Water Law Commons^™

A Next, Big Step For The West (Part Ii): Model Water-Climate Enabling Legislation With Commentary, Michelle Bryan, Zach Coccoli, Graham Coppes, Dylan Desrosier

Faculty Law Review Articles

This model legislation is the culmination of an earlier work, A Next, Big Step for the West: Using Model Legislation to Create a Water- Climate Element in Local Comprehensive Plans.' That articleargues that local governments, as the primary regulators of land use and population planning, are integral to our climate and drought response in the West. That article then calls for a new, freestanding "waterclimate element" in local government comprehensive plans that integrates the often disparate realms of land use, water use, and climate planning and better prepares communities for "managing water in wise, resilient, and collaborative ways."2 This approach …

Natural Resources Defense Council V. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Erick A. Valencia

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Natural Resources Defense Council v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, the court was asked to review the EPA’s Vessel General Permit that set limits on the discharge of pollutants in a ship’s ballast water. Ballast water discharge has become one of the major contributors to the spread of invasive species, especially in the Great Lakes where short voyages allow organisms to easily survive in ballast water. The EPA’s lack of information was a problem of its own making because it prohibited the Science Advisory Board and National Academy of Sciences from adequately exploring available technology before setting the effluent …

Sierra Club V. United States Army Corps Of Engineers, 803 F.3d 31 (D.C. Cir. 2015), Ariel E. Overstreet-Adkins

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Despite the majority’s “needlessly circuitous” route, as described by concurring Judge Brown, Sierra Club v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stands as a limit of the application of NEPA to a private pipeline constructed largely on private land. While the main issue identified by the District of Columbia Circuit Court was the scope of environmental review required under NEPA, the court also addressed issues dealing with the ESA and the CWA relating to the construction and operation of a pipeline in the Midwest. The court held that under these circumstances, NEPA review was mandated only for those small stretches where …

Crow Tribe Of Indians – Montana Compact, Ariel E. Overstreet-Adkins

Public Land & Resources Law Review

This order from the Montana Water Court approved the Crow Water Compact over objections by non-tribal water users in Montana. Although the Objectors have appealed the decision to the Montana Supreme Court, this order represents the next-to-last step in a process, started in 1979, to define and quantify the reserved water rights for current and future uses of the Crow Nation in Montana. The order provides a clear roadmap for other Montana tribes still seeking to achieve approval of a water compact by the Montana Water Court, and for objectors who would attempt to invalidate a compact in future proceedings.

Columbia River Treaty Renewal And Sovereign Tribal Authority Under The Stevens Treaty “Right-To-Fish” Clause, David A. Bell

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tribal Water Rights Settlements And Instream Flow Protection, Dylan M. Desrosier

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Native American Tribes have been fighting for access, legal recognition, and the control over their water rights for more than a century. Today less than ten percent of the 566 federally recognized Tribes have had their rights legally defined and secured under the law. One particularly complicated and compelling aspect of tribal reserved water rights involves the protection of water instream. Since the McCarran Amendment and state court quantification of Winters reserved rights, Tribes have sought to quantify and protect reserved water rights through negotiated settlement agreements. Although the settlements seek to bring certainty, resolution, and final integration of reserved …

At The End Of The Day: Are The West's General Stream Adjudications Relevant To Modern Water Rights Administraton?, Michelle Bryan

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article provides a modest starting place for exploring how adjudications in various western states function together with modern permitting and administration of water rights. By locating adjudication within a state’s broader water rights system, the hope is to elevate in our water law discourse the question of whether, at the end of the day, adjudication proceedings are meaningful in the day-to-day world of water use. Part I summarizes in broad strokes the way various western states approach the interrelated functions of adjudication, permitting, and administration. Part II then highlights some common, emerging issues among state water systems as well …

Public Water, Private Rights: All Are Not Equally Protected When The State Allows Some To Divert Small Quantities Of Ground Water Outside The Permitting System, Carolyn A. Sime

Montana Law Review

Public Water, Private Rights: All Are Not Equally Protected When The State Allows Some To Divert Small Quantities Of Ground Water Outside The Permitting System

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Of Indians V. Nevada, Dept. Of Wildlife, David A. Bell

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians v. Nevada, Dept. of Wildlife, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a Nevada federal district court decision to vacate the Nevada state engineer’s approval of the transfer of three water applications. While the appeals court recognized the state’s re-watering of wetlands as a “salutary” purpose, it could not allow the engineer’s decision to go forward because it did not meet the legal definition of “irrigation.” The Court made the decision pursuant to two federal court decrees, which resulted from prior actions by the United States to quiet title to …

Public Lands Access Association V. Board Of County Commissioners Of Madison County, Graham Coppes

Public Land & Resources Law Review

On January 16, 2014, the Supreme Court of Montana reversed and remanded a district court decision that had foreclosed the public’s right to access the Ruby River. The Court held that the right of way was a public prescriptive easement, which extended beyond the road surface itself to include such area as necessary for the county to maintain the road in the interest of the public. Furthermore, the Court concluded that once a public right-of-way is established by prescriptive use, the scope of current and future use of such an easement is not limited to those historic adversarial practices which …

Bostwick Properties Inc. V. Montana Department Natural Resources And Conservation, Carolyn A. Sime

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Montana Supreme Court upheld the law requiring that applicants for new ground water permits in closed basins show no net surface depletion and that the new appropriation will not adversely affect senior water appropriators. Where the relationship between surface and ground water is uncertain or attenuated, applicants still bear the burden of proof, even if the proposed use constitutes only a de minimis quantity. Once again, the Court acknowledged the hydrologic connection between surface and ground water and the underlying legal framework which seeks to make water available for new appropriation and simultaneously protect the water rights of senior …

Western Montana Water Users Assoc., Llc V. Mission Irrigation District, David A. Bell

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Western Montana Water Users challenged the authority of the Flathead Joint Control Board to enter into a Water Use Agreement with Tribal, State, and Federal governments. This procedural challenge alleged that the Joint Control Board, made up of the irrigation districts, did not have the ability under Montana statutes to act for the irrigators without a specific vote of the members and approval from the district court. Two days after receiving the case the Montana Supreme Court reversed, determining that the statutes were inapplicable and the Joint Control Board had authority to enter the agreement.

City Of Livingston V. Park Conservation District, Graham Coppes

Public Land & Resources Law Review

On appeal from the Park County District Court, the Montana Supreme Court upheld the Park Conservation District’s designation of a channel of the Yellowstone River near the City of Livingston as part of the natural course of the river as reasonable and worthy of judicial deference, even though the record demonstrated that the channel had been continuously used as an irrigation conveyance system and local parties had historically referenced the stream with inconsistent characterizations. Looking ahead, this decision illustrates the Court’s strong deference to the resolutions and statutory interpretations of the state’s local conservation districts. To a lesser degree, the …

Treading Water While Congress Ignores The Nation's Environment, Sandra B. Zellmer

Faculty Law Review Articles

During the late 1960s, the nation's attention was riveted on graphic images of contaminated resources, such as smoldering rivers and oil-soaked seagulls,' as well as Rachel Carson's haunting prose about the "strange blight"2 of chemical pesticides afflicting land, water, and wildlife. Policymakers recognized the need for strong legal protections for public health and the environment, and Congress responded with sweeping legislation governing the pollution of water, air, and soil, and the demise of threatened and endangered species.3

The Clean Water Act of 1972 (CWA), which regulates discharges of pollutants into waters of the United States, is one of the most …

The Shallows Where Federal Reserve Water Rights Founder: State Court Derogation Of The Winters Doctrine, Sandra B. Zellmer, Justin Huber

Faculty Law Review Articles

No abstract provided.

Hitching Our Wagon To A Dim Star: Why Outmoded Water Codes And "Public Interest" Review Cannot Protect The Public Trust In Western Water Law, Michelle Bryan Mudd

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article examines the interrelationship between the public trust and water rights as it is emerging in western states.

Part I of this article describes the traditional public trust principles that apply to waters, as well as the modern judicial trend of extending those principles to water use permitting in the West.

Focusing on an area of particular concern in water codes, Part II analyzes the risky implications of supplanting the public trust doctrine with existing public interest review provisions.

Finally, Part III advances a water use permitting framework that better fulfills the states' public trust responsibilities. Drawing on the …

Improving Water Quality Antidegradation Policies, Sandra B. Zellmer, Robert L. Glicksman

Faculty Law Review Articles

No abstract provided.

Assessing Institutional Ability To Support Adaptive, Integrated Water Resources Management, Sandra B. Zellmer, Christina Hoffman

Faculty Law Review Articles

No abstract provided.

Wilderness, Water, And Climate Change, Sandra B. Zellmer

Faculty Law Review Articles

As the nation searches for climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, the pressure to develop water resources within wilderness areas and to exploit the timber, forage, wildlife, fish, and other virtually untapped components of wilderness will become more acute. This Article makes the case that managers and legislatures should not yield to this pressure and argues that, if anything, the need to preserve untrammeled wilderness characteristics is just as imperative today as it was in 1964 when the Wilderness Act was passed The Article examines the potency of the Wilderness Act and a trio of federal water law doctrines-federally reserved water …

Montana V. Wyoming: An Opportunity To Right The Course For Coalbed Methane Development And Prior Appropriation, Michelle Bryan

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article examines preliminary rulings by the Special Master in Montana v. Wyoming, a Supreme Court case posed to illuminate the water law rules applicable to coalbed methane groundwater withdrawals and to fashion a remedy that better hews to those rules.

Part I provides a brief background on the Yellowstone River Compact and the Montana v. Wyoming litigation. This part further explains the Special Master's analysis of the coalbed methane issue, as well as the Supreme Court's recent ruling on improved irrigation efficiency.

Part II then describes the magnitude of the coalbed methane groundwater pumping issues and asserts that …

Mudslinging On The Missouri: Can Endangered Species Survive The Clean Water Act?, Sandra B. Zellmer

Faculty Law Review Articles

Water quality regulations typically focus on chemical and bacterial pollutants, such as pesticides, detergents, industrial wastes, and sewage. Far less attention has been paid to the flow and function of sediments, known to most of us as mud. Sediments, however, are just as important to the ecological integrity of many rivers as the quality and quantity of the water itself. On big inland rivers like the Missouri, Mississippi, and Colorado Rivers, sediments are essential to the formation of sandbars, islands, oxbows, and floodplains, which in turn provide habitat for native fish, wildlife, and invertebrate species. Also, sediments carried by the …

Floods, Famines, Or Feasts: Too Much, Too Little, Or Just Right, Sandra B. Zellmer

Faculty Law Review Articles

The United States has a passionate love-hate relationship with water. Americans love to live beside rivers and lakes and use them for drinking water, washing, fishing, generating power, navigating, and recreation. They also love to be able to use water from rivers, lakes, and the ground beneath their property to irrigate their crops. When it's too dry, they pray for rain. But when it's too wet, they beg for sunshine, because as much as they love living as close to the water as they can get, people hate having their homes, workplaces, and crops inundated by floodwater even more. Besides …

Montana Groundwater Law In The Twenty-First Century, John B. Carter

Montana Law Review

Montana Groundwater Law

Why Resilience May Not Always Be A Good Thing: Lessons In Ecosystem Restoration From Glen Canyon And The Everglades, Sandra B. Zellmer, Lance Gunderson

Faculty Law Review Articles

No abstract provided.

The Anti-Speculation Doctrine And Its Implication For Collaborative Water Management, Sandra B. Zellmer

Faculty Law Review Articles

The focus of this Article is whether the anti-speculation doctrine in western water law poses a continuing, insuperable impediment to collaborative, market-based solutions and, if so, whether the doctrine ought to be dismantled. The Article concludes that, although the doctrine does pose an obstacle to some kinds of collaborative agreements that attempt to harness market forces for future uses through forward-looking transactions, it continues to serve an important public purpose. The anti-speculation doctrine curbs the worst potential abuses of market forces by forcing transacting parties to articulate how and when the water will be applied to actual, beneficial uses, and …

A Non-Indian Entity Is Polluting Indian Waters: "Water" Your Rights To The Waters, And "Water" You Gonna Do About It?, Sean M. Hanlon

Montana Law Review

Indian Water Rights

Unbundling Property In Water, Sandra B. Zellmer, Jessica Harder

Faculty Law Review Articles

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that, in the foreseeable future, climate change will exacerbate water problems worldwide. In the United States, we are likely to see more severe flooding, more frequent droughts, and a rush to secure legal rights to water supplies. Sustainable management of water resources for present and future generations will become all the more imperative as we face increasing pressure on limited supplies. The quest for sustainable management has stimulated a movement for greater recognition of private property rights to attain efficient use and allocation of water. The World Bank and the International …

A Tale Of Two Imperiled Rivers: Reflections From A Post-Katrina World, Sandra B. Zellmer

Faculty Law Review Articles

Last year, hundreds of thousands of residents of the lower Mississippi River basin were forced to flee Hurricane Katrina.2 Having scattered like leaves before the gale-force winds that pounded the Gulf Coast, many are still displaced by the wreckage caused by storm surges and floodwaters.3 Those who have returned continue to experience the adverse effects of a shattered infrastructure as they attempt to rebuild their homes and their lives. The environmental calamity is profound: drinking water sources polluted by destroyed septic systems and leaking storage tanks; contaminated sediments from the bayous to the residents' backyards; decimated marshes and oyster beds-in …

Is Water Property?, Sandra B. Zellmer, Jessica Harder

Faculty Law Review Articles

One of the most controversial issues in natural resources law is whether interests in water are property. In the western United States, water is typically viewed by appropriators as a form of private property, while in the East it is not. In either case, the law is surprisingly unsettled, notwithstanding the important consequences that follow, particularly under constitutional takings jurisprudence. Treating water as property has significant implications for investment, conservation and environmental protection as well. Establishing secure property rights can foster stewardship and wise investment of labor and capital. By the same token, the absence of property ownership can result …

A New Corps Of Discovery For Missouri River Management, Sandra B. Zellmer

Faculty Law Review Articles

No abstract provided.