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based on the amount of irrigable lands on the reservation. The tribes dedicated a portion or their right, quantified for future irrigation, to instream flow for fisheries. A permit was granted for that purpose by the Wind River Water Resources Control Board under a tribal water code. Thereafter, the tribes complained to the State Engineer that state water right holders were interfering with the exercise of tribal water rights. The State Engineer informed the tribes that their permit was unenforceable because they had been awarded only the right to divert water and that any change in the use of future project water must be made following a diversion. The tribes sought to have the State Engineer relieved of his duties for failing to protect their rights, Subsequently, a Wyoming district court declared the tribes were entitled to use their water rights as they chose, including for instream purposes, and ordered the substitution of the tribes for the State Engineer as the administrator of reservation water rights. This decision was then appealed to the state supreme court. The Wyoming Supreme Court, after clarifying that its scope of review was limited to the dedication of future project water to instream flow, pointed out that its prior ...,opinion clearly and unequivocally stated that the tribes had the right to use a quantified amount of water on their reservation solely for agricultural and subsumed purposes and not for instream purposes.' It continued, 'If we had intended to specify what the water could be used for merely as a methodology to determine the amount of water the tribes could use for any purpose, we would have said so.' The court tied its ruling very closely to its previous opinion in the case, and generally rejected the parties' attempts to support their positions based on authority other than its prior ruling. With respect to the removal of the State Engineer as the administrator of water rights on the reservation, the court held 'that the district court had no 'inherent equitable enforcement authority,' as argued by the tribes, to effectuate a de facto removal and replacement..... The court also said, 'A contrary position would result in a most unbalanced and unworkable form of government. The district court's action violated not only the separation of powers doctrine embodied in the Wyoming Constitution, but also the constitutional charge that the State Engineer shall have 'general supervision of the waters of the state," WATER RESOURCES Central Valley project (CVP)/Omnibus Reclamation Bill . The House passed H,R, 5099, the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, on June 18. The bill was then added to H.R. 429, the omnibus reclamation bill ryvSW #936), and passed by voice vote. The next step will be conference committee with the Senate. Adding the Central Valley bill to H.R. 429 will enable the conference to consider a more extensive revamping of the CVP than was previously possible. As passed by the House, the CVP bill represents a compromise between Interior Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA), and two Committee members from the Central Valley, Richard Lehman (D-CA) and Calvin Dooley (D-CA). The major changes were dropping the set-aside of 1.5M acre-feet and cutting in half the amount for a fish and wildlife restoration fund, now set at $15M. Also dropped was language requiring farmers who grow surplus crops to pay full cost. The compromise maintains the original provisions in H.R. 5099 that would limit new irrigation contracts, enable cities to purchase more CVP water, encourage greater water conservation, and direct the Interior Department to restore fish and wildlife habitat that has been damaged by the project ryvSW #942). A special joint state-federal committee will study various options for transferring CVP ownership out of . federal hands, including the possible sale of the project to California. The outcome of possible floor amendments on June 18th was not known at press time. Miller Is now expected to ask for a conference with the Senate, where several differences must be resolved. PUBUCA1l0NS The National Research Council has just published its hard cover edition of 'Water Transfers in the West: Efficiency, Equity, and the Environment.' The study was prepared by the Committee on Western Water Management, chaired by Dan Tarlock of the Chicago-Kent College of Law. The Committee included Keith Higginson, Idaho Department of Water Resources and Council Legal Committee Chair, and 'Craig Bell, Council Executive Director. The book focuses on third party impacts of water transfers and recommends ways to appropriately address these impacts ryvSW #930). The book may be ordered by using a major credit card: 1-800-624-6242. The WESTERN STATES WATER COUNCIL is an organization of representatives appointed by the Governors . of member states - Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, with Oklahoma as an associate member state.