<html><head></head><body><div class="ydp30335c2fyahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">See the press release from the law offices of Stephan Volker below.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div><div><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1061111649/print" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1061111649/</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><h2 class="ydp6fcf0a6byiv0242751789slug" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><span style="font-size: 21px;">WESTERN WATER</span></h2><h1 class="ydp6fcf0a6byiv0242751789headline ydp6fcf0a6byiv0242751789featured_image_headline" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 21px;">Court reverses ruling on Calif. agricultural drainage permit</span></h1><span class="ydp6fcf0a6byiv0242751789authors" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.eenews.net/staff/Jeremy_P_Jacobs" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jeremy P. Jacobs</a>, E&E News reporter</span> Published: Monday, September 9, 2019<img src="https://www.eenews.net/image_assets/2019/09/image_asset_61463.jpg" alt="San Luis Drain. Photo credit: Robert Dawson/Smithsonian American Art Museum" style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 100%; max-width: 800px;" class=""><p class="ydp6fcf0a6byiv0242751789caption" style="border: 0px; margin: 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The San Luis Drain at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge is pictured here in 1985. <span class="ydp6fcf0a6byiv0242751789credit" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Robert Dawson/Smithsonian American Art Museum</span></p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A federal appeals court on Friday breathed new life into a long-running dispute concerning agricultural drainage in California's Central Valley.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling, saying it erred in its interpretation of a Clean Water Act permitting exception for agricultural discharges.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The case concerns a complex system in the San Joaquin Valley that captures agricultural wastewater that is rich in pollutants, like selenium, before it contaminates the area's groundwater aquifer.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A coalition of fishermen's groups led by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations has contended since 2001 that the Grasslands Bypass Project, a tile drainage system managed by the Bureau of Reclamation and San Luis & Delta Mendota Water Authority, requires a Clean Water Act permit for discharges into a navigable water.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The project funnels those waters through part of the San Luis Drain, Mud Slough, San Joaquin River and Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta east of San Francisco.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Reclamation and the water authority, however, point to an exception from permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act for discharges "composed entirely" of return flows from irrigation agriculture.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A lower court sided with Reclamation and the water district, dismissing all of the challengers' claims.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit, however, reversed that decision on several grounds.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In particular, the three-judge panel sided with the challengers that the lower court improperly placed the burden on them to show that the discharges were not covered by the exception — instead of vice versa.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"The defendant carries the burden to demonstrate the applicability of a statutory exception to the CWA," Judge Milan Smith <a href="http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/09/06/17-17130.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">wrote</a> before quoting from the exception. "Defendants had the burden of establishing that the Project's discharges were 'composed entirely of return flows from irrigated agriculture.'"</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Additionally, the court disagreed with the lower court's reading of "entirely" in the exception for agricultural water. The lower court said that it must be composed of a "majority" of water produced in the crop process, contending that "entirely" would lead to "an absurd result."</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The 9th Circuit disagreed, noting that both the challenges — as well as Reclamation and the water district — said the court erred in that interpretation.</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The judges remanded the case to federal district court for further proceedings. There remain significant disputes in the case between the two sides, including whether there is evidence proving there is water entering the drain system that is unrelated to agricultural flows.</p><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/GreenwireJeremy" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@GreenwireJeremy</a></span> <span style="border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0.65em; vertical-align: baseline;">Email: <a href="mailto:jjacobs@eenews.net" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">jjacobs@eenews.net</a></span></div></div></div><div><br></div><div class="ydp30335c2fsignature"><table class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormalTable" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="left" width="672" style="font-family: -webkit-standard; border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 6.75pt; margin-right: 6.75pt;"><tbody><tr style="min-height: 99pt;"><td width="192" valign="top" style="width: 2in; padding: 0in 6pt; min-height: 99pt;"><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 6pt;"> </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Shruti, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Stephan C. Volker</span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Alexis E. Krieg</span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Stephanie L. Clarke</span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Jamey M.B. Volker (Of Counsel)</span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Shruti, sans-serif;"> </span></p></td><td width="306" valign="top" style="width: 229.5pt; padding: 0in 6pt; min-height: 99pt;"><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 6pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Shruti, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-align: center; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: CG Times, serif;">Law Offices of</span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-align: center; line-height: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: CG Times, serif;">S<b>tephan </b>C.<b> </b>V<b>olker</b></span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: CG Times, serif;"></span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-align: center; line-height: 13.55pt;"><span style="font-family: CG Times, serif;">1633 University Avenue</span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: CG Times, serif;">Berkeley, California 94703</span><span style="font-family: Shruti, sans-serif;"></span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: CG Times, serif;">Tel: 510/496-0600 </span><span style="font-family: WP IconicSymbolsA;"></span><span style="font-family: CG Times, serif;"> Fax: 510/845-1255</span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 2.9pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: CG Times, serif;">e-mail: <span class="ydpc705eaeHypertext" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">svolker@volkerlaw.com</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Shruti, sans-serif;"></span></p></td><td width="174" valign="top" style="width: 130.5pt; padding: 0in 6pt; min-height: 99pt;"><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 6pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Shruti, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 6pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Shruti, sans-serif;"> 10.497</span></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 6pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Shruti, sans-serif;"> </span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" align="right" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-align: right;">September 9, 2019</p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" align="right" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-align: right;"> </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><u>PRESS RELEASE</u> <u>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</u></i></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-align: center;"> </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-align: center;">ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS WIN COURT VICTORY AGAINST</p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-align: center; line-height: 12pt;">CENTRAL VALLEY AGRICULTURAL POLLUTERS<b></b></p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><u>Contacts</u>: </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Noah Oppenheim, Executive Director, PCFFA- Tel: (415) 561-5080 Email: noah@ifrfish.org</p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Bill Jennings, Executive Director, CSPA -Tel: (209) 464-5067 Email: deltakeep@me.com</p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Stephan Volker, Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs -Tel: (510) 496-0600 Email: svolker@volkerlaw.com</p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> On Friday, September 6, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed commercial and sports fishermen, biologists and conservation groups a major victory in their efforts to clean up contaminated discharges from the Central Valley’s Grasslands Bypass Project. Owned and operated by the federal Bureau of Reclamation and local irrigation districts, the Project collects wastewater from 97,400 acres of farmed and unfarmed lands within California’s Central Valley. The Project discharges substantial quantities of selenium and other pollutants into state and federal wildlife refuges and thence the San Joaquin River, the Delta and San Francisco Bay. The Court unanimously reversed Federal District Judge Kimberly Mueller’s dismissal of their lawsuit against the Project, ruling that a Clean Water Act discharge permit is required for the Project despite the Act’s exemption of return flows from irrigated agriculture so long as any part of its wastewater is generated by activities unrelated to crop production. </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> In reaching its decision, the Court issued three landmark rulings under the Clean Water Act’s exemption for discharges from irrigated agriculture. First, the Court held that the Defendants had the burden of establishing that their discharges were “composed entirely of return flows from irrigated agriculture.” Second, the Court held that the exception was limited to “only those flows that do not contain additional discharges from activities unrelated to crop production.” Third, the Court held that the District Judge erred in ruling that the exemption applied so long as a “majority” of the wastewater originated from agricultural activities. The Court ruled that only those discharges that are composed <i>entirely </i>of return flows from irrigated agriculture were exempt. </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> Applying these rulings to the commingled discharges of the Grasslands Bypass Project, the Court held that all of the Plaintiffs’ claims should proceed. First, the commingled discharges from a solar project were not exempt even though they did not comprise a majority of the Project’s wastestream, since only those discharges that “were composed entirely of return flows from irrigated agriculture were exempt.” Second, the Court overturned the District Judge’s dismissal of the Plaintiffs’ claims regarding polluted ground water that seeped into the Project’s massive drain from unfarmed lands including highways and residences. Because those commingled discharges were not composed entirely of return flows from irrigated agriculture, they did not fall within the exemption. Third, the Court held the fact that these non-exempt flows were commingled with discharges from irrigated agriculture did not bring them within the exemption. </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> Accordingly, because all of the Project’s discharges are commingled, all of the Plaintiffs’ claims were proper. Therefore the Court reversed the District Judge’s dismissal of them. </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> The Plaintiffs praised the Court’s ruling. Noah Oppenheim, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, stated: “We are gratified that the Ninth Circuit agreed with our arguments and held the Bureau of Reclamation to account for discharging massive quantities of pollutants into the San Joaquin River, the Bay-Delta Estuary, and ultimately San Francisco Bay without the discharge permit that is required under the Clean Water Act. This ruling will help protect the salmon and salmon fishing jobs that require a healthy Delta free of toxic discharges from the San Joaquin drainage, as well as restore the vast populations of salmon and steelhead that historically swam up the Delta and the San Joaquin River.” </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, stated: “After decades of inaction by our federal government to halt the contamination that has destroyed habitat for our fish and wildlife, it is reassuring to see our federal court issue a strong ruling enforcing the Clean Water Act’s mandate for fishable and swimable rivers.” </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> Stephan Volker, Lead Counsel for the Plaintiffs, agreed that “the Court’s Ruling ends over forty years of evasion of the Clean Water Act’s strict requirement for discharge permits. We are pleased that the Ninth Circuit issued a well-reasoned ruling enforcing this vital statute and protecting our rivers.” </p><p class="ydpc705eaeMsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: medium; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 24px;"> </p><div> The Ninth Circuit’s September 6, 2019 Order is attached in PDF format. Additional documents pertaining to the litigation can be obtained from the Volker Law Offices.</div></div></div></body></html>