Laserfiche WebLink
<br />.. 0087 <br /> <br />deny such rights. ~/ <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />After Cappaert and New Mexico, it is safe to conclude that <br />a federal agency may acquire unappropriated water on federal <br />lands without regard to state substantive or procedural law, <br />when that land has been reserved pursuant to congressional <br />authorization for a specific federal purpose that requires the <br />use of water. The right is based on implied congressional <br />intent, and is limited in two crucial respects. First, federal <br />rights will be implied only if necessary to accomplish the <br />specific purposes for which Congress authorized reservation <br />of the land, not for incidental, or "secondary" uses that may <br />be permitted by congressional authorization or acquiescence <br />in agency practice. Drawing the line between the "primary <br />purposes" for which water may be reserved and the "secondary <br />uses" for which water may not be reserved requires a careful <br />examination of congressional intent, as expressed in the <br />particular statute authorizing reservation and management <br />of the land in question and its legislative history. Second, <br />the amount of water reserved is only that minimally necessary <br />to accomplish those primary purposes ~- i.e., that water <br />"without [which] the purposes of the reservation would be <br />entirely defeated." united States v. New Mexico, supra, <br />438 U.S. at 700. <br /> <br />b. Conflicts with congressional directives <br /> <br />In the second relevant line of decisions, the Court has <br />held that a state may not veto a federally authorized water <br />project by requiring the federal government or its licensee <br />to obtain a state permit authorizing use of water necessary <br />for the project, and may not impose conditions on the acquisition, <br />use, or distribution of project water that are inconsistent <br />with specific congressional directives authorizing the <br />project. Although in these cases the Court has not developed <br /> <br />49/ New Mex1co was a split decision, with Justices Brennan, <br />wnite, and Marshall joining in a dissent written by Justice <br />Powell. The dissenters, however, did not take issue with <br />the conclusion of the majority that Congress had generally <br />deferred to state water law and therefore "that the implied- <br />reservation doctrine should be applied with sensitivity to <br />its impact upon those who have obtained water rights under <br />state law and to Congress' general policy of deference to <br />state law," and concurred in the majority's conclusion that <br />the organic Administration Act could not be read "as evidencing <br />an intent to reserve water for recreational or stockwatering <br />purposes." 438 u.S. at 7l8. The dissenters disagreed <br />rather with the majority's narrow reading of the legislative <br />history of the Organic Administration Act to exclude preser- <br />vation of wildlife as a primary purpose of the reservation <br />of national forests. ld. at 719. <br /> <br />- 31 - <br />