LSI 2010 NRD Santa Fe final conference binder 072110.pdf

Brian D. Israel of Arnold & Porter LLP Speaker 5a: 17
The “Mono Lake” case
(California Supreme Court 1983)
Holding: The public trust doctrine applied to nonnavigable
tributaries of navigable bodies of
water.
The State must exercise “continuous supervision
and control” over the resources in the trust. It
must ensure that no water diversions needlessly
destroy trust values.
Thus, the State may modify or revoke water
rights where necessary to accommodate trust
uses.
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The “Mono Lake” case
(California Supreme Court 1983)
Mono Lake is also significant because Los Angeles
had argued that responsibility should be apportioned
among 117 other individuals and entities who
claimed rights to divert water from the tributaries. In
other words, there were multiple diverters (though
Los Angeles was the largest).
But when the case was remanded, the Water Board
specifically rejected an argument that the public trust
limitations had to be enforced against all diverters,
or not at all. The entire burden to restore Mono
Lake was placed on Los Angeles.
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Law Seminars International | Natural Resource Damages | 07/15/10 in Santa Fe, NM