Thursday Top of the Scroll: Judge tosses Napa winemaker’s fight over water wells
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a lauded California winemaker after Napa County refused to issue permits for water wells on land he owns. Plaintiff Jayson Woodbridge, founder and owner of Hundred Acre Wine Group and Double Vee Properties, says in his 2023 lawsuit that Napa County overstepped its authority and violated state water rights law by refusing to issue permits for water wells unless Woodbridge agrees to a strict limit on the water that could be drawn annually from each well. … Specifically, Woodbridge wants to dig new wells within 1,500 feet of a river or stream and extract up to 1 acre-foot of water per acre from the proposed wells. The county’s regulations limit extractions from new wells to 0.3 acre-feet of water per acre annually.
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