Joanna Hoff Email and Phone Number

Joanna Smith Hoff is the Deputy General Counsel for the Imperial Irrigation District, which provides electricity to more than 150,000 customers and serves over 500,000 acres of Imperial Valley land with its consumptive use entitlement of 3.1 million acre-feet of Colorado River water under the Quantification Settlement Agreement establishing the nation’s largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer. Joanna represents the District in several federal, state and local forums for matters affecting the defense and protection of the District’s 2.6 million acre-feet of present perfected water rights and plays an integral role in the development of historic agreements and policies among the U.S. Department of Interior and the seven Colorado River Basin States. She is responsible for all legal matters affecting the District’s water department, including day-to-day operational and transactional matters, water conservation program management and development, long-term legal strategic planning and managing all outside counsel retained for complex civil litigation. Joanna has an extensive understanding of federal, state and local regulatory agencies and processes and has assisted clients through the maze of those regulatory processes and simultaneously coordinating involvement with environmental groups. She is recognized for developing pragmatic solutions to complex problems in the highly charged water law arena. Joanna has served public agency clients for 20 years leading to expertise in local government laws, land use and water law, Colorado River law (“Law of the River”) and environmental laws, including the California Environmental Quality Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and state and federal Endangered Species Acts.