JDTP Land Use Attorneys Successful in Landmark Water Case
On January 13, 2010, the Sacramento Superior Court issued the final Statement of Decision invalidating the nation’s largest agricultural-to-urban water transfer deal known as the Quantification Settlement Agreement (“QSA”). Alene Taber, shareholder, along with JDTP attorneys Kathryn Casey and Greg Powers represented one of the parties successful in this litigation. The Court found, among other things, that one of the QSA contracts, the QSA Joint Powers Authority, that provided funding for environmental mitigation activities violated the debt limits in Article XVI, Section 7 of the California Constitution and because the other QSA contracts were dependent upon the QSA JPA they were void and invalid as well. The Court also recognized that the Salton Sea was the single most significant environmental issue facing the QSA. Increased PM10 emissions at the Salton Sea caused by water transfers could jeopardize the attainment and maintenance of the federal PM10 standard in Imperial County.
