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53 Infrastructure 1 (2013-2014)

handle is hein.journals/infrastr53 and id is 1 raw text is: stric tulre Vol. 53, No. 1, Fall 2013 Water Diversion Rights Limited in Red River Decision By Rene Ruiz exas's long-running efforts to import water from Oklahoma have come up dry. In a unanimous decision delivered by Justice Sotomayor-Tar- rant Regional Water Dist. v. Hermann et al., 569 U.S. (2013), the United States Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Tenth Circuit and held that the Red River Compact (Compact) does not give Texas the right to take water apportioned to Texas from a tributary located in Oklahoma. The Court also held that Oklahoma's water statutes, which virtually prohibit the exporta- tion of surface water from the state, cannot discriminate against interstate commerce with respect to waters that have been fully allocated under the Compact. While the decision is limited to the waters governed by the Red River Compact, it could have an impact on other inter- state water compacts with respect to the existence of cross-border diver- sion rights and interstate commerce challenges. The Red River begins on the bor- der between New Mexico and Texas, runs through the Texas panhandle, and then marks the border between Texas and Oklahoma. The river con- tinues east into Arkansas then turns southward and flows into Louisiana Rene Ruiz Rene Ruiz is a shareholder in Cox Smith Matthews, Inc., with offices in San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, McAllen, and El Paso, Texas. His practice focuses on matters involving water, representing clients before state and local regulatory agencies, and counseling parties to public-private transactions or litigation. where it empties into the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers. The interstate course of the Red River means that upstream users such as Texas and Oklahoma can con- trol the flow of the river by taking substantial amounts of water from the river and its tributaries to the disad- vantage of downstream states such as Arkansas and Louisiana. To promote interstate comity and attempt to remove causes of controversy between each of the affected states, in 1955 Congress authorized the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana to negotiate a continued on page 9 ALSO INSIDE: Closing the Circle: American ExpressCompany Hits Class Arbitration PAGE 3

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