On The Colorado - Resources

RESOURCES FOR JUDGES

CLIMATE CHANGE LITIGATION DATABASES

Columbia Law School

LEGAL FOUNDATIONS

1848 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo

1922 - The Colorado River Compact. Dissertation by Reuel L. Olson, 1926.

The Comprehensive Hoover Dam Documents. Compiled by John Weisheit for On The Colorado.

A legal history of operations at Glen Canyon Dam. Compiled by John Weisheit for On The Colorado.

Also visit the excellent chronology posted at https://www.varuna.io

Varuna's chronology as a pdf

THE DOCTRINES: Prior Appropriation and Riparian

Evolution of Water Rights
Prior Appropriation Doctrine
Doctrine of Federal Reserved Water Rights
1908 - Winters Doctrine
2001 - Water Policy in the United States: a Perspective. Deeson et al.
2017 - Agua Caliente Tribe Vs Coachella Valley Water District (Tribal Rights to Groundwater Affirmed).

Utah Case Law on Prior Appropriation Doctrine

1992 - Steed Vs New Escalante Irrigation. Utah Supreme Court.
2016 - Steed Vs New Escalante: Water Transfers Could Play Vital Role in Meeting Water Demands. Denver University Law.

EVOLUTION OF WATER LAW: Colorado River Basin

1922 - Wyoming v Colorado

1922 - The Colorado River Compact & Minutes of meetings & Centennial Narrative; Kuhn & Fleck.

1922 - THE SESSIONS OF NEGOTIATION

PART ONE: TOC & Forward; 01; 02; 03; 04; 05; 06; 07; 08; 09; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18;
PART TWO: TOC & Forward; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27.

1928 - The Boulder Canyon Project Act

1944 - Mexico Treaty (required the construction of Davis Dam)

1946 - Light on the Mexican Water Treaty from the Ratification Proceedings in Mexico. Northcutt Ely.
Minute 242
2000 - Minute 306
All minutes

1944 - Flood Control Act

1948 - Upper Colorado River Basin Compact

1949 - House Hearings for the UCRB Compact
1988 - Upper Basin Hydrologic Determination (6.0 million acre-feet)
2007 - Upper Basin Hydrologic Determination (5.76 million acre-feet)

1956 - Colorado River Storage Project Act

ARIZONA v CALIFORNIA

The ruling was 5 to 3 with Chief Justice Warren abstaining; dissent from Justices Harlan, Douglas & Stewart.

1962 - Recommended Decree and Dissent & Dissenting Opinion only
1963 & 1964 - Arizona v. California
1979 - Supplemental Decree
Spreadsheet: Lower Basin Present Perfected Rights (senior water rights)
Estimate:Upper Basin Present Perfected Rights. Kuhn, 2012.
2006 - Consolidated Decree

1968 - Colorado River Basin Project Act

1974 - Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act

1986 - Colorado River Floodway Protection Act

1992 - Grand Canyon Protection Act

1996 - Information on Allocation and Repayment of Costs of Constructing Water Projects. GAO and USBR.

1999 - Offstream Storage Colorado River Water Rule

2017 - Agua Caliente Tribe Vs Coachella Valley Water District (Tribal Rights to Groundwater Affirmed).

NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT

Regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA
NEPA 101. Dinah Bear.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Bureau of Reclamation: Lower Colorado document archive
1902 - Reclamation Act
1933 - Hoover Dam Documents (Part One)
1939 - Reclamation Act
1946 - Light on the Mexican Water Treaty
1948 - Hoover Dam Documents (Part Two)
1950 - California and the Colorado River. Desky.
1965 - Statement of attorney Northcutt Ely regarding Arizona v California
1966- The Colorado River. Meyers.
1966 - National Historic Preservation Act
1969 - The Public Trust Doctrine in Natural Resource Law: Effective Judicial Intervention. Sax.
1970 - National Environmental Policy Act
1970 - Clean Air Act
1972 - Clean Water Act
1973 - Endangered Species Act
1974 - Legal-political history of water resource development in the upper Colorado River basin. Lake Powell Research Project Bulletin #4.
1978 - Redwood Amendment
1978 - The Hoover Dam Documents (Part Three)
1980 - Navajo Water Rights: Pulling the Plug n the Colorado River. Back.
1980 - Bear River Compact (Amended) & History of Compact.
1982 - Reclamation Reform Act
1985 - Competing Demands for the Colorado River. Getches.
1990 - Agency Recalcitrance and Evasion Regarding Compliance with NEPA Relating to GC Dam Operations: A Documented Need for Congressional Intervention. Lippman.
1990 - Water and Community and Markets In The West. Ingram.
1990 - From Basin To Hydrocommons: Integrated Water Management Without Regional Governance. Weatherford.
1995 - The Law of the Colorado River: Coping with Severe Sustained Drought. MacDonnell.
1996 - New Options for the Lower Colorado River Basin. Macdonnell.
1996 - The Colorado River Workshop. Grand Canyon Trust.
1997 - Colorado River Governance: Sharing Federal Authority as an Incentive to Create a New Institution. Getches.
2001 - Water Policy in the United States: A Perspective. Deason.
2001 - Upper Basin Perspective on California's Claims to Water from Colorado River. Lochhead.
2001 - Cadillac Desert Revisited: Property Rights, Public Policy and Water Resource Depletion. Holland.
2002 - The Central Arizona Project. Hanemann.
2004 - A New Law of the River to Address the New Era of Limits on the Colorado. Rossman.
2007 - From Colorado River Compact Challenge to the Next Era of Cooperation Among the Seven Basin States. AZ Law Review.
2007 - Revisiting the Colorado River Compact: Time for a change? Adler.
2007 - Colorado and Western Water Law. Greg Hobbs.
2007 - Law, Environment, Dynamism, Reliability; The Rise And Fall of CALFED. Owen.
2008 - The Hoover Dam Documents (Part Four)
2008 - 43 CFR Part 417 does not authorize federal agency adjucication of IID beneficial use of Colorado River. Osias & Hicks.
2008 - Collaboration and the Colorado River Compact. Mulroy.
2009 - Upper Colorado River Basin Compact: Sharing the Shortage. Hobbs.
2009 - SECURE Water Act
2009 - San Francisco Bay Delta Failure of Decision Making Capacity. Hanemann.
2010 - Rethinking the Future of the Colorado River. CRGI.
2010 - "Stationarity Is Dead" - Long Live Transformation: Five Principles for Climate Change Adaption Law. Craig.
2011 - New Adventures Old Bureau: Modern Day Reclamation & Congress's Unfinished Business. Benson.
2011 - Mapping the Human Right to Water on the Colorado River. Birdsong.
2011 - Contrary Views of the Law of the Colorado River: An Examination of Rivalries Between the Upper and Lower Basins. Carlson & Boles.
2011- The Colorado River and the Inevitability of Institutional Change.
Kenney et al.
2011 - Colorado River Law and Policy: Frequently Asked Questions. CRGI.
2012 - Risk Management Stratagies for the Upper Colorado River Basin. Kuhn.
2012 - Equity and the Colorado River Compact. Robison.
2012 - Managment of Water Shortage Colorado River: Evaluate Policy and Viability of Interstate Water Trading. Wildman.
2013 - Was Arizona Vs California a Victory for Arizona? Glennon.
2013 - Upper Basin Voluntary Demand Cap: Means of Mitigating Uncertainty. CRGI.
2013 - Cross Jurisdictional Water Marketing. CRGI.
2014 - Water Policy Special Edition On Water Federalism Project. Harvard.
2014 - Restoring Sacred Waters Guide To Protecting Tribal Non-Consumptive Water Uses. Nania.
2014 - Truth and Consequences of the 1968 Colorado River Basin Project Act. Udall.
2014 - Indian Water Rights: How Arizona v California Left an Unwanted Cloud Over the Colorado River Basin. Cordalis.
2014 - Beyond Drought: Water Rights in the Age of Permanent Depletion. Griggs.
2016 - Downstream and Upstream - Greenhouse Gas Emissions Proper Scope for NEPA Review. Burger.
2016 - Colorado River Water in Southern California: Evolution of the Allocation Framework, 1922 to 2015. Robison.
2016 - Laws of the River: Conflict and Cooperation. O'Neill.
2016 - Sharing the Colorado River: Policy Coalitions of the Central Arizona Project. Coeurdray.
2016 - Climate Change and Allocation Institutions in the Colorado River Basin. Robinson.
2017 - The Colorado River Revisited. Robinson.
2018 - Augmented Water Law. Larson.
2019 - Case for the Grand Bargain. Kenney.
2019 - (DRAFT) Upper Basin, Lower Basin and Mexico: Coexisting Post-2026 Colorado River. Kuhn & Fleck.
2019 - Untapped capacity for resilience in environmental law. Garmestani.
2019 - The Risk of Curtailment under the Colorado River Compact. Castle & Fleck.
2021 - Sources of Controversy: Law of the Colorado River - An Upper Basin View. MacDonnell.
2021 - Community in the Colorado River Basin. Robison et al; Idaho Law Review.
2021 - Quenching Thrist in the Colorado River Basin. Colorado Water Center.
2021 - The Importance of Pre-compact Water Rights in the Climate Change Era of Colorado River Water Planning. Hagen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

David Getches (law professor)

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