Wyoming v. United States

933 F. Supp. 1030, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11526
CourtDistrict Court, D. Wyoming
DecidedJuly 22, 1996
DocketNo. 89-CV-0286-J
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 933 F. Supp. 1030 (Wyoming v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Wyoming primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wyoming v. United States, 933 F. Supp. 1030, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11526 (D. Wyo. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS THE AMENDED COMPLAINT, DENYING ALL OTHER PENDING MOTIONS AS MOOT

ALAN B. JOHNSON, Chief Judge.

Before the court is the defendants’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1). The defendants contend this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to reach the merits of the State of Wyoming’s and the Goshen Irrigation District’s (hereaf[1032]*1032ter “Goshen”) claims in the amended complaint because the defendants have not waived sovereign immunity or, in the alternative, because the claims asserted in the amended complaint do not give rise to a ease or controversy within the meaning of Article III of the Constitution, in that plaintiffs lack standing and their claims are moot. Having considered all of the relevant facts and law, the materials submitted by the parties, and the arguments of counsel, the court concludes it lacks subject matter jurisdiction because the defendants have not waived sovereign immunity. The defendants’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint is therefore GRANTED. In light of the court’s conclusion, all other pending motions in this case have been rendered moot, and they are therefore DENIED.

I

The Casper-Alcova Irrigation District (hereafter “Casper-Alcova”), based in Mills, and plaintiff Goshen, based in Torrington, are irrigation, districts organized under the laws of the State of Wyoming. Plaintiff Goshen operates and maintains a diversion dam, canal, and laterals for delivery of irrigation water to its landowners. The Bureau of Reclamation has contracted with Casper-Al-cova to maintain and control water distribution to land in the Kendrick Project, a federal reclamation project planned, constructed, and operated in accordance with Wyoming law and the Reclamation Act of 1902, 43 U.S.C. § 371 et seq., consisting of the Semi-noe and Alcova Reservoirs and a system of canals and ditches that convey and distribute water from the North Platte River to the area north of Casper.

On May 5, 1989, Goshen and Casper-Alco-va executed a written agreement (hereafter “the 1989 agreement”), under which Casper-Alcova agreed to lend Goshen 25,000 acre-feet of water from the Kendrick Project. The 1989 agreement provides as follows:

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTAND- ■ ING OR AGREEMENT BETWEEN CASPER-ALCOVA IRRIGATION DISTRICT AND GOSHEN IRRIGATION DISTRICT ,
WHEREAS, the water supply forecast for the 1989 irrigation season for the North Platte Project is less than the amount normally required for irrigation of crops, and
WHEREAS, it appears that such a short supply of water will create serious hardships amoung [sic] the people of the North Platte Valley, through loss of crops and, as a result, other related business, and
WHEREAS, a loan of water, in an amount of approximately 25,000 acre feet, while not enough to provide normal supply, would greatly alleviate this critical situation for the Goshen Irrigation District of the North Platte Project, and
WHEREAS, the Casper-Alcova Irrigation District, without recognizing any right to the use of Kendrick Project Storage Water elsewhere than on the Kendrick Project, nevertheless, desiring to aid in the relief of the possible drouth [sic] situation, will agree to the loan of water under the terms and conditions hereinafter provided:
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the governing boards of the undersigned Irrigation Districts, that the following mutual agreement is hereby ratified and confirmed:
1. That the Casper-Alcova Irrigation District, with the approval of the Wyoming State Engineer, grant its consent to release from the Kendrick Project Storage Water Supply in an amount not to exceed 25,000 acre feet of water for diversion and use on the Goshen Irrigation Districts [sic] lands on the North Platte Project during the 1989 irrigation season.
2. That the total amount of Kendrick Project Water which is actually loaned to the Goshen Irrigation District shall be returned from the first of Goshén Irrigation District’s share of the North Platte Project accrual in Pathfinder Reservoir for water year 1990.
3. In consideration of the loan of water to be made by the Casper-Alcova Irrigation District from Kendrick Project Storage as herein provided, and in addition to the return thereof as provided herein, the Goshen Irrigation District does hereby [1033]*1033agree that in the event the Kendrick Project Water Supply is insufficient in a year in the future when there is a supply available for the North Platte Project, said Goshen Irrigation District will loan, limited in amount to the total quantity of water, by. accumulative totals, borrowed by the Gosh-en Irrigation District under this agreement, to the Kendrick Project from their equity in the North Platte Project Storage an amount of water sufficient to make the same delivery to the lands in the Kendrick Project as is made in any such year to the lands of the North Platte Project. Any loans so made by the Goshen Irrigation District shall be^ returned the first succeeding year that the Kendrick Project has sufficient useable [sic] storage water available to rturn [sic] the loan in its entirety.
4. That on furnishing to the District Office of the United State [sic] Bureau of Reclamation at Mills, Wyoming, an executed copy of this agreement, accompanied by an appropriate schedule for storage water release to the Goshen Irrigation District, the Bureau of Reclamation and within its operations of federal storage works, will make the storage water releases covered by or under this agreement and it shall not make the United States a party to this agreement.

On July 28, 1989, the Wyoming State Engineer issued Temporary Water Order No. 89-46, authorizing the transfer of water from Casper-Alcova to Goshen for use in accordance with state law. On August 15 and 16, 1989, Goshen and Casper-Alcova wrote letters to the Bureau of Reclamation requesting that the Bureau of Reclamation release the water Casper-Alcova had agreed to lend Goshen. On August 23, 1989, the Bureau of Reclamation responded that it would not release the water in the absence of a contract between the Bureau of Reclamation and Goshen. Two days later, on August 25,1989, the Wyoming State Engineer ordered the Bureau of Reclamation to release the Cas-per-Alcova water, on the ground Casper-Alcova and Goshen had fully complied with Wyoming law. The Bureau of Reclamation refused to comply with, the Wyoming State Engineer’s order, and stated that, under federal law, it could not release the water in the absence of a contract between the Bureau of Reclamation and Goshen.

Goshen, Casper-Alcova, and the State of Wyoming then brought this action for declaratory relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2201. The court subsequently dismissed Casper-Alco-va’s claims with prejudice pursuant to a stipulation between Casper-Alcova and the defendants.

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Bluebook (online)
933 F. Supp. 1030, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11526, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wyoming-v-united-states-wyd-1996.