Opinion ID: 413181
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Primary Administrative Jurisdiction With the Nevada

Text: State Engineer 27 The district judge held that applications for change in place of diversion or manner or place of use should be directed to the Nevada State Engineer. These change applications are of limited significance in that they only seek permission to use water already appropriated for a purpose different than that originally designated. For example, if a farmer were to change his manner of irrigation, or to subdivide his farm into residential properties, under the district court's order, the Nevada State Engineer would decide, under the state statutory scheme, whether the application would tend to impair the value of existing rights or to be otherwise detrimental to the public welfare. Nev.Rev.Stat. Sec. 533.370(1). 28 The United States is not concerned with the routine change application, but with the possibility that federal interests will be ignored by the Nevada State Engineer. Under section 8 of the 1902 Reclamation Act, discussed supra, appropriated water must be applied to irrigation; it cannot be severed as a commodity for use on land to which it would not be appurtenant. As described by Rep. Mondell, a water right under the Reclamation Act only extends to the use of the water on and for the tract originally irrigated; there is no general property right in water with power to sell and dispose of the same elsewhere and for other purposes than originally intended. 35 Cong.Rec. 6679 (1902). 29 We agree with the district judge that the notice and protest procedures of Nevada law are adequate to allow exploration of these issues, when they arise, before the state engineer. The Supreme Court has held, in California v. United States, 438 U.S. 645, 98 S.Ct. 2985, 57 L.Ed.2d 1018 (1978), that state law will control the distribution of water rights to the extent that there is no preempting federal directive. We agree with the district judge that the conspicuous absence of transfer procedures, taken in conjunction with the clear general deference to state water law, impels the conclusion that Congress intended transfers to be subject to state water law. 503 F.Supp. at 884. Powerful support for this conclusion is found in the legislative history of the 1902 Reclamation Act: 30 The conditions in each and every State and Territory are different. What would be applicable in one locality is totally and absolutely inapplicable in another. The conditions that prevail at 7,000 feet of altitude are different from those that prevail at almost sea level. In each and every one of the States and Territories affected, after a long series of experiments, after a due consideration of conditions, there has arisen a set of men who are especially qualified to deal with local conditions. 31 Everyone of these States and Territories has an accomplished and experienced corps of engineers who for years have devoted their energies and their learning to a solution to the problem of irrigation in their individual localities. 32 35 Cong.Rec. 2222 (1902) (remarks of Sen. Clark). Cf. Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 819-20, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 1246-1247, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976) (discussing a similar, but later, congressional recognition in the McCarran amendment). We are assured that the United States will receive notice of each change application, and may participate, under Nev.Rev.Stat. Secs. 533.110-533.130, in proceedings before the state engineer who is, under our Constitution, bound to follow federal law. The decree of the district court also allows for appeal of change applications to the federal district court for the District of Nevada, and no appellee contests this provision. These two safeguards provide full vindication of the admitted federal interests in the operation of federal reclamation projects. 33 Fundamental principles of federalism require the national government to consult state processes and weigh state substantive law in shaping and defining a federal water policy. California v. United States, 438 U.S. 645, 98 S.Ct. 2985, 57 L.Ed.2d 1018 (1978).