In Re State Water Resources Control Bd.

In an earlier opinion in these coordinated cases—State Water Resources Control Bd. Cases (2006) 136 Cal.App.4th 674 [ 39 Cal.Rptr.3d 189 ] (SWRCB Cases)—this court decided “eight appeals and three cross-appeals in seven coordinated cases” that “arose out of an omnibus water rights proceeding before the State Water Resources Control Board (the Board)” involving the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary. (Id. at p. 687.) One of the seven coordinated cases was Golden Gate Audubon Society v. State Water Resources Control Bd. (Super. Ct. Alameda County, 2003, No. 825585-9), a mandamus proceeding brought by five nonprofit organizations (collectively the Audubon Society parties). (SWRCB Cases, at pp. 718, 773.) Another one of the coordinated cases was Central Delta Water Agency v. State Water Resources Control Bd. (Super. Ct. S.F. City and County, 2003, No. 311502), a mandamus proceeding brought by six parties with interests in the Central Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (collectively the Central Delta parties). (SWRCB Cases, at pp. 718, 724.)

Ultimately, this court determined the Audubon Society parties and the Central Delta parties were entitled to essentially…