After the U.S. Department of Interior finalized a 10-year plan Friday sparing Wyoming – but not the Lower Basin states – from legally-mandated cuts in water usage, Nevada sued.
This lawsuit accuses the federal government, by involving itself in the multi-state water-usage debate, of jeopardizing the Las Vegas and greater Nevada economy.
It could drag Wyoming, and other states that have spent years negotiating water terms between themselves, into court.
Gov. Mark Gordon told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday statement that he’s asked the Wyoming State Engineer and the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office “to evaluate all legal options to ensure that Wyoming’s rights’ are fully protected.”
“This action by Nevada is a little like arguing about how fast to drive when our fuel gauge is reading empty,” said Gordon. “Mandatory cuts of Wyoming’s water come from drought, not federal decisions, and no amount of federal action can make it rain. We are all along on this journey and crashing faster doesn’t help any of us.”
Gordon said Wyoming is still committed to and believes that working collaboratively and in good faith “with our sister states” is the only way to build a sustainable, equitable and durable future around the Colorado River.
“However, Wyoming will vigorously fight any attempt — whether through federal administrative guidelines or litigation — to mandate unlawful reductions affecting our citizens and our economy,” added Gordon.
Arizona, which is a Lower Basin state and is also facing cuts, signaled earlier this month that, like Nevada, it may sue the federal government.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed the now-contested plan Friday after years of negotiation between the Upper Basin states — Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico — and the Lower Basin states — California, Nevada and Arizona — over rationing the Colorado River flows.
The states in 1922 established the Colorado River Compact. It anchors the “law of the river,” which includes other rules and decrees that have formed in the past century.
The river has seen unprecedented drought since 2000.
Nevada filed its lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court of Nevada against both the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
The complaint accuses the federal government of enabling an eventual 71% cut to the water usage to which Nevada says it’s entitled. It also alleges the government disregarded Nevada’s alternate plan and didn’t interpret the law of the river correctly.
The federal government’s plan did not call for cuts in Wyoming or the Upper Basin states because the government doesn’t have the authority to mandate cuts in the higher states, which sit above the river’s two major reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead. But the plan asks the Upper Basin states to meet voluntary conservation goals.
Nevada’s litigation says the secretary of the interior could later impose on Nevada an annual reduction of 213,556 acre-feet, which the state claims is 71% of its entitlement.
“Importantly, Nevada’s Colorado River supply accounts for 90% of all water used in the Las Vegas Valley today,” the complaint says. The suit points to the $180 billion economy of Las Vegas and surrounding areas, adding, “and water is needed to drive every dollar.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
