Interesting cas being argued at the USSC today. Navajo’s claim the government reneged o; their agreement to give them adequate water, and are suing. Over the past few decades it seems the court has been a bit more sympathetic to NA issues, but this court is obviously a whole other ball of wax. It also could have a decent sized impact on the already large water problems in the west of the court sides with them. Navajo Nation fight over Colorado River water rights hits Supreme Court — ABC News
I'm not an expert on water rights and probably shouldn't post, but it seems everyone in the drought stricken areas are going to have to compromise on their "rights" when and however they may have acquired them.
OT: The promise by the city of Gainesville in 1905 to "furnish water to the university without charge" forever was a deciding factor as to why UF was built there instead of Lake City. "Without (Gainesville mayor) Major Thomas' offer of free water there is simply no way the University of Florida would have ended up in Gainesville," said retired UF history Sam Proctor, UF's official historian. "That one idea changed everything." At the time of Thomas' inspired offer, half a dozen communities were actively competing to become home to the state's first public university. Some were bigger. Some had been around longer. Some had better amenities. Some had better political connections. Some had a more educated citizenry. All were prepared to offer land and cash. It was Thomas' promise to give the University of Florida free water forever, after all, that brought UF to Gainesville in 1906. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: The beginning of a university
re: OP, if there are lucrative minerals to be mined from said lands, the NA's can kiss their water rights goodbye.
Many tribes make big money from the oil on their lands. North of $40M in royalties paid for tribal land leases last fiscal year
Interestingly Gorsuch is the only of the conservative justices who is sympathetic to Native Americans primarily because he tends to interpret treaties giving rights to Native American tribes literally based the text of the treaties. Why Gorsuch Keeps Joining the Liberals to Affirm Tribal Rights
Yep, that's why I posted that. He's been consistently on their side at least in the cases I read about.
Thwt still only gets them to four though. Guess we will see where ACB lands on these types of cases, she may be the swing vote. And it seems she is trying to find a middle ground. Supreme Court wrestles with Navajo Nation water rights dispute
Two days ago it was announced the Bureau of Reclamation has been granted $2.4 million to seed clouds in the upper Colorado River basin that will hopefully benefit Southern Nevada and Utah. Feds spend $2.4 million on cloud seeding for Colorado River "The federal funding will go toward upgrading manual generators to ones that can be remotely operated, and using planes to seed clouds in key parts of the Upper Colorado River Basin, according to Southern Nevada Water Authority documents for its board meeting. "Securing enough generators could be a challenge, Rickert said. “There’s not a lot of makers of cloud-seeding generators,” he said. 'Not only do we have to make sure we can find that, but that they could make as many as we need.'" "The Southern Nevada Water Authority said the grant, while administered by Nevada, is not exclusively for the state’s benefit. “It will all be used to do cloud seeding in the Upper Basin for the benefit of all the river’s users,” wrote public outreach officer Corey Enus over email. "In the Upper Colorado River Basin, Utah and Colorado have been seeding clouds for decades. Wyoming has nearly a decade of experience, and New Mexico recently began approving permits for warm weather seeding in the eastern part of the state." _________________ The seven Colorado River basin states are negotiating with the Bureau of Reclamation on how to conserve 2 million to 4 million acre-feet of water. The Bureau is expected to release finalized plans by mid-August, when it announces how much River water will be available for use in the coming year. A representative from a water policy think tank commented "everyone will have to use less, particularly the agricultural sector." Then adding, “I think a lot the allure of this type of program is it’s easier to talk about how do we get more than to talk about who has to use less.” That conversation, of course, will most certainly need to happen in the very near future. Good news for all the southwest is the increased snowpack. As of today we have had 150% of our average snowfall, and rainfall last fall and early this year is well above average. Hopefully it will not warm too quickly so flooding will be avoided.
Why does everything seem to lead me to catch 22? It’s a great book with a minor character who was a Native American who joined the army to get away from the oil companies who were following his family around drilling for oil wherever they pitched a teepee.
5-4 against the Navajo. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/22/sup...st-navajo-nation-in-water-rights-dispute.html
Why would any persons of indigenous background expect the Supreme GOP to help or honor anything related to them is beyond me.
In terms of the history of Navajo relations with the US and the primacy of water rights there to survive, I am about 1/3 of the way through this book, and it is amazin
