 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Lunch & Keynote Speakers: Felicia Marcus, Fran Pavley, and Richard Frank Break 1:45 pm – 3:00 pm Panel 5: The Elephant in the Room: Adjudication Under SGMA (Organized by University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law) Panel 6: Building a Strong Foundation: How GSAs are Structured Under SGMA (Organized by UC Berkeley School of Law) 3:15 - 5:00 pm Reception Sponsored by Briscoe Ivester & Bazel LLP
2019 SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZERS
LAUREN MARSHALL Chair, UC Hastings College of the Law
OLIVIA MOLODANOF Chair, UC Hastings College of the Law
HOLLY LOCKE UC Hastings College of the Law
KAITLIN SHERBER UC Hastings College of the Law
KELILAH FEDERMAN UC Hastings College of the Law
KELSEY GALANTICH UC Hastings College of the Law
AARON LEE UC Berkeley School of Law
CHELSEA MITCHELL UC Berkeley School of Law
TAYLOR WETZEL UC Berkeley School of Law
JUSTINE MASSEY UC Davis School of Law
PETER JANSEN UC Davis School of Law
DANIEL SANTOS Golden Gate University School of Law
JESSICA JANDURA Golden Gate University School of Law
L. VICTORIA WANG Golden Gate University School of Law
KATHLEEN FINNIGAN University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law
KEVIN BURSEY University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law
SARAH ROWAN Stanford University Law School
DONNA NI Stanford University Law School
DILLON ITRI University of San Francisco School of Law
ELIZABETH GINISE University of San Francisco School of Law
OPENING REMARKS Lauren Marshal l
UC Hastings, Co-Chair A third-year law student with an environmental law concentration at UC Hastings, Lauren became passionate about water supply issues as a Sacramento native and during her studies in Environmental Management at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Her law school internships have included Gross & Klein LLP, the Center for Biological Diversity, the California Coastal Commission, and currently, the State Water Resource Control Board Chief Council’s Office. She serves as a Senior Editor for the Hastings Environmental Law Journal, former president of the Hastings Environmental Law Association, and competitor at the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition.
Olivia Molodanof
UC Hastings, Co-Chair A third year law student at UC Hastings, Olivia graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a B.S. in Agricultural Business. Olivia is the Executive Manager for the Hastings Environmental Law Journal and a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Team. She recently published an article in the California Water Law Journal regarding SGMA and the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin. This past summer, Olivia was a summer associate at Hunton Andrews Kurth and this past fall semester she worked as a law clerk with Shute Mihaly & Weinberger.
INTRODUCTORY SPEAKER Dave Owen
Harry D. Sunderland Professor at UC Hastings He teaches courses in environmental, natural resources, water, and administrative law. His research focuses primarily on water resource management; recent projects have addressed groundwater use regulation, taxation of water consumption, the roles of federal regional offices, stream protection under the Clean Water Act, and policies to expedite dam removals and hydropower upgrades. Several of his articles have won awards, and in 2017, he received Hastings’ highest award for teaching. Before coming to Hastings in 2015, he practiced land use and water law in California and then taught at the University of Maine School of Law.
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
Felicia Marcus Calif. State Water Resources Control Board Chair, appointed by Governor Jerry Brown
Before her appointment to the Water Board, Felicia served as the Regional Administrator of the U.S. EPA Region IX in the Clinton Administration, head of Los Angeles’ Department of Public Works, the Western Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Executive VP/COO of the Trust for Public Land. She currently serves or has served in the past on the Public Policy Institute of California Statewide Leadership Council, Sustainable Conservation, USC-Kesten Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy, and the Center for Diversity and the Environment. She is also currently an Obama Administration appointee to the Commission on Environmental Cooperation-Joint Public Advisory Council (US, Mexico, Canada) and was a Schwarzenegger Administration appointee to the Delta Stewardship Council prior to being appointed to the Water Board.
Fran Pavley
Environmental Policy Director for the USC Schwarzenegger Institute Elected the first mayor of Agoura Hills in 1982, and served 14 years in the California Assembly and the State Senate; former State Senator Pavley authored landmark climate policies (AB 1493, AB 32, SB 32, and others) that have created a market for innovation and investment in clean energy and vehicles, which helped clean up our air, grow the economy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As chair of the Senate’s Natural Resources and Water Committee, she was able to pass the state’s first Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, promote policies to protect our ocean and watersheds, and adopt measures to create more sustainable local water supplies. She currently serves on several state and local advisory boards and committees.
Richard Frank
Professor of Environmental Practice and Director of the U. C. Davis School of Law’s California Environmental Law & Policy Center From 2006-2010, he served as Executive Director of the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment and as a Lecturer in Residence at the U.C. Berkeley School of Law. From 1977-2006, he served in various legal capacities with the California Department of Justice, culminating as Chief Deputy Attorney General for Legal Affairs (2003-06). During most of his career with the Department, Frank focused on land use and public land management issues. Mr. Frank received his law degree from the University of California at Davis in 1974.
SGMA for All: Ensuring Equal Access to Clean, Affordable Groundwater Panel Organized by UC Davis School of Law In 2012, California passed AB 685, making it the first state to legally recognize the human right to drinking water. Will we make good on this priority in the implementation of SGMA? How do we get safe and affordable drinking water to all Californians? What is fair to public and private interests in terms of access to underground basins/aquifers? Panelists will explore the barriers, competing needs and opportunities for equitable water management, and describe solutions for providing disadvantaged communities with clean, affordable groundwater.
Jennifer Clary
Horacio Amezquita
Kristin Dobbin
Sam Boland-Brien
Clean Water Action, Water Programs Manager
Regional Water Management Coordinator, Community Water Center
PANEL I
Manager, San Jerardo Housing Cooperative
Senior Engineer, State Water Resources Control Board
Groundwater Contamination: Are We Stuck With It? Panel Organized by University of San Francisco School of Law Sponsored by Hanson Bridgett LLP Groundwater nitrate contamination is a major issue in California, particularly throughout the Central Valley, one of the most productive agricultural areas in the United States; however, production comes at a cost: nitrate contamination of drinking water sources. Elevated nitrate concentrations in groundwater are a concern not only for private well owners, but also for community service districts and municipalities who rely on groundwater wells. Drinking water with a nitrate concentration greater than 10 mg/L NO3 -N can result in health effects such as low infant blood oxygen levels, miscarriages, and certain types of cancers. This panel will discuss the cause, effects, and remediation of elevated nitrate concentrations of groundwater in Central Valley, California.
Thomas Harter
Debi Ores
Nathan Metcalf
Theresa Dunham
Robert M. Hagan Endowed Chair for Water Resources Management and Policy, University of California, Davis
Partner, Hanson Bridgett
Staff Attorney, Community Water Center
Managing Shareholder, Somach Simmons & Dunn
Emel Wadhwani
Assistant Chief Counsel, State Water Resources Control Board
PANEL II
Questions of Common Supply: SGMA Requirements for Interconnected Surface Water and Groundwater Panel Organized by Golden Gate University School of Law Sponsored by Downey Brand LLP This panel will address the relationship between SGMA groundwater plans and various surface water issues such as surface flows, streams, water basins, and fisheries. The frequent hydrological connections between surface waters and groundwater leave in-stream flows and fisheries highly affected by groundwater pumping and SGMA. Panelists will discuss the structure of SGMA and how it addresses these water connections, as well as the effects they have on fisheries. They will explain how to determine what is an undesirable result under SGMA using undesirable results under this framework. These experts will also provide an overview of California law of surface water and groundwater rights, including the SGMA grandfather clause, the common supply doctrine, and the public trust doctrine.
Kevin O’Brien
Partner, Downey Brand LLP
Richard Frank
Professor of Environmental Practice; Director, UC Davis School of Law’s California Environmental Law & Policy Center
Andrew Sawyer
Assistant Chief Counsel, State Water Resources Control Board
PANEL III
Alletta (Letty) Belin Consultant, Alletta Belin Consulting LLC
Paul Stanton Kibel
Water and Natural Resource Counsel, Water and Power Law Group
New Developments in Tribal Water Rights: Agua Caliente and SGMA Panel Organized by Stanford University Law School Sponsored by Somach Simmons & Dunn Groundwater will continue to be an increasingly important resource for Indian tribes in the arid western states, as water supplies shrink under the pressure of growing populations and the effects of climate change. With the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent announcement that it would not hear the appeal in the Agua Caliente case, the application of tribal reserved water rights to groundwater is settled. This panel will address current developments in tribal water rights, the interaction between SGMA and tribal water rights, and the challenge of ensuring that tribes can plan a responsible water future for themselves and future generations in the face of competing interests. Stanford Law School faculty will discuss interaction between existing tribal land use laws and SGMA and the implications of the Agua Caliente decision beyond SGMA.
Heather Whiteman Runs Him Staff Attorney, Native American Rights Fund
Robert Anderson
Professor of Law; Director, University of Washington School of Law’s Native American Center
Barton H. “Buzz” Thompson, Jr.
Professor of Natural Resources Law, Stanford University; Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment
PANEL IV
The Elephant in the Room: Adjudication Under SGMA Panel Organized by University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law
Sponsored by Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard
This panel will discuss the courts’ role in balancing the need to achieve “sustainable yield” under SGMA and respecting the rights of groundwater pumpers. SGMA incorporates the existing framework for water rights in California, assuring that nothing in SGMA will alter surface or groundwater rights under the common law. However, SGMA was created to prevent the “undesirable results” caused by unmanaged groundwater pumping. This begs the question: how will these two promises be reconciled? This panel will discuss several related sub-topics: Assembly Bill 1390 and Senate Bill 226, SGMA in light of the Long Valley decision (1979), how basins adjudicated under SGMA will coalesce with bordering basins, conflicts between Groundwater Sustainability Plans and water rights, conflicts between technical data and court decisions concerning “sustainable yield,” and separation of powers between Groundwater Sustainability Agencies and the courts. The following list of panelists are all experts in the field and represent different interests that will provide for engaging discussion and debate.
The Honorable Ronald Robie
Associate Justice, Third District of the California Courts of Appeal
Christina Babbitt
Senior Manager, California Groundwater Program at Environmental Defense Fund
PANEL V
Eric Garner
Managing Partner, Best Best & Krieger LLP
Building a Strong Foundation: How GSAs are Structured Under SGMA Panel Organized by UC Berkeley School of Law Sponsored by Ellison Schneider Harris & Donlan LLP SGMA required Groundwater Sustainable Agencies (GSAs) to form in the State’s high and medium priority basins and sub-basins. Now, these newly formed GSAs are starting to create their Groundwater Sustainable Plans. This panel will provide an overview of existing GSA structures, how GSAs should be formed to ensure stakeholders are adequately represented, and provide a case study of SGMA implementation in Butte County—where many GSAs are managing the same sub-basins.
Nell Green Nylen
Senior Research Fellow, Wheeler Water Institute, Center for Law, Energy & the Environment
Nicole Kuenzi
Staff Counsel, State Water Resources Control Board
Paul Gosselin
Director, Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation
Adriana Renteria
Regional Water Management Coordinator, Community Water Center
PANEL VI
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