Opinion ID: 2047301
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 18

Heading: gwmpa

Text: The Legislature is free to create and abolish rights as long as no vested right is disturbed. Colton v. Dewey, 212 Neb. 126, 321 N.W.2d 913 (1982). But statutes which change or take away a common-law right must be strictly construed. Any statutory construction restricting or abolishing common-law rights should not be adopted, unless the plain words of the statute compel such result. Macku v. Drackett Products Co., 216 Neb. 176, 343 N.W.2d 58 (1984). Nothing in the GWMPA expressly abrogates a common-law claim by a surface water user against a ground water user. Thus, any abrogation would have to be plainly compelled by the operation of the GWMPA. We begin with the findings that the Legislature made in support of the GWMPA. The GWMPA initially states in part at § 46-656.02: The Legislature finds that ground water is one of the most valuable natural resources in the state and that an adequate supply of ground water is essential to the general welfare of the citizens of this state and to the present and future development of agriculture in the state. The Legislature recognizes its duty to define broad policy goals concerning the utilization and management of ground water and to ensure local implementation of those goals. Every landowner shall be entitled to a reasonable and beneficial use of the ground water underlying his or her land subject to the provisions of Chapter 46, article 6, and the Nebraska Ground Water Management and Protection Act and the correlative rights of other landowners when the ground water supply is insufficient for all users. The Legislature determines that the goal shall be to extend ground water reservoir life to the greatest extent practicable consistent with beneficial use of the ground water and best management practices. The Legislature further recognizes and declares that the management, protection, and conservation of ground water and the beneficial use thereof are essential to the economic prosperity and future well-being of the state and that the public interest demands procedures for the implementation of management practices to conserve and protect ground water supplies and to prevent the contamination or inefficient or improper use thereof. The Legislature recognizes the need to provide for orderly management systems in areas where management of ground water is necessary to achieve locally determined ground water management objectives and where available data, evidence, or other information indicates that present or potential ground water conditions, including subirrigation conditions, require the designation of areas with special regulation of development and use. (Emphasis supplied.) The Legislature further provided at § 46-656.05: (1) The management, conservation, and beneficial use of hydrologically connected ground water and surface water are essential to the continued economic prosperity and well-being of the state, including the present and future development of agriculture in the state; (2) Hydrologically connected ground water and surface water may need to be managed differently from unconnected ground water and surface water in order to permit equity among water users and to optimize the beneficial use of interrelated ground water and surface water supplies; (3) Natural resources districts already have significant legal authority to regulate activities which contribute to declines in ground water levels and to nonpoint source contamination of ground water and are the preferred entities to regulate, through ground water management areas, ground water related activities which are contributing to or are, in the reasonably foreseeable future, likely to contribute to conflicts between ground water users and surface water appropriators or which may be necessary in order to resolve disputes over interstate compacts or decrees, or to carry out the provisions of other formal state contracts or agreements; (4) The Department of Natural Resources is responsible for regulation of water resources and local surface water project sponsors are responsible for much of the structured irrigation utilizing surface water supplies, and these entities should be responsible for regulation of surface water related activities which contribute to such conflicts or provide opportunities for such dispute resolution; .... (6) All involved natural resources districts, the department, and surface water project sponsors should cooperate and collaborate on the identification and implementation of management solutions to such conflicts or provide opportunities for mitigation or elimination of such disputes or difficulties. These legislative findings do not indicate an intent to abrogate the common law. In fact, the language that we have italicized in § 46-656.02 indicates that, at least concerning disputes between multiple ground water users, the Legislature was aware of and meant to preserve the common law. Further, if the Legislature wanted to preempt a common-law claim, then the GWMPA would contain adjudicative procedures and remedies designed to resolve individual disputes between water users. But that is not the case. Instead, a review of the GWMPA shows that it contains procedures meant to identify areas where water issues exist and to create general regulations to address those issues. To address issues involving the quantity and quality of ground water, the GWMPA requires the NRD's to prepare a ground water management plan. § 46-656.12. The plan's purpose is to set out each NRD's broad policy goals. In the plan, the NRD's are to set out their ground water supplies and needs. In addition, the NRD's are required to set out any proposals for conservation and or supply augmentation, as well as any proposed management areas. Once an NRD completes its management plan, the Department of Natural Resources (hereinafter Department) reviews it for approval. § 46-656.14. If the Department denies approval, then the NRD may either amend the plan or keep it the same. It must then submit the amended or original plan to the Department with explanations on how the changes, if any, have met the Department's concerns. § 46-656.15. Once the Department has approved the management plan or the NRD has complied with § 46-656.15, the NRD may create a management area within the NRD, but it is not required to do so. The procedures for creating and modifying a management area are set out in §§ 46-656.19 through 46-656.21. After a public hearing on whether to create a management area, the NRD must determine whether to do so. If it decides to create the management area, then the GWMPA provides that it shall adopt a control from a list in § 46-656.25. This list, however, is not specifically tailored to adjudicate conflicts between ground water users and surface water appropriators. Instead, it contains a list of regulatory suggestions that can be used to meet an array of water issues. In fact, the only provision of the GWMPA that might be construed as addressing individual conflicts between ground water users and surface water appropriators is § 46-656.28. But we do not read this as abrogating a common-law claim that a surface water user might have against a ground water user. Under § 46-656.28(1): If a district on its own motion or following a request by a surface water appropriator, surface water project sponsor, ground water user, the Department of Natural Resources, or another state agency has reason to believe that a management area should be designated for integrated management of hydrologically connected ground water and surface water or that controls in a management area should be adopted to include such integrated management, the district may utilize the procedures established in sections 46-656.19 to 46-656.21 or may request that the affected appropriators, the affected surface water project sponsors, and the Department of Natural Resources consult with the district and that studies and a hearing be held on the preparation of a joint action plan for the integrated management of hydrologically connected ground water and surface water. Thus, under this section, surface water appropriators and ground water users can request that the NRD take action concerning disputes arising out of hydrologically connected ground water. But § 46-656.28(1) is ambiguous as to what happens once a party requests that an NRD take action. The statute may be read in several ways. First, it could allow the NRD discretion to (1) use §§ 46-656.19 to 46-656.21 to either create a management area and adopt controls or modify controls in an existing management area, (2) begin the process for adopting a joint action plan under the remainder of § 46-656.28, or (3) do nothing. Alternatively, § 46-656.28(1) could be read to mean that if the NRD concludes there is a problem, then it must either (1) use §§ 46-656.19 to 46-656.21 to either create a management area and adopt controls or modify controls in an existing management area or (2) begin the process for adopting a joint action plan. But regardless whether § 46-656.28 gives the NRD discretion or requires the implementation of a management area, the statute does not, as the appellees suggest, provide a surface water user with an administrative adjudication. Instead, it provides a method for the surface water user to commence administrative rulemaking. If, following a request by the surface water user, the NRD chooses to create a management plan, the goal is not to adjudicate a specific dispute with trial proceedings, but to develop controls to address the area's water problems by employing the traditional tools of rulemaking, i.e., studies and public meetings. The same is true if the NRD begins the process of creating a joint action plan, except that if the NRD chooses this route, the Department is also involved. Moreover, regardless of which process is chosen, § 46-656.28 does not authorize the NRD or the Department to remedy any past harm done to a complaining party. The steps that the NRD and the Department can take are only prospective: This is consistent with rulemaking, not adjudication, and further demonstrates that § 46-656.28 does not abrogate the common law. To the extent there is ambiguity regarding the GWMPA, the legislative history also shows that the Legislature did not intend for the GWMPA to abrogate a common-law claim. The GWMPA was significantly revised in 1996 to address the relationship between surface and ground water in response to concerns that the State of Kansas might file a lawsuit over issues arising from the Republican River Compact. A reading of the history as a whole shows that the concern was implementing a system that could reduce future conflicts. Nothing indicates an intent for the GWMPA to replace common-law tort actions or to provide a procedure to address disputes between individual parties. Instead, the intent was to allow the NRD greater flexibility to create plans in areas of conflict and create cooperation between the NRD's and the Department when necessary, but not to resolve specific existing conflicts. See, e.g., Floor Debate, 1996 Neb. Laws, L.B. 108, 94th Leg., 2d Sess. (Mar. 13, 1996). In the floor debate, it was recognized that litigation ... is out there, and the lawsuits are going to happen or not happen, separate and apart from the legislation ... in 108. Id. at 12772. After a discussion recognizing that a person harmed by ground water use could sue, it was noted that the Legislature's goal was to mitigate litigation, but there was no discussion of abrogating claims. Instead, when asked about compensation for harm, the senator introducing the bill stated: [T]he question of compensation is something that is beyond this bill. The council approached it several times and was unable to address it. My position has been what we need to do now is to take care of the conjunctive use problem. If there are significant groups that are interested in talking about the whole question of compensation and who should be compensated when, that's certainly one I'd be willing to sit down and help organize and look at, but you have some very complicated questions there. Id. at 12816. Thus, we determine that the GWMPA does not show either an express or implied abrogation of the common law. Although we believe the GWMPA is a step toward reducing future conflicts through general regulation and not an attempt to replace a common-law claim with a system of administrative adjudication, we do not intend to discourage the Legislature from acting in this area. Ideally, the Legislature would develop a comprehensive administrative appropriation system, including procedures and remedies, to adjudicate direct conflicts between ground water and surface water users in Nebraska. This would be consistent with how most legislatures in western states have addressed conflicts between water users. See Restatement (Second) of Torts, ch. 41, topic 4 (1979).