Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Glennon & Kavkewitz on the Arizona's Share of the Colorado River
Robert Glennon (Arizona) & Jacob Kavkewitz (Arizona) have posted 'A Smashing Victory'?: Was Arizona v. California a Victory for the State of Arizona? (Arizona Journal of Environmental Law & Policy) on SSRN. Here's the abstract:
Fifty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the most important decision in the State of Arizona’s history. Arizona v. California
allocated the flow of the Colorado River among the three Lower Basin
states (Arizona, California, and Nevada) according to terms of the 1928
Boulder Canyon Project Act (BCPA). Arizonans rejoiced. However,
Arizona’s reaction seems perplexing, given that the State spent decades
denouncing the BCPA. Arizona challenged the BCPA numerous times in the
Supreme Court and engaged in fierce political battles to block its
implementation.
This Article explores this riddle by reviewing the legal and political events leading up to Arizona v. California.
Ultimately, the Article concludes that the decision was a victory for
Arizona because, while Arizona had engaged in its strategy of
obstruction, California had steadily been using more of the Colorado
River’s flow. California’s use eventually was well above the amount
allocated to it in the BCPA -- water that would otherwise have gone to
Arizona. To secure legal rights to water that California was already
putting to a beneficial use, Arizona needed to convince the Supreme
Court to depart from established precedent for determining interstate
water disputes and ratify the notion that the federal government could
and had allocated an interstate stream among states.
The
decision’s impact on Arizona cannot be overstated. On its heels came
Congressional approval of the Central Arizona Project, which allowed
Phoenix and Tucson to develop into major population and economic
centers. But the conflict over how to divide the River is far from over.
A growing population and the uncertain yet tangible effects of climate
change bring new water challenges to the Colorado River Basin.
Steve Clowney
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/property/2013/08/glennon-kavkewitz-on-the-arizonas-share-of-the-colorado-river.html