Nebraska v. Wyoming

Background

The dispute involves the States of Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska, the United States, and water users in the North Platte River basin. The Court first apportioned the river in 1945 and amended that decree in 1953. Subsequent litigation followed in 1986 and 1987, with key rulings in 1993 and 1995. The parties filed a Final Settlement Stipulation dated March 13, 2001, and a Special Master filed a Final Report that the Court received and ordered filed.

Reasoning

The central question was whether to approve the parties’ settlement and enter a Modified Decree to resolve long-running disputes over diversion, storage, and irrigation. The Court approved the Final Settlement Stipulation, adopted the proposed Modified North Platte Decree as the Appendix, replaced the prior decree, and dismissed all claims, counterclaims, and cross-claims with prejudice. The Modified Decree sets concrete injunctions and numeric limits (acreage caps, acre-feet storage limits, ten-year consumptive-use ceilings, and a 75/25 apportionment in one river reach), creates the North Platte Decree Committee to administer and monitor implementation, and preserves the Court’s ongoing oversight.

Real world impact

The decision creates binding, enforceable limits on how much water each State may divert, store, or export in specified areas and requires detailed recordkeeping and reporting by state agencies. It sets review procedures (including a ten-year review of certain methods and limits) and gives the Decree Committee a central role in administration, with the Court available to resolve disputes or modify the decree if necessary. Farmers, irrigation districts, reservoir operators, and state water officials in the basin will need to follow new caps and monitoring rules.