Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources

25th Annual Water Law Conference: Changing Values, Changing Conflicts

February 22-23, 2007
San Diego, CA
Hotel del Coronado

Conference Schedule

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Welcome Reception and Early Registration

Thursday, February 22, 2007

7:00 a.m.
Registration and Continental Breakfast

7:30 a.m. – 8:55 a.m.
Fundamentals of Water Law
This pre-conference session will provide participants with a solid grounding in the fundamentals of water law, in order to prepare them for the more sophisticated discussions of the conference panels.

Moderator:
Professor Bo Abrams, Florida A&M University, College of Law, Orlando, FL

Panelists:
Stephen Bartell, U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Washington, DC
Jennifer Gimbel, U.S. Department of the Interior, Denver, CO
R. Timothy Weston, K & L Gates, Harrisburg, PA

9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
Welcome

Chair, ABA Water Resources Committee:
Adam W. Gravley, Buck & Gordon LLP, Seattle, WA

Program Co-Chairs:
Alf W. Brandt, Assembly Committee on Water, Parks & Wildlife, Sacramento, CA
Janice M. Schneider, Latham & Watkins LLP, Washington, DC

9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Plenary Presentation 1: The 25-Year Perspective on Water Law
This opening panel dialogue will introduce the conference theme of “Changing Values – Changing Conflicts,” by discussing the changing nature of water conflicts, the major changes in values reflected in broadening perspectives on water allocation and use, and the origins, contexts, and effects of those changes. The panel will identify the most significant changes in water law over the past quarter century and the underlying forces responsible for them.

Moderator:
Professor Janet Neuman, Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland, OR

Panelists:
David Getches, Dean, University of Colorado School of Law, Boulder, CO
Roger Marzulla, Marzulla & Marzulla, Washington, DC
The Honorable Ronald B. Robie, California State Court of Appeal, District 3, Sacramento, CA

10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Networking Break

10:45 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Plenary Presentation 2: Agency Deference: Where are the Courts Going?
The deference panel will focus on whether the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Rapanos v United States signals that the Court will grant greater deference than in the past to federal agency interpretations of their statutory authority. This question arises not only in the immediate context in which the Rapanos decision arose, but also in terms of federal agency interpretations of their authority under various federal environmental laws, such as the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and others.

Moderator:
Kim Diana Connolly, Associate Professor, University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, SC

Panelists:
Matt Kenna, Western Environmental Law Center, Durango, CO
Roderick E. Walston, Best Best & Krieger LLP, Walnut Creek, CA

12:00 noon – 12:30 p.m.
Luncheon

12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Keynote Speaker
Justice Gregory J. Hobbs, Jr., Colorado Supreme Court, Denver, CO

1:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Breakout Session 1: Instream Use and Changing Values (ESA, Urban Streams, Recreation)
Panelists will examine and debate the complex changing values, policies and laws that have in the last quarter century fundamentally reversed the flow of water out-of-stream for consumptive uses under the prior appropriation doctrine, to leave it instream for fish habitat, recreation and water quality purposes, and the future implications of this trend.

Moderator:
Michael J. Pearce, Maguire & Pearce PLLC, Phoenix, AZ

Panelists:
Steve Macaulay, Executive Director, California Urban Water Agencies, Sacramento, CA
Martha O. Pagel, Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, Salem, OR
Norm Semanko, Idaho Water Users Association, Inc., Boise, ID

1:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Breakout Session 2: Conflicting Sovereigns, Conflicting Rights
The panel will discuss recent developments in the interpretation and application of federal reserved water rights, including state court interpretation, marketing of reserved rights, and applying reserved rights to federally-acquired land.

Moderator:
Jennifer Gimbel, U.S. Department of the Interior, Denver, CO

Panelists:
Major Jeremy N. Jungreis, Special Counsel, Environmental Law, U.S. Marine Corps, Western Area Counsel Office, Camp Pendleton, CA
Scott B. McElroy, Greene Meyer & McElroy PC, Boulder, CO
Tim Vollmann, Attorney at Law, Albuquerque, NM

3:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Networking Break

3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Breakout Session 3: Promoting Conservation by Law
As societal values have changed over the last 25 years, the increasing demand for water conservation has been recognized but, can this demand be met within the bounds of our existing water laws or does the existing law, particularly the doctrine of prior appropriation, undermine the goal of conservation?

Moderator:
Mary Ann Dickinson, Executive Director, California Urban Water Conservation Council, Sacramento, CA

Panelists:
Stephen Arakawa, Group Manager, Resource Management, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Craig Bell, Executive Director, Western States Water Council, Midvale, UT
David E. Filippi, Stoel Rives, LLP, Portland, OR

3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Breakout Session 4: Emerging Issue – International Conflicts (All-American Canal)
This panel will address the challenges of international border disputes over water where two nations share the same watershed. In particular, this panel will consider the current litigation involving the effects of lining of the All-American Canal on the groundwater resources across the border in Mexico.

Moderator:
Jim Lochhead, Brownstein, Hyatt & Farber Schreck, P.C., Glenwood Springs, CO

Panelists:
Professor John Leshy, University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, CA
Robert Snow, U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Washington, DC
Jay Stein, Stein & Brockmann PA, Santa Fe, NM

5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Reception

Friday, February 23, 2007

7:00 a.m.
Registration and Continental Breakfast

7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Ethics Program: Ex Parte Contacts (ethics credit applied for)
This panel will examine how ex parte rules for water regulators affect the practice of water lawyers, particularly in light of the trend toward alternative dispute resolution.

Panelists:
Alf W. Brandt, Assembly Committee on Water, Parks & Wildlife, Sacramento, CA
Arthur Gary, Associate Solicitor for General Law, U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Washington, DC
Jeff B. Kray, Marten Law Group PLLC, Seattle, WA

8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Plenary Presentation 3: Clean Water Act Permits for Water Transfers
In the context of EPA’s proposed “water transfers” rule and related federal court litigation, panelists will discuss whether the Clean Water Act requires discharge permits for water deliveries between watersheds. The panel consists of EPA officials, as well as leaders from states on both sides of this important and controversial issue.

Moderator:
Ann R. Klee, Crowell & Moring, former General Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC

Panelists:
Roger R. Martella, Jr., Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC
Karen Smith, Deputy Director, Arizona Department of Water Resources, Phoenix, AZ
James M. Tierney, Assistant Attorney General and Watershed Inspector General, New York State Office of Attorney General Environmental Protection Bureau, Albany, NY

9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Networking Break

9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Plenary Presentation 4: The Changing Interface between Law and Science
This panel will address the role and possible limitations of science and the interactions among law, science and policy in determining adequate flows for fish and overall fishery health in the context of a specific hypothetical problem.

Moderator:
Barb Cosens, University of Idaho, College of Law, Moscow, ID

Panelists:
Michael Bogert, Counselor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC
Dr. Stephen L. Katz, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Washington, DC
Chairman Rebecca Miles, Nez Perce Tribe, Lapwai, ID
Dr. William Woessner, University of Montana, Department of Geosciences, Missoula, MT

10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Networking Break

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Plenary Presentation 5: Forum for Changing Values: Do We Still Need Adjudications?
Water adjudication has provided a legal framework for significant water settlements. Questions arise about the efficiency and fairness of stream adjudications. What do we know about the costs of this ponderous paper blizzard? Is adjudication the most effective means to balance the interests of finality and certainty with the need for adaptive management? Once tribal claims are resolved, does the process itself have a disparate impact on individual minorities and low income people? Are there alternative approaches to meet these concerns? The panel will consider how our legal process can best serve the public’s interest in water during the next 25 years.

Moderator:
Peter W. Sly, Colby College, Brooklin, ME

Panelists:
Dr. Bonnie G. Colby, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Charles T. DuMars, Law & Resource Planning Associates, PC, Albuquerque, NM
Ramsey L. Kropf, Patrick, Miller & Kropf, P.C., Aspen, CO

12:00 noon – 12:30 p.m.
Luncheon

12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Hot Topics: Climate Change

Panelist:
Fabian Núñez, Speaker of the State Assembly, Sacramento, CA

25th Annual Water Law Conference Navigation

Water Law Sponsors

Cruise Ship Level

Networking Break Sponsors
Daniel B. Stephens & Associates, Inc.
Downey Brand LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP

Reception Sponsors
Buck & Gordon LLP
Clyde Snow Sessions & Swenson
Daniel B. Stephens & Associates, Inc.
Fennemore Craig, P.C.
McQuaid Bedford & Van Zandt LLP
Patrick Miller & Kropf, PC
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, P.C.
Somach, Simmons & Dunn
Stein & Brockmann, P.A.

Other
The Water Report

Registration and Receptions

(Cash bars)

Registration Reception
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Skip the line at the registration desk on Thursday morning by checking in at this reception.

Welcome Reception
Thursday, February 22, 2007
5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Join meeting attendees and program presenters to network and celebrate the 25 year anniversary of the Annual Water Law Conference.