Courts uphold litter application in Oklahoma vs. Poultry Industry case

In the on-going conflict between Oklahoma and Arkansas, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson has used a variety of arguments to get U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell to enjoin poultry producers in Arkansas from applying poultry litter to pastures in the Illinois River watershed. Edmondson has argued unsuccessfully that litter is a hazardous waste under CERCLA and RCRA. He recently argued that the litter is the source of potentially harmful bacteria in the Illinois River.

This week's ruling by Judge Frizzell said that Edmondson failed to make this case. See: http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2008/02/16/news/021708azpoultrylawsuit.txt

The bar is high in these broad claims cases. Science is not advanced enough to prove causality in these complex systems without substantial data collection and process analysis.

Three cases challenge the scope of the Clean Water Act

Law.com -

Three cases challenging the scope of the Clean Water Act will be argued Feb. 21, testing themes of federalism and commerce clause power that were much at issue during Alito's confirmation hearings. The cases have environmentalists worried about how Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. will ultimately come down.

In two of the cases, Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, the issue is whether, under the commerce clause, the Clean Water Act protects certain wetlands that are adjacent to tributaries of navigable waters covered by the law. In the third case, S.D. Warren Co. v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection, the justices will decide whether the mere fact that a river flows through a dam produces a "discharge" that triggers federal jurisdiction under the act.

Daily Herald - Utah should end water subsidies

Even GOOGLE honored World Water Day today!

Check out google's mast today - pretty evocative.

Also, check their link honoring World Water Day (March 22, 2005):

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/22/1530217

Great articles on water rights and market forces in privatization.

IN THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS

----ooOoo----
Summit Water Distribution Company, a Utah nonprofit corporation; Leon H. Saunders, an individual; Stuart A. Knowles, an individual; Trilogy Limited, L.P., a Georgia limited partnership; and Lynn Nelson, an individual,
Plaintiffs and Appellants,
v.
Mountain Regional Water Special Service District, a body politic of the State of Utah; Douglas W. Evans, Assistant General Manager of Mountain Regional Water Special Service District; James W. Carbine, General Manager of Mountain Regional Water Special Service District; David E. Hansen, Summit County District Engineer; Steve Jenkins, Director of the Summit County Health Department; the Governing Board of Mountain Regional Water Special Service District, Shauna L. Kerr, Robert Richer, and Kenneth E. Woolstenhulme, in their official capacities; and John Does 1-10,
Defendants and Appellees.

OPINION(For Official Publication)

Case No. 20040091-CA

F I L E D(February 17, 2005)
2005 UT App 66

¶1 Summit Water Distribution Company; Leon H. Sanders; Stuart A. Knowles; Trilogy Limited, L.P.; and Lynn Nelson (collectively, Summit Water) appeal the trial court's determinations that Summit County was authorized by the County Land Use Development and Management Act (CLUDMA), see Utah Code Ann. §§ 17-27-101 to -1003 (2001 & Supp. 2004), to adopt Ordinance No. 436 and, therefore, that Summit Water's complaint was untimely under the appeals provision of CLUDMA, see Utah Code Ann. § 17-27-1001 (Supp. 2004).

Check out the Water Resources IMPACT Journal

The American Water Resources Association journal Water Resources IMPACT provides articles addressing many thematic water resource management issues.

The archived editions (pre-2004) are available online at no charge - go to http://www.awra.org/impact/ . More recent issues are only available to members of the society. The archived articles are worth looking through.

In particular, the July 2002 issue provides a great overview of the policies, practices, and science of water quality assessment in the US -

http://www.awra.org/impact/0207impact.pdf


Foster and Matlock wrote a great article (OK, I am biased) on the history of the CWA in the Sep 2001 issue, among other great articles -

http://www.awra.org/impact/0109impact.pdf

The Jan 2002 issue was sub-titled "The New Economy of Water" and provides six feature articles from as diverse a group as Mark Rosegrant (CGIAR), Penelope Brook (Worldbank) and Debra Coy (C. Schwab)-

http://www.awra.org/impact/0201impact.pdf

Linkmania

The Colorado River Water Conservation District has a list of nearly 900 water-issue related links indexed under the following headings. Holy cow.

Aridity - study of dry areas
Arizona
Bureau of Reclamation
California
Climate
Colorado River Compact
Colorado River Delta
Colorado Water
Agencies:
State of
Colorado
Statewide Agencies
Regional Agencies
West Slope
Conservation/ Xeriscape
Drought
Education
El Nino/ La Nina/ ENSO - influencing factor of Colorado's weather
Endangered Species
Federal Agencies
General Water Links
Glossaries/ Water
Term Definitions
Groundwater
Gunnison River Basin Links
Images/ Photo Archives/
Maps
Infrastructure/Dams
International Water
Links
Irrigation/ Agriculture
Klamath River Basin
Issues - conflict involving endangered species, tribal rights, etc. in Oregon
Law
Mainstem of Colorado
River Links
Media
Reporting on Water
Native American Water
Issues
Nevada
New Mexico
Policy
Organizations - Colorado
Policy Organizations
- National
Private Water
Development Companies
Recreation
Salinity - significant water quality issue on Colorado, Arkansas Rivers
Streamflows, Hydrology and
related data
Utah
Water
Quality
Water Resources Agencies
Watershed
Groups
White River Basin Links
Wyoming Yampa
River Basin Links

Wetlands law under the Clean Water Act

"Look Before You Fill," Michael Keller, Utah Bar Journal, Nov. 2004.