Restore Hetch Hetchy v. City & Cnty. of S.F.

*420 *869 Appellant Restore Hetch Hetchy appeals from the trial court's judgment sustaining appellees' City and County of San Francisco, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency, Turlock Irrigation District, and Modesto Irrigation District, demurrer. Restore Hetch Hetchy petitioned the trial court for a writ of mandate to declare the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and O'Shaughnessy Dam unreasonable methods of diverting water under article X, section 2 of the California Constitution (hereafter, art. X, § 2 ). The trial court concluded Restore Hetch Hetchy's position was preempted by the Raker Act, (See Pub.L. No. 63-41 (Dec. 19, 1913) 38 Stat. 242 ; hereafter, "Raker Act") federal legislation granting certain rights-of-way to San Francisco subject to various conditions, and that actions brought under article X, section 2 are subject to a four-year statute of limitations that began running when article X, section 2 became effective in 1928. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Hetch Hetchy Valley is a long, narrow, and granite-cliff bordered valley through which a portion of the Tuolumne River…