The Supreme Court has rejected a settlement between Western states over the management of one of North America’s longest rivers. Friday's 5-4 decision rebuffs an agreement recommended by a federal judge overseeing the case over how New Mexico, Texas and Colorado must share water from the Rio Grande.
FILE - The dry Rio Grande riverbed is seen from the air, July 26, 2022, in Albuquerque, N.M. The Supreme Court on Friday, June 21, 2024, has rejected a settlement between Western states over the management of one of North America’s longest rivers. The 5-4 decision rebuffs an agreement that had come recommended by a federal judge overseeing the case over how New Mexico , Texas and Colorado must share water from the Rio Grande.
In a dissent, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the United States’ theory about how water should be distributed between the two states is “so aggressive that New Mexico fears it could devastate its economy.” Joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett, he wrote that the high court’s ruling “defies 100 years of this court’s water law jurisprudence.
Farmers in southern New Mexico have had to rely more heavily on groundwater wells over the last two decades as drought and climate change resulted in reduced flows and less water in reservoirs along the Rio Grande. Texas sued over the groundwater pumping, saying the practice was cutting into the amount of water that was ultimately delivered as part of the interstate compact.
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