Texas v. New Mexico
Headline: Court blocks states' proposed water settlement because it would strip the federal government of its interstate water-agreement claims, keeping disputes over Rio Grande allocations and groundwater pumping unresolved.
Holding: The Court denied the states' request to enter the proposed consent decree because it would dispose of the United States' Compact claims without the federal government's consent, so the decree cannot be approved.
- Blocks the states' settlement because it would extinguish the federal government's Compact claims without consent.
- Preserves the United States' right to litigate Compact water claims in court.
- Keeps negotiations and final water allocation unresolved; further litigation likely.
Summary
Background
The dispute involves Texas, New Mexico, and the United States over how Rio Grande water is shared below Elephant Butte Reservoir. The Rio Grande Compact divides river water among Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas and relies on the federal Rio Grande Project and Downstream Contracts to deliver water to irrigation districts and to Mexico. Texas sued New Mexico in 2013, alleging excessive groundwater pumping in New Mexico was reducing the water Texas should receive, and the United States later intervened to protect federal project and treaty interests.
Reasoning
Texas and New Mexico agreed on a proposed consent decree that would use a new measurement method tied to mid-20th-century conditions (the D2 Period) and a gauge near El Paso to define compliance. The United States objected, arguing the decree would extinguish its Compact claims without consent. The Court held that the United States has valid federal Compact claims (based on the Court’s earlier 2018 decision allowing intervention) and that the consent decree would effectively resolve those claims by adopting a metric that assumes the increased pumping the United States challenges. Under settled precedent, a court cannot approve a settlement that disposes of a nonconsenting intervenor’s valid claims.
Real world impact
The Court denied entry of the consent decree, so the proposed settlement will not take effect and the United States’ Compact claims remain alive. That means water allocations, measurement methods, and limits on groundwater pumping remain subject to further litigation or negotiation, and federal reclamation operations continue under existing requirements until a final resolution.
Dissents or concurrances
A four-Justice dissent argued the Special Master’s detailed recommendation favored approval and warned denying the decree undermines state control over water and discourages settlements, urging deference to the negotiated deal.
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