07SA293 Advance Sheet Headnote The Water Right Determination and Administration Act of 1969 The Colorado Ground Water management Act beneficial use well appropriation

• Description: Colorado Supreme Court opinion regarding classifying use of water for coalbed methane production as a beneficial use.
• State: CO
• Date: 4/20/2009
• Title: 07SA293 Advance Sheet Headnote The Water Right Determination and Administration Act of 1969 The Colorado Ground Water management Act beneficial use well appropriation
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Court Documents

§ 37- 92- 103(3)(a), C.R.S. (2008) (emphasis added). Once an
appropriation occurs, it gives rise to a vested water right
subject to permitting and adjudication. In re Concerning
Application for Water Rights of Turkey Canon Ranch LLC, 937 P.2d
739, 744 (Colo. 1997). Prior appropriated rights have priority
over subsequent junior rights. Empire Lodge Homeowners' Ass'n
v. Moyer, 39 P.3d 1139, 1148 -49 (Colo. 2001) (noting that
Colorado water law emphasizes the adjudication and
administration of decreed water rights in order of their
priority).
Consequently, we begin with the central question presented
by this case -- whether CBM production is a "beneficial use"
giving rise to an appropriative water right subject to water
well permitting, water court adjudication, and administration by
the Engineers. We find that it is. We then turn to the
Engineers' and BP's assertion that we must defer to the
Engineers' interpretation of the term "beneficial use" and
conclude that we need not defer. Finally, we consider, and
ultimately disagree with, the argument that the regulation of
CBM production is exclusively within the province of the COGCC.
A.
While the term "beneficial use" is undefined in the
Colorado Constitution, the 1969 Act defines it broadly as "the
use of that amount of water that is reasonable and appropriate
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