Water, Energy, Environmental,
& Public Agency
Law Experience

• Pre-1914 surface water rights.
  
  
• Post-1914 surface water rights, including representation before the State Water Resources Control Board.
  
  
• Riparian water rights.
  
  
• Groundwater rights, management (AB 3030 plans), and regulation by county ordinance.
  
  
• Integration of surface water and groundwater resources through conjunctive use and water banking.
  
  
• Municipal water treatment, transmission, and distribution systems - development and operation.
  
  
• Surface water and groundwater quality - agricultural drainage, TMDLs, Federal Clean Water Act, and California Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act.
  
  
• California Environmental Quality Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
  
  
• Endangered Species Acts.
  
  
• Public agency law, including Brown Act, Public Records Act, Fair Political Practices Act, conflicts of interest, officers and directors, government contracts, and public rights of way, easements, and licenses.
  
  
• Proposition 218 fees, taxes and assessments, Improvement District Act, and rate setting procedures.
  
  
• Project development agreements and transactional documents for major projects involving multiple participants.
  
  
• Joint powers agency law.
  
  
• Acquisition of investor-owned utility service area by a public agency.
  
  
• FERC hydropower license requirements and compliance, especially relating to fisheries and reservoir recreation.
  
  
• FERC hydropower relicensing.
  
  
• Salmonids and other fish species - study plans, mitigation plans, and management plans.
  
  
• Riparian habitat restoration projects - planning and implementation.
  
  
• Reservoir recreation management, operations, and planning issues.
  
  
• Natural gas-fired and small hydropower generation facilities and electric transmission lines.
  
  
• Electric utility industry restructuring.