Michael K. Foy represents water providers, developers, and industrial water users in complex water rights, environmental, and natural resources matters throughout Arizona and California. His practice focuses on helping clients secure and protect water supplies, navigate high-stakes regulatory proceedings, and manage environmental risk in litigation, permitting, and transactional settings.  Mr. Foy practices at the intersection of water rights, environmental regulation, and complex litigation—areas where technical depth and strategic judgment are critical to protecting long-term water, real estate, and infrastructure investments.

Mr. Foy’s water law practice spans the full spectrum of Arizona water law, including litigation, regulatory advocacy, and strategic transactional work involving appropriable water, groundwater, Colorado River water, and effluent. He advises urban and agricultural water suppliers, real estate developers, data centers, and industrial water users on matters where water availability directly affects project viability, entitlement timelines, and long-term operations. Mr. Foy is actively involved in both of Arizona’s general stream adjudications (the Gila River and Little Colorado River adjudications) which collectively involve more than 25,000 claimants and continue to shape the long-term allocation of appropriable water resources across most of Arizona.  In addition to adjudication work, he helps clients secure and protect assured water supply determinations and develop long-term groundwater strategies in highly regulated Active Management Areas.  He also provides water rights analysis in connection with complex real estate and infrastructure transactions.

Mr. Foy’s environmental practice focuses on managing regulatory and litigation risk under federal and state environmental laws. He represents clients in matters arising under CERCLA, RCRA, and Arizona’s WQARF program, including multi-party Superfund disputes and cost-allocation litigation.  His work also includes advising clients on compliance and litigation issues under the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and related statutes affecting the development and use of natural resources. Clients rely on Mr. Foy to develop practical strategies that align regulatory compliance with business objectives while preserving operational flexibility.

Before joining Salmon, Lewis & Weldon, Mr. Foy practiced in the Water Law group of a California firm, where he represented water suppliers and water users in groundwater adjudications, transfer and exchange agreements, service area annexations, and regulatory matters before the State Water Resources Control Board.

Representative Professional Experience

Water Law

• Guides landowners and developers through all aspects of assured water supply law, including securing analyses and certificates of assured water supply and challenging wrongful denials that would otherwise impede development.
• Represents clients in securing, protecting, and transferring grandfathered rights under the Groundwater Management Act, including Type 2 sales and leases, irrigation grandfathered rights conversions and retirements, and compliance with conservation requirements.
• Advises clients on complex federal Reclamation law issues, including the laws governing the transfer and use of Reclamation water and the impact of related state water laws on the rights to Reclamation water.
• Successfully represented owner of large undeveloped parcel in Yavapai County in litigation to quiet title to appropriative water rights, groundwater pumping rights, and wells against adverse claim asserted by former owner.
• Successfully advocated for federal reserved right to groundwater as lead trial counsel for a major Arizona water supplier in contested case to adjudicate the source and quantity of federal reserved rights for the Fort Huachuca Army installation.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of senior water rights holder in Office of Administrative Hearings proceeding challenging ADWR’s denial of its application to sever and transfer appropriative water rights.
• Represented major water supplier in two federal district court lawsuits and related Ninth Circuit appeal regarding rights to withdraw water from over two dozen wells in metropolitan Phoenix.  Both lawsuits settled on favorable terms.
• Obtained seven-figure settlement on behalf of irrigation district in U.S. Court of Federal Claims lawsuit challenging excessive assessments for operation and maintenance of water supply infrastructure.
• Obtained judicial validation of Central Arizona Project water supply contract on behalf of power plant operator.
• Successfully advocated for federal reserved right to instream flows and underground water level maintenance as lead counsel for major water supplier in six-week trial involving the Bureau of Land Management’s claims for the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.
• Represents developers, investors, and industrial users in transactions involving water rights, including water rights due diligence in real property transactions and acquisition of rights to use appropriative water, groundwater, and Colorado River water.
• Represented pistachio grower in comprehensive adjudication of all rights to pump percolating groundwater in California’s Antelope Valley.

Environmental Law

• Obtained favorable settlement on behalf of industrial gases manufacturer in multi-party CERCLA cost recovery action seeking approximately $40 million in claimed costs for groundwater contamination in metropolitan Phoenix.
• Represents clients navigating Arizona’s WQARF remediation process, including ongoing work at the East Central Phoenix, West Van Buren Area, and Lake Havasu Avenue sites.
• Defends industrial and utility clients in enforcement proceedings under the Clean Water Act, including alleged pretreatment violations and Section 505 citizen suits, with a focus on minimizing penalties and preserving operational flexibility.
• Represents clients in complex Superfund matters throughout Arizona and California, including responding to EPA information requests, negotiating and implementing consent decrees, and litigating cost recovery and contribution actions.
• Advises clients on regulatory and legislative developments associated with emerging contaminants such as PFAS and 1,4-dioxane.
• Reduces enforcement exposure for utility and industrial clients by managing environmental compliance audits.
• Advises clients on insurance recovery for environmental claims, including obtaining coverage for claim against asphalt manufacturer for coal tar release and claim against service station operator for gasoline release.
• Defends service station operators and other industrial clients in enforcement actions related to leaking USTs; recently obtained a 0% liability allocation for former operator through informal ADEQ appeals process.
• Provides environmental counseling in transactional matters, including negotiating indemnities and allocation of environmental risk, obtaining prospective purchaser agreements, effectuating transfer of environmental permits, and conducting environmental due diligence investigations.
• Represents clients in obtaining, amending, and transferring water quality permits, including individual and general Aquifer Protection Permits, AZPDES Permits, and authority to construct permits.
• Represents utilities in NEPA litigation, including representation of association of Arizona water and power suppliers in NEPA challenge to management plan for Glen Canyon Dam and representation of power plant operator in NEPA challenge to operating permit issued to the plant’s exclusive coal supplier.

Honors and Awards

• The Best Lawyers in America, Environmental Law (2023-present)
• The Best Lawyers in America, Natural Resources Law and Water Law (2025-present)
• The Best Lawyers in America, Environmental Law – Litigation (2026)

Publications and Presentations

• Arizona Surface Water Update: Trends and Recent Developments, Arizona Water Law Conference (August 2023 and August 2025)
• PFAS: What They Mean for Arizona, Arizona Water Law Conference (August 2022)
• What’s New in the Gila River Adjudication?, State Bar of Arizona Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section (March 2022)
• Arizona: An Introduction to Water Rights, Chambers & Partners (2021)
• Avoiding Environmental Liability in Real Property Transactions, Kern Business Journal, at 34 (March 2015)
• The Contours of the “Duty to Refer” in Today’s Specialized Legal Landscape, The Bencher, at 10 (August 2011)
• Apportioning Cleanup Costs in the New Era of Joint and Several CERCLA Liability, 51 Santa Clara L. Rev. 625 (2011)

Memberships & Affiliations

• American Bar Association, Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Law Section
• State Bar of Arizona, Environmental and Natural Resources Section
• State Bar of California, Environmental Law Section
• Colorado River Water Users’ Association

Community Involvement

• Mentorship Initiative for Sustainability law, Attorney Mentor (2020-Present)
• Kem County Mock Trial Program, Attorney Coach (2013-2015)