United States v. U.S. Bd. of Water Comm'rs
| Decision Date | 22 May 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 15-16317,No. 15-16316, No. 15-16319, No. 15-16323, No. 15-16489, No. 15-16321,15-16316 |
| Citation | 893 F.3d 578 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, Walker River Paiute Tribe, Intervenor-Plaintiff, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Petitioner, Mineral County, Intervenor-Plaintiff, and Nevada State Engineer, Respondent-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES BOARD OF WATER COMMISSIONERS, Participant-Appellee, Backtrack, LLC; Bale Counter, Inc.; Gary M. Berrington; Berrington Custom Hay Hauling & Trans., Inc.; Damian, Ltd.; Peter A. Fenili; GDA Degree, Inc.; Gary G. Garms; Gary J. Garms; Kari D. Garms; Toni Garms; Garmsland Limited, LLC; High Sierra Garlic; Jackaroo, LLC ; Settelmeyer–Rosse Ranch Management, LLC ; Six-N-Ranch, Inc. ; Straggler, LLC, Objectors-Appellees, and Nevada Department of Wildlife; California State Water Resources Control Board; Mono County, California; Lyon County, Nevada, Respondents, Walker Lake Working Group; Walker River Irrigation District, Defendants. United States of America, Plaintiff, Walker River Paiute Tribe, Intervenor-Plaintiff, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Petitioner, Mineral County, Intervenor-Plaintiff, and Nevada Department of Wildlife, Respondent-Appellant, v. United States Board of Water Commissioners, Participant-Appellee, Backtrack, LLC; Bale Counter, Inc.; Gary M. Berrington; Berrington Custom Hay Hauling & Trans., Inc.; Damian, Ltd.; Peter A. Fenili; GDA Degree, Inc.; Gary G. Garms; Gary J. Garms; Kari D. Garms; Toni Garms; Garmsland Limited, LLC; High Sierra Garlic; Jackaroo, LLC ; Settelmeyer–Rosse Ranch Management, LLC ; Six-N-ranch, Inc. ; Straggler, LLC, Objectors-Appellees, and Nevada State Engineer; California State Water Resources Control Board; Mono County, California; Lyon County, Nevada, Respondents, Walker Lake Working Group; Walker River Irrigation District, Defendants. United States of America, Plaintiff, Walker River Paiute Tribe, Intervenor-Plaintiff, Mineral County, Intervenor-Plaintiff, and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Petitioner-Appellant, v. United States Board of Water Commissioners, Participant-Appellee, Backtrack, LLC; Bale Counter, Inc.; Gary M. Berrington; Berrington Custom Hay Hauling & Trans., Inc.; Damian, Ltd.; Peter A. Fenili; GDA Degree, Inc.; Gary G. Garms; Gary J. Garms; Kari D. Garms; Toni Garms; Garmsland Limited, LLC; High Sierra Garlic; Jackaroo, LLC ; Settelmeyer–Rosse Ranch Management, LLC ; Six-N-ranch, Inc. ; Straggler, LLC, Objectors-Appellees, and Nevada State Engineer; Nevada Department of Wildlife; California State Water Resources Control Board; Mono County, California; Lyon County, Nevada, Respondents, Walker Lake Working Group; Walker River Irrigation District, Defendants. United States of America, Plaintiff, Walker River Paiute Tribe, Intervenor-Plaintiff, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Petitioner, Mineral County, Intervenor-Plaintiff, and Walker River Irrigation District, Defendant-Appellant, v. United States Board of Water Commissioners, Participant-Appellee, Backtrack, LLC; Bale Counter, Inc.; Gary M. Berrington; Berrington Custom Hay Hauling & Trans., Inc.; Damian, Ltd.; Peter A. Fenili; GDA Degree, Inc.; Gary G. Garms; Gary J. Garms; Kari D. Garms; Toni Garms; Garmsland Limited, LLC; High Sierra Garlic; Jackaroo, LLC ; Settelmeyer–Rosse Ranch Management, LLC ; Six-N-ranch, Inc. ; Straggler, LLC, Objectors-Appellees, and Nevada State Engineer; Nevada Department of Wildlife; Mono County, California; Lyon County, Nevada, Respondents, Walker Lake Working Group, Defendant. United States of America, Plaintiff, Walker River Paiute Tribe, Intervenor-Plaintiff, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Petitioner, and Mineral County, Intervenor-Plaintiff-Appellant, Walker Lake Working Group, Defendant-Appellant, v. United States Board of Water Commissioners, Participant-Appellee, Backtrack, LLC; Bale Counter, Inc.; Gary M. Berrington; Berrington Custom Hay Hauling & Trans., Inc.; Damian, Ltd.; Peter A. Fenili; Gda Degree, Inc.; Gary G. Garms; Gary J. Garms; Kari D. Garms; Toni Garms; Garmsland Limited, LLC; High Sierra Garlic; Jackaroo, LLC ; Settelmeyer–Rosse Ranch Management, LLC ; Six-N-ranch, Inc. ; Straggler, LLC, Objectors-Appellees, and Nevada State Engineer; Nevada Department of Wildlife; Mono County, California; Lyon County, Nevada, Respondents, Walker River Irrigation District, Defendant. United States of America, Plaintiff, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Petitioner, Mineral County, Intervenor-Plaintiff, and Walker River Paiute Tribe, Intervenor-Plaintiff-Appellant, v. United States Board of Water Commissioners, Participant-Appellee, Backtrack, LLC; Bale Counter, Inc.; Gary M. Berrington; Berrington Custom Hay Hauling & Trans., Inc.; Damian, Ltd.; Peter A. Fenili; GDA Degree, Inc.; Gary G. Garms; Gary J. Garms; Kari D. Garms; Toni Garms; Garmsland Limited, LLC; High Sierra Garlic; Jackaroo, LLC ; Settelmeyer–Rosse Ranch Management, LLC ; Six-N-Ranch, Inc. ; Straggler, LLC, Objectors-Appellees, and Nevada Department of Wildlife; Nevada State Engineer; California State Water Resources Control Board; Mono County, California; Lyon County, Nevada, Respondents, Walker Lake Working Group; Walker River Irrigation District ; Joseph Landolt ; Beverly Landolt, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Don Springmeyer (argued) and Christopher Mixson, Wolf Rifkin Shapiro Schulman & Rabkin LLP, Las Vegas, Nevada; Jamie Morin, Mentor Law Group PLLC, Seattle, Washington; for Petitioner-Appellant National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
Micheline Noel Nadeau Fairbank (argued) and Bryan L. Stockton, Senior Deputy Attorneys General; Adam Paul Laxalt, Attorney General; Office of the Attorney General, Carson City, Nevada; for Respondent-Appellant State of Nevada.
Gordon DePaoli (argued) and Dale E. Ferguson, Woodburn and Wedge, Reno, Nevada, for Defendant-Appellant Walker River Irrigation District.
Simeon Herskovits (argued), Advocates for Community & Environment, El Prado, New Mexico; Sean A. Rowe, Mineral County District Attorney, Hawthorne, Nevada; for Plaintiff-Intervenor-Plaintiff-Appellant Mineral County and Defendant-Appellant Walker Lake Working Group.
Wes Williams Jr., Law Offices of Wes Williams Jr. P.C., Schurz, Nevada, for Intervenor-Plaintiff-Appellant Walker River Paiute Tribe.
Karen A. Peterson (argued), Justin M. Townsend, Kyle A. Winter, and Willis M. Wagner, Allison MacKenzie Ltd., Carson City, Nevada, for Participant-Appellee United States Board of Water Commissioners.
Elizabeth Ann Peterson, David L. Negri, Andrew "Guss" Guarino, Katherine J. Barton, David C. Shilton, and William B. Lazarus, Attorneys; John C. Cruden, Assistant Attorney General; United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; for Amicus Curiae United States of America.
Jan Zabriskie, Deputy Attorney General; Annadel A. Almendras and Tracy L. Winsor, Supervising Deputy Attorneys General; Robert W. Byrne, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Office of the Attorney General, Sacramento, California; for Amicus Curiae California State Water Resources Control Board.
Before: A. Wallace Tashima, Raymond C. Fisher, and Jay S. Bybee, Circuit Judges.
Amicus the California State Water Resources Control Board's request for modification filed in 15-16321 and 15-16323 on June 7, 2018 is GRANTED.
The Opinion filed May 22, 2018, appearing at 890 F.3d 1134, is amended as follows:
1. At 890 F.3d at 1146, footnote 11, replace with
2. At 890 F.3d at 1152, replace "over which the Board lacks statutory authority" with "over which the Board lacks permitting and licensing authority."
Water was plentiful when the first settlers arrived in northwestern Nevada ten thousand years ago. Massive Lake Lahontan spread from the Sierra Nevada to the Carson Sink, the Black Rock Desert, and as far as California and Oregon. "The world," they said, "was all water."1 Lake Lahontan has slowly vanished over the years, and now survives only in the form of a few desert lakes, including the subject of this case, Walker Lake, the terminus of the Walker River.
Walker Lake has suffered since the 1860s, when the River's waters were first diverted for agriculture, and the Lake's volume has plummeted precipitously in recent years. In response, federal, state, tribal, local, and private organizations and authorities have banded together to save the Lake. The federal program at issue in this case is a voluntary water rights leasing program managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation ("NFWF") to convey water from Walker River downstream to the Lake as part of the federal Walker Basin Restoration Program. Like duck stamps and emissions markets, NFWF's program proposes to employ free market forces to restore a natural balance between the competing demands of agriculture and conservation.
The Nevada State Engineer and the California State Water Resources Control Board approved change applications for NFWF's program over the objections of farmers ("the Farmers") who claim injury to their water rights. The Farmers brought their complaints to the district court which, as the Decree court, has maintained in rem jurisdiction over the waters of Walker River since 1902 in accordance with the...
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