National Audubon Society v. Department of Water & Power

ORDER

■On May 21, 1979, plaintiffs, NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, the MONO LAKE COMMITTEE, the LOS ANGELES AUDUBON SOCIETY, and four individuals, filed suit against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the “DEPARTMENT” or “DWP”) in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Alpine. The gravamen of that lawsuit is plaintiffs’ assertion that the defendant’s diversion of water from the Mono Lake Basin is having a serious deleterious effect on the Basin’s environment. The complaint seeks relief under five causes of action: Violation of the public trust, violation of California Constitution Article XVI, section 6 (prohibiting a gift by the state of a state asset), a quiet title action to establish the public trust rights in the water of the Basin, public and private nuisance (in the form of mud and dust resulting from the lowering of the lake level), and violation of California Constitution, Article X, section 4 (which prohibits obstruction of navigable waters).

On June 22, 1979, the defendant answered the complaint in the superior court. After extensive discovery and the setting of tentative…