State v. US
| Decision Date | 09 March 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 24474., No. 24473 |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
| Parties | In re SRBA Case No. 39576, Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge, SRBA Subcase No. 36-15452. STATE of Idaho, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent. In re SRBA Case No. 39576, Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge, SRBA Subcase No. 36-15452. Twin Falls Canal Company and North Side Canal Company; Harrison Canal & Irrigation Company, Egin Bench Canal Inc., Progressive Irrigation District, New Sweden Irrigation District, Enterprise Irrigation District, North Fremont Canal Systems, Burgess Canal & Irrigation Company, Snake River Valley Irrigation District, Peoples Canal & Irrigation Company and Idaho Irrigation District; A & B Irrigation District and Burley Irrigation District, Appellants, v. United States of America, Respondent. |
Hon. Alan G. Lance, Attorney General, Boise, for appellant State of Idaho. Peter J. Ampe argued.
Rosholt, Robertson & Tucker, Twin Falls, for appellants Twin Falls Canal Company and North Side Canal Company. Norman M. Semanko argued. Rigby, Thatcher, Andrus, Rigby, Kam & Moeller, Chtd., Rexburg, for appellants Harrison Canal & Irrigation Company, Egin Bench Canal Inc., Progressive Irrigation District, New Sweden Irrigation District, Enterprise Irrigation District, North Fremont Canal Systems, Burgess Canal & Irrigation Company, Snake River Valley Irrigation District, Peoples Canal & Irrigation Company, and Idaho Irrigation District. Did not participate in oral argument.
Ling, Nielsen & Robinson, Rupert, for appellants A & B Irrigation District and Burley Irrigation District. Roger D. Ling argued.
Betty H. Richardson, United States Attorney, Boise; Sean H. Donahue, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; James Dubois, U.S. Department of Justice, Denver; for respondent. Sean H. Donahue argued. KIDWELL, Justice.
This Court granted permissive appeal from an interlocutory order of the Snake River Basin Adjudication (SRBA) district court. The SRBA court denied the motion of certain irrigation districts and canal companies to file a late response and granted in part their motion to participate in the subcase. We affirm. The SRBA court also held that diversion was not required to perfect the water right the United States claimed under Idaho's constitutional method of appropriation. We reverse, holding that the United States may not utilize Idaho's constitutional method of appropriation to claim a non-diversionary water right for purposes other than stock watering.
I.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Water from Smith Springs and its associated seeps (Smith Springs) flows from the banks of the Snake River into a bay of Lake Walcott Reservoir above Minidoka Dam in Blaine County. Smith Springs are within the boundaries of Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge (Minidoka NWR). Minidoka NWR, originally the "Minidoka Reservation for Protection of Native Birds," was established by Executive Order of President Theodore Roosevelt in February 1909. The Executive Order expressly anticipated a reservoir site and specified that the reservation was set apart as a "preserve[] and breeding ground[] for native birds." The land comprising the reservoir site and Minidoka NWR was condemned for use of the United States on May 17, 1915.
In the SRBA, the United States filed a claim, No. 36-15452, for 1.16 cubic feet per second (c.f.s.), based on the constitutional method of appropriation, for the waters from Smith Springs.1 The United States claimed the appropriation for the non-consumptive beneficial use of wildlife from January 1 until December 31 of each year, with a priority date of May 17, 1915. The claim observed that Smith Springs provided a source of fresh water to the bay, maintained wetlands when the reservoir was drawn down, and kept areas of the bay open during winter, thereby providing important habitat for over-wintering birds. The United States acknowledged that there were "[n]o developed diversion works" at Smith Springs.
The Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) Director's Report for Basin 36, filed in November 1992, recommended that the United States' claim be disallowed on the basis that a valid appropriation required a physical diversion.
Within required deadlines, the United States filed an objection and IDWR filed a response to the objection. The claim was designated a subcase and assigned to a special master. After IDWR, originally a party, was removed as a party to the SRBA pursuant to I.C. § 42-1401B(3), the SRBA court extended the response deadline by almost two years, but no other party filed a response. The United States, the only remaining party in the subcase after IDWR's removal, filed a motion for summary judgment on December 7, 1995.
On January 11, 1996, Twin Falls Canal Company, North Side Canal Company, A & B Irrigation District, and Burley Irrigation District (the Irrigators) filed a joint motion for leave to file a late response, or, in the alternative, to participate in the subcase. The special master denied the Irrigators' motion to file a late response. The special master granted permissive intervention but limited the Irrigators' participation to amicus curiae addressing the question of what constitutes a diversion for a beneficial use claim.
The special master recommended granting summary judgment for the United States on February 20, 1996. On March 11, 1996, the special master recommended that the United States be adjudicated a constitutional appropriation for an instream water right with a priority date of May 17, 1915 for 1.16 c.f.s. from Smith Springs for the beneficial use of wildlife. The State and the Irrigators filed notices of challenge contesting the special master's recommendations. After hearings, the SRBA court issued its order on October 10, 1997. It affirmed the decision of the special master regarding the Irrigators' motion to file a late response and alternative motion to participate. The SRBA court also affirmed the special master's decision that a diversion was not required for an appropriation under the constitutional method. However, the SRBA court held that the special master erred in deciding a one-party subcase on summary judgment. It remanded to the special master for findings on the specific amount of water subject to a water right, intent to appropriate, and priority date. The SRBA court also allowed the State and the Irrigators to participate on issues of both fact and law on remand.
The State and Irrigators filed timely notices of intent to participate in the hearings on remand. Ten other irrigators also filed timely notices to participate.
On October 24, 1997, the State and the Irrigators filed a joint motion for permission to appeal the legal questions presented by this case. The SRBA court granted the motion on October 31. This Court granted permission to appeal on January 20, 1998. The State and Irrigators thereafter filed timely notices of appeal.
II.
ANALYSIS
A. The Denial of the Irrigators' Motion to File a Late Response or Participate in the Subcase as a Matter of Right Was Proper.
The Irrigators contest the SRBA court's affirmance of the special master's decision regarding their joint motion to file a late response and alternative motion to participate. They assert that their late response was justified because they had good cause for delay. In the alternative, the Irrigators maintain that they met the requirements for intervention of right under I.R.C.P. 24(a) because their motion was timely and they claimed interests that could be impaired by the resolution of the subcase. They also assert that the special master erred in limiting their participation under the permissive intervention standard of I.R.C.P. 24(b).
A party may intervene in an SRBA subcase when it acts "in accordance with rules of practice and procedure established by the district court." I.C. § 42-1412(2). Procedural aspects of SRBA litigation are governed by the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure, supplemented by SRBA Administrative Order # 1 (A.O.1). A.O.1 § 1. We review a district court's decision on the timeliness of a motion to intervene under an abuse of discretion standard. Cf. NAACP v. New York, 413 U.S. 345, 365-66, 93 S.Ct. 2591, 2602-03, 37 L.Ed.2d 648, 662-63 (1973) (). Timeliness of intervention is determined from all the circumstances: the point to which the suit has progressed is not solely dispositive. Id. at 366, 93 S.Ct. at 2603, 37 L.Ed.2d at 662.
1. Motion to file a late response.
IDWR Director's Reports furnish the dates when objections and responses to the Director's Reports are due. A.O.1 § 4b; I.C. § 42-1412(2). Filing a response to a Director's Report allows a party to the SRBA adjudication to become a party to the subcase. A.O.1 § 4; I.C. § 42-1412(2).
A.O.1 § 4b provides an absolute rule for responses: "The objection or response must be received by the court by the deadline specified." (Emphasis in original.) Here the Irrigators did not file a response by either the initial deadline of September 1993 or the extended deadline of August 1995. By the plain language of the SRBA rules, the Irrigators' response was untimely and the special master correctly denied the motion to file the response. Therefore, the SRBA court did not abuse its discretion in affirming the denial.
2. Alternative motion to participate.
In the alternative, the Irrigators moved to participate in the subcase. A.O.1 § 6g provides:
Parties to the SRBA adjudication may intervene in a subcase as a matter of right if they meet the criteria of ...
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