One fallout from the Swinomish v. Ecology decision in 2013 was the Department of Ecology’s instruction to Skagit County that it could no longer accept permit-exempt wells in the Skagit basin as proof of an adequate water supply for building permits. RIchard and Marnie Fox purchased and subdivided a property in Skagit County near the Town of Lyman before 2000,…
Tag: due process
Potential Legislative and Regulatory Solutions to the Water Availability Train Wreck*
Preservation of the quality and quantity of water in natural rivers, streams and lakes is vital to the long-term health of our environment. The physical and legal availability of water is also essential to the economic health of our state and its diverse urban, suburban and rural communities. The lack of availability of water leads inevitably to building permit moratoriums,…
Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality of Municipal Water Law (Again)
In what appears to have been an agonizing 6-3 decision by the Washington Supreme Court (it took over 20 months to issue a decision after oral argument), the municipal water law of 2003 (MWL)[i] has been upheld against an as-applied constitutional challenge. The new decision in Cornelius v. Ecology[ii] resolves substantial uncertainty about the legal effect of the MWL as…