Clients
The following is a list of our public agency clients (click for details):
- Turlock Irrigation District
- Walnut Energy Center Authority
- Turlock Mosquito Abatement District
- Utica Water & Power Authority
- Tuolumne Wind Project Authority
- North San Joaquin Water Conservation District
- Marina Coast Water District
- Joint Powers Agencies
- Merquin County Water District
- Don Pedro Recreation Agency
- County of Butte
- Tuolumne-Stanislaus Integrated Regional Water Management Authority
- Tres Pinos Water District
Turlock Irrigation District
Founded in 1887, TID is the oldest irrigation district in California. TID is governed by a 5-member Board of Directors. TID has approximately 450 employees. TID’s calendar year 2016 budget was $372,000,000. TID diverts some 500,000 acre-feet of water per year from the lower Tuolumne River pursuant to pre-1914 and post-1914 water rights for use within its 308 square mile irrigation service area. TID operates a small domestic water system. TID is also a vertically integrated retail electric utility with hydroelectric, natural gas, wind, solar, fuel cell, coal, and geothermal generation resources, transmission, and retail distribution to approximately 100,000 electric customers within a 662-square mile service area, primarily within Stanislaus and Merced Counties. TID is the 68.46% owner and project manager of the Don Pedro Project (FERC Project No. 2299). Don Pedro Reservoir, with a maximum storage capacity of 2,030,000 acre-feet, is the sixth largest reservoir in the State of California and the largest reservoir in the State not owned by the Federal or State government. TID also owns and/or operates nine small hydroelectric power plants. This law firm has been outside General Counsel to the Turlock Irrigation District since the 1930’s. Roger Masuda has been acting as General Counsel since December 1976.
[For their website and more information click here.]
Walnut Energy Center Authority
The Walnut Energy Center Authority is a joint powers agency formed in 2003 by Turlock Irrigation District and the Merced Irrigation District for the purpose of developing, financing, and operating the Walnut Energy Center, which a 250 MW natural gas-fired, combustion-turbine based, combined-cycle generating plant. The plant went into commercial operation in February 2006. In 2013, the plant generated 1,409 GWh. The plant is operated by the Turlock Irrigation District. The firm is WECA’s General Counsel.
Turlock Mosquito Abatement District
The District controls mosquitoes within an area of 966 square miles. The District’s 8-member Board of Trustees consists of 5 members appointed by the cities of Turlock, Hughson, Ceres, Patterson, and Newman and 3 members representing the unincorporated areas of Stanislaus County within the District’s service area. The firm has been the District’s attorney since 2006. David Hobbs is the lead attorney for the firm and represents the District in mosquito abatement actions.
Utica Water & Power Authority
UWPA is a joint powers authority within Calaveras County consisting of the City of Angels (aka Angels Camp and home of Mark Twain’s celebrated jumping frog) and the Union Public Utilities District (town of Murphys). UWPA has a 5-member Board of Directors. UWPA owns pre-1914 and riparian water rights on the North Fork Stanislaus River and is the licensee to FERC Projects Nos. 2019 (Utica Hydroelectric Project) and 2699 (Angels Hydroelectric Project). Roger Masuda assisted UWPA in successfully negotiating a comprehensive settlement agreement signed in November 2009 with the Calaveras County Water District. The agreement resolved long-standing water rights disputes between the parties. Mr. Masuda served as Special Water Counsel to UWPA from March 2008. In March 2016, the law firm was appointed as General Counsel.
Tuolumne Wind Project Authority
The District controls mosquitoes within an area of 966 square miles. The District’s 8-member Board of Trustees consists of 5 members appointed by the cities of Turlock, Hughson, Ceres, Patterson, and Newman and 3 members representing the unincorporated areas of Stanislaus County within the District’s service area. The firm has been the District’s attorney since 2006. David Hobbs is the lead attorney for the firm and represents the District in mosquito abatement actions.
North San Joaquin Water Conservation District
The North San Joaquin Water Conservation District serves irrigation water in the Lodi area. It has a water rights permit for up to 20,000 acre-feet of water from the Mokelumne River. NSJWCD is governed by a 5-member Board of Directors. Mr. Masuda advised NSJWCD in forming its first improvement district to finance a new surface water irrigation and groundwater recharge project, known as the Tracy Lake Groundwater Recharge Project. The project will help the District better utilize its water right. The project will divert water from the Mokelumne River into South Tracy Lake and will divert up to 4,000 acre-feet per year when river water is available. The surface water will be used by the landowners to irrigate vineyards thereby conserving groundwater. The project will also result in surface water recharge to the groundwater basin. The District has secured 100% of the funding for the project via a $300,000 U.S. Bureau of Reclamation grant with the balance of approximately $1,300,000 being financed through the issuance and sale of improvement district warrants. Payments of the principal and interest on the warrants are secured by an annual capital assessment levied on all 1,310 acres of land within the improvement district. NSJWCD is working with San Joaquin County and East Bay Municipal Utilities District to implement a pilot groundwater recharge project within NSJWCD. Our firm served as the District’s general counsel from July 2011 to December 2015. In December 2015, the firm switched places with a local Lodi attorney who was serving as the District’s special legal counsel. The firm now serves as the District’s special legal counsel
Marina Coast Water District
Marina Coast is a county water district. The District provides water and sewer services to the City of Marina and the former Fort Ord. The District is governed by a 5-member Board of Directors and has an authorized staff of 42 full-time employees. The District has approximately 350 miles of water and sewer pipelines and operates eight production wells with an estimated capacity of 20 million gallons per day. Its water source is groundwater from the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin. The District serves a population of some 33,000 people. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, it had total revenues of $16,582,000. The District is a member agency of the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency (MRWPCA), a joint power agency. The firm’s attorneys advise and represent the District on groundwater rights, Sustainable Groundwater Management Act implementation, recycled water, desalinated water, new water sources, urban water management plans, water supply assessments, infrastructure agreements, CEQA, rates and capacity charges, government contracts and procurement, real property, easements and rights-of-way, leases, State Revolving Fund, LAFCO, and Fort Ord Reuse Authority matters. The District’s Board of Directors appointed the law firm as legal counsel in October 2012.
Joint Powers Agencies
In addition to the Tuolumne Stanislaus IRWM Authority and the Utica Water & Power Authority, the law firm serves as general counsel to the Tuolumne Wind Project Authority and the Walnut Energy Center Authority, joint powers agencies of which the Turlock Irrigation District is the principal member. The Tuolumne Wind Project is a 136.6 megawatt nameplate capacity wind farm comprised of 62 wind turbines located in Klickitat County, WA. The Walnut Energy Center is a 250-megawatt natural gas-fired, combustion-turbine based, combined-cycle generating plant located in Turlock, CA.
Merquin County Water District
Merquin is a county water district. Merquin has a contractual water right to 14,211 acre feet per year serving approximately 6,000 acres of farmland. The District also owns and operates twenty-one groundwater wells to supplement its surface water supplies. The District is governed by a 5-member Board of Directors. The firm’s attorneys advise the District on surface water and groundwater, Sustainable Groundwater Management Act implementation, Brown Act, Public Records Act, Proposition 218 water rate setting, and government contracts. The District’s Board of Directors appointed the law firm as general counsel in October 1988. David Hobbs is the lead attorney for the firm.
Don Pedro Recreation Agency
Don Pedro Reservoir, with a maximum capacity of 2,030,000 acre-feet, is the sixth largest reservoir in the State of California. The reservoir recreation area has two marinas operated by a concessionaire and three recreation areas and 550 campsites managed by the Don Pedro Recreation Agency, a department of the Turlock Irrigation District. Management oversight is provided by the Board of Control consisting of representatives from Turlock Irrigation District, Modesto Irrigation District, and the City and County of San Francisco—the three agencies responsible for DPRA’s costs. Sara Lima is the attorney for the DPRA and the Board of Control.
County of Butte
Roger Masuda has been Special Water Counsel to Butte County since March 1991. He has advised the County on its State Water Contract, litigation relating to its State Water Contract (including an area of origin lawsuit against the California Department of Water Resources), wholesale water contracts, water transfers by Butte County of its State Water Contract Table A water, the County’s groundwater ordinances, and the California Department of Water Resources’ relicensing of FERC Project No. 2100, the Oroville Facilities. David Hobbs is currently representing the County on litigation involving the State Water Project.