Law Commons^™

Grasp On Water: A Natural Resource That Eludes Nafta's Notion Of Investment, Paul S. Kibel

Publications

This Article begins by outlining the hydrologic and legal restraints to private ownership of water resources. It then details the provisions of NAFTA that pertain to private rights in water, and reports on two highprofile water entitlement cases that have arisen under NAFTA's foreign investor protection regime. The piece concludes by observing that the experience of United States of America (U.S.) federal courts with state water law may provide a jurisprudential template to bring NAFTA into alignment with existing domestic water law and international water treaties.

Rio Grande Designs: Texans' Nafta Water Claim Against Mexico, Paul S. Kibel, Jonathan R. Schultz

Publications

Our article begins with an analysis of the historical context and key provisions in the 1944 Rivers Treaty between Mexico and the United States. Next, we explain the expropriation claims process established by NAFTA's Chapter 11 and describe the environmental controversy that has arisen over its implementation. We follow with an account of the Texans' NAFTA water claim against Mexico, including an analysis of this claim's relation to the Tulare Lake decision and parallel dispute resolution proceedings at the International and Boundary Waters Commission.

At the end of this review, our finding is that the Texans' NAFTA water claim against …