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7/14/2009 5:02:35 PM
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UCREFRP
UCREFRP Catalog Number
9367
Author
Colorado Water Workshop.
Title
Proceedings
USFW Year
1992.
USFW - Doc Type
Colorado Water Workshop July 22-24, 1992.
Copyright Material
NO
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<br />compact, show that the issue of tribal water rights on the Colorado <br />River was considered relatively shortly after the Winters decision and <br />that the commissioners involved in negotiation of the Colorado River <br />Compact did not know what to do with the tribal rights. Therefore, <br />the solution proposed by Herbert Hoover, the federal representative, <br />was that language be included indicating that the tribal rights were <br />not covered by the compact. As a result, there is an article in the <br />1922 compact that provides that "nothing in this compact shall affect <br />the obligations of the Uni ted States to Indian tribes." There is <br />similar language in the 1948 Upper Colorado River Compact. There is <br />also language in the 1922 compact about the protection of present <br />perfected rights. Present perfected rights are those rights, of <br />course, that were in effect prior to the time of the 1922 compact. <br />The tribal rights qualify as such rights. To the extent that the <br />tribes were in control of their rights, there is no indication that <br />when the 1922 compact came into existence and the 1948 compact came <br />into existence, there was any intent to bind the tribes to the <br />provisions of the Compact. <br />It is also true that if you look at the compact, many of the <br />restrictive phrases, particularly in 1922 compact, that control the <br />activities on the River are specifically addressed to the states. For <br />example, Article 3.E, which says the Upper Basin states shall not <br />retain water unless it is needed for domestic and agricultural <br />purposes, and limits the types of calls Lower Basin states can make <br />on the Upper Basin, is directed to the states. Article 3.E does not <br />say anything about the tribes and it does not say anything about the <br />federal government; it is directed to the states. Read together with <br />the minutes of the Compact and Article 7, the escape clause for the <br />tribes, leads me to conclude that, when all is said and done, the Law <br />of the River does not apply to the tribes. <br />Where does that leave us on the subject of water marketing? <br />Well, when we talk about water marketing, I think it is important that <br />we define what we are talking about. When I use the phrase water <br />marketing, I am really talking about the tribes choosing to allow <br />others to use tribal water off the reservations in return for <br />compensation. I am not talking about increasing the quantity of water <br />to which tribes are entitled because of their ability to market. I <br />am not talking about putting water to use in a way that injures others <br />any differently than if the tribe were to put that water to use on the <br />reservation. To the extent that tribal water rights are not in use <br />today, obviously, putting those rights to use may in many instances <br />cut off other users. That is the necessary result of the Reserved <br />Rights Doctrine as the Supreme Court has interpreted it. In short, <br />we are not talking about having any additional injury above and beyond <br />that which results from other tribal water uses. <br />The argument in favor of tribal marketing is quite simple. At <br />the time an Indian reservation was created, the tribe in question <br />obtained a vested right to a certain quantity of water and it has <br />command of that water, just as was said in the Winters case. Water <br />itself, of course, has been deemed by the Supreme Court to be an <br />article of commerce and that same reasoning ought to apply to tribal <br />water rights. In addition, there is a long standing federal policy, <br />which we have not talked about here I but is found in many of the <br />tribal fishing rights cases, that says you do not lock the tribes into <br /> <br />46 <br />
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