Opinion ID: 880166
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Nebraska v. Wyoming

Text: In support of their argument for a preponderance standard, Pocatello and IGWA cite to the United States Supreme Court opinion in Nebraska v. Wyoming (Nebraska II). 507 U.S. 584 (1993). In Nebraska II, the Court dealt with an ongoing interstate dispute between Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado over water rights to the North Platte River. Id. at 584. In 1945, the Court entered a decree that imposed storage and diversion restrictions on the upstream states, Colorado and Wyoming, and apportioned the natural flow of the water between Wyoming and Nebraska. Id. In 1986, Nebraska petitioned the Court for an enforcement order seeking injunctive relief and alleging that Wyoming was violating the 1945 decree. Wyoming countered, arguing that Nebraska had circumvented the decree by diverting waters for uses not recognized by the decree. Id. at 589. As a starting point, the Supreme Court found the proper legal standards by which it could resolve the interstate dispute. The disagreement in this case centers on the applicable legal standards. The question is whether these proceedings involve an application for enforcement of rights already recognized in the decree, or whether Nebraska seeks a modification of the decree. According to Wyoming, although the Court has jurisdiction to modify the decree under Paragraph XIII, Nebraska obtained leave to file its petition on the assurance that the case would involve only enforcement of existing rights. In Wyoming’s view, Nebraska subsequently, and improperly, transformed the case into a request for recognition of new rights–in essence, into a request for another equitable apportionment. If Nebraska is allowed to argue for modification of the decree, Wyoming and amicus Basin maintain, the same high evidentiary threshold applicable to claims for new apportionments applies. Under that standard, Nebraska can prevail only upon proof ‘by clear and convincing evidence’ of ‘some real and substantial injury or damage.’ ... [W]e find merit in Wyoming’s contention that, to the extent Nebraska seeks modification of the decree rather than enforcement, a higher standard of proof applies. The two types of proceeding are markedly different. In an enforcement action, the plaintiff need not show injury. See, e.g., Wyoming v. Colorado, 309 U.S. 572, 581 (1940). When the alleged conduct is admitted, the only question is whether that conduct violates a right established by the decree. To be sure, the right need not be stated explicitly in the decree. As the Master recognized, when the decree is silent or unclear, it is appropriate to consider the underlying opinion, 29 the Master’s Report, and the record in the prior proceedings to determine whether the Court previously resolved the issue. See, e.g., Wyoming v. Colorado, 286 U.S. 494, 506-508 (1932). The parties’ course of conduct under the decree also may be relevant. But the underlying issue primarily remains one of interpretation. In a modification proceeding, by contrast, there is by definition no pre-existing right to interpret or enforce. At least where the case concerns the impact of new development, the inquiry may well entail the same sort of balancing of equities that occurs in an initial proceeding to establish an equitable apportionment. Id. at 590–92 (internal citations omitted) (emphasis in original). The Supreme Court held that in interstate water disputes which invoke the Court’s original jurisdiction, differing standards of proof should apply, depending upon whether the proceeding is to enforce a decree or to modify a decree, with the higher standard applying to the modification of a decree. Id. at 592. The Court’s use of the word “enforcement” is not synonymous with “administration.” Trying to equate enforcement, as it is used by the Supreme Court, with administration of water rights by the Idaho Department of Water Resources is comparing apples to oranges. There was no federal water district encompassing the states involved in the litigation in which the federal government administers water rights. The Court simply determines the amount of water the upstream state may divert. It may be based upon a percentage of the river’s flow, like in Nebraska v. Wyoming, 325 U.S. 589, 646 (1945) (Nebraska I) (“Accordingly, we conclude that the flat percentage method recommended by the Special Master is the most equitable method of apportionment.”), or a specific quantity of water, Wyoming v. Colorado, 309 U.S. 572, 581 (1940) (Wyoming II) (“We conclude that the decree is not violated in any substantial sense so long as Colorado does not divert from the Laramie river and its tributaries more than 39,750 acre feet per annum.”). When the Court adjudicated water rights between Wyoming and Colorado in the Laramie River, it realized that awarding Colorado a specific quantity of water would harm Wyoming in years of low water. The Court stated: The water to satisfy the Colorado appropriations is, and in the nature of things must be, diverted in Colorado at the head of the stream, and because of this those appropriations will not be affected by any variation in the yearly flow, but will receive their full measure of water in all years. On the other hand, the Wyoming appropriations will receive the water only after it passes down into that state, and must bear whatever of risk is incident to the variation in the natural flow. Of course, this affords no reason for underestimating the available supply, but it does show that to overestimate it will work particular injury to Wyoming. 30 Wyoming v. Colorado, 259 U.S. 419, 485 (1922) (Wyoming I). That type of harm to the downstream state would occur because once the decree was issued, the water rights would not be administered based upon the doctrine of prior appropriation. Enforcement as that term was used by the Supreme Court in Nebraska II simply meant interpreting the decree and, if one state was diverting more water than it was decreed, enjoining that violation. As the Court stated: In an enforcement action, the plaintiff need not show injury. When the alleged conduct is admitted, the only question is whether that conduct violates a right established by the decree. To be sure, the right need not be stated explicitly in the decree. As the Master recognized, when the decree is silent or unclear, it is appropriate to consider the underlying opinion, the Master’s Report, and the record in the prior proceedings to determine whether the Court previously resolved the issue. The parties’ course of conduct under the decree also may be relevant. But the underlying issue primarily remains one of interpretation. 507 U.S. at 592 (citations omitted) (emphasis added). That is illustrated by the Court’s decision in Nebraska II. The Court stated “that the Inland Lakes question is fairly characterized as an enforcement issue.” Id. “The Inland Lakes are four off-channel reservoirs in Nebraska served by the Interstate Canal, which diverts from the North Platte at Whalen, Wyoming.” Id. at 593. The Lakes and the Canal were part of an irrigation project operated by the United States Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau). Id. “Since 1913, the Bureau has diverted water through the Interstate Canal for storage in the Inland Lakes during nonirrigation months for release to Nebraska users during the irrigation season.” Id. at 593–94. Wyoming contended that the decree did not grant storage rights in the Inland Lakes nor did it establish a priority date. The Court held that although the decree did not explicitly establish the storage rights, it was based upon their existence and Wyoming could not now challenge the 1904 priority date, which was based upon the priority date of the original components of the project. The Court wrote: The decree did not explicitly establish the Inland Lakes’ priority. But it is undisputed that the Court recognized a right to store 46,000 acre-feet of water in the Inland Lakes and, at Wyoming’s suggestion, counted that amount to reduce Nebraska’s requirement of natural flows in the pivotal reach. The Master therefore concluded that the Inland Lakes’ priority was a necessary predicate of the apportionment and should not be disturbed. He also suggested that Wyoming’s postdecree acquiescence in the Bureau’s administration of the Inland Lakes should prevent Wyoming from challenging the 1904 priority date now. 31 We think the evidence from the prior litigation supports the conclusion that the Inland Lakes’ priority was settled there. And even if the issue was not previously determined, we would agree with the Special Master that Wyoming’s arguments are foreclosed by its postdecree acquiescence. Accordingly, we clarify today that the Inland Lakes share a December 6, 1904, priority date with other original components of the North Platte Project. Pursuant to that priority, the Bureau has a right to divert 46,000 acre-feet of water during the nonirrigation season months of October, November, and April for storage in the Inland Lakes. Id. at 594–95 (citations omitted). Thus, the enforcement issue addressed by the Court was simply an interpretation of the decree. It did not involve a determination of whether a diversion by a junior appropriator interfered with the water rights of a senior appropriator. There is no problem with applying a preponderance of the evidence standard to the interpretation of a decree. We apply the same rules of interpretation to a decree that we apply to contracts. DeLancey v. DeLancey, 110 Idaho 63, 65, 714 P.2d 32, 34 (1986). Another difference between an enforcement proceeding before the United States Supreme Court and the administration of water rights under Idaho water law is that in the enforcement proceeding, injury to another appropriator is irrelevant. As the Court stated, “In an enforcement action, the plaintiff need not show injury.” Nebraska II, 507 U.S. at 592. In interstate water disputes filed in the United States Supreme Court under its original jurisdiction, injury is relevant in order to determine whether there is a justiciable controversy for entering a decree. The lack of injury, in the sense of failing to show that there is inequitable apportionment of the water between the states, will result in dismissal of the petition. Kansas v. Colorado, 206 U.S. 46, 117 (1907). Conversely, if the claims of two or more states to the water in a watercourse exceed the water available, then there is injury sufficient for judicial determination because the states will be unable to obtain the water they each claim. Nebraska I, 325 U.S. at 610–11. After the Supreme Court determined in Wyoming I the quantity of water that Colorado could divert from the Laramie River, Colorado later sought to have Wyoming held in contempt for diverting more than the 39,750 acre feet it was decreed, and Colorado asserted as a defense that Wyoming had not been injured. The Court held that lack of injury to the downstream appropriator entitled to the water was not a defense. The Court stated: But such a defense is not admissible. After great consideration, this Court fixed the amount of water from the Laramie river and its tributaries to which Colorado 32 was entitled. Colorado is bound by the decree not to permit a greater withdrawal and, if she does so, she violates the decree and is not entitled to raise any question as to injury to Wyoming when the latter insists upon her adjudicated rights. Wyoming II, 309 U.S. at 581. The only consideration regarding enforcement is whether the upstream state took more water than was permitted under the decree, and the only defense is whether the downstream state acquiesced in the upstream state doing so. Id. “That is the sole available defense.” Id. The reason injury is irrelevant with respect to the interstate decree in Nebraska II is that the federal government did not administer water rights in times of shortage based upon priority of appropriation. The Supreme Court adjudicated the initial decree in Nebraska I. The watercourse at issue was the North Platte River that originated in northern Colorado, flowed in a northerly direction into Wyoming, and then eventually turned east across the Great Plains into Nebraska. Nebraska I, 325 U.S. at 592–93. When it did so, it applied the standard of equitable apportionment. Because the states involved were priority states, the Court was guided by the rule of first in time, first in right, but it was not bound by that rule. Id. at 617–18. “[I]f an allocation between appropriation States is to be just and equitable, strict adherence to the priority rule may not be possible.” Id. at 618. The factors that the Court considered in making an equitable apportionment included the following: Priority of appropriation is the guiding principle. But physical and climatic conditions, the consumptive use of water in the several sections of the river, the character and rate of return flows, the extent of established uses, the availability of storage water, the practical effect of wasteful uses on downstream areas, the damage to upstream areas as compared to the benefits to downstream areas if a limitation is imposed on the former-these are all relevant factors. Id. In its equitable apportionment between the states, the Court was not concerned with the harm that may be suffered by an individual appropriator. As the Court stated, “The equitable share of a State may be determined in this litigation with such limitations as the equity of the situation requires and irrespective of the indirect effect which that determination may have on individual rights within the State.” Id. at 627. Once the Supreme Court enters a decree equitably apportioning the water between or among states, the priority dates of the individual appropriators in those states are irrelevant with respect to the enforcement of that decree. The apportionment of water among the appropriators in each state was left to that state. The Court rejected fixing the rights of each appropriator based upon strict priority for the reasons “(1) that it would deprive 33 each State of full freedom of intrastate administration of her share of the water and (2) that it would burden the decree with administrative detail beyond what is necessary to an equitable apportionment.” Id. at 643. An enforcement proceeding under federal interstate water law would be equivalent to the administration under Idaho water law only if there was enough water for all appropriators in Idaho to receive their decreed amounts. Then, administration would simply be interpreting the decrees to determine what amounts had been decreed for each appropriator and measuring their diversions to make sure that the appropriators only took their decreed amounts. However, that is not reality. The difficult issue in administering water rights under Idaho law has always been changing conditions that result in there being insufficient water to provide the full amount that each appropriator is entitled under the appropriator’s decree or license. Thus, an enforcement proceeding before the Supreme Court does not involve issues that are involved in administration such as whether the appropriator making the call is suffering material injury, the reasonableness of the appropriator’s diversion, the appropriator’s conveyance efficiency, whether the appropriator is putting the water to beneficial use, whether the appropriator is wasting water, and hydrology. American Falls, 143 Idaho at 876–77, 154 P.3d at 447–48. In this respect, the administration of water rights under Idaho law is more akin to modification proceedings in the Supreme Court than to enforcement proceedings. In Nebraska I, the Court stated that “the decree which is entered must deal with conditions as they obtain today. If they substantially change, the decree can be adjusted to meet the new conditions.” 325 U.S. at 620. As the Court reiterated in Nebraska II, the modification of a decree can require the Court to “answer unresolved questions and to accommodate ‘change[s] in conditions’-a phrase sufficiently broad to encompass not only changes in water supply, but also new development that threatens a party’s interests.” 507 U.S. at 591. “At least where the case concerns the impact of new development, the inquiry may well entail the same sort of balancing of equities that occurs in an initial proceeding to establish an equitable apportionment.” Id. at 592 (citations omitted). Thus, the issues considered in modifying a decree based upon changes in conditions, such as decreasing or increasing water supply and the impact of new development, are more akin to the issues involved in administering federal water rights than the issues involved in federal enforcement. To the extent that Nebraska II sheds light on the appropriate standard of proof, it 34 would support the higher standard of clear and convincing evidence for administering water rights when a water source is over appropriated or during low-water years. It is Idaho’s longstanding rule that proof of “no injury” by a junior appropriator in a water delivery call must be by clear and convincing evidence. Once a decree is presented to an administrating agency or court, all changes to that decree, permanent or temporary, must be supported by clear and convincing evidence.