Managing Partner Eric Garner Discusses Colorado River with Daily Journal
Article Addresses the Draft Federal Plan to Manage the Colorado River’s Depleted Reservoirs
Best Best & Krieger LLP Managing Partner Eric Garner was recently quoted in a Daily Journal article on the draft federal plan to manage the Colorado River’s depleted reservoirs, which contemplates across-the-board water cuts for water agencies across the Southwest. The plan would upend the priority system and set off a chain of litigation.
Garner explains that for the federal government to put forward a proposal that deviates from the Law of the River illustrates the severity of the problem.
“There is no blueprint to settle something this difficult,” Garner said. “The economic costs of the cuts will be substantial on whoever has to bear them. The first thing that [California] would do is seek injunctive relief to preserve the status quo. But the status quo hurts Arizona and Nevada. Arizona and Nevada will have their own legal theories.”
Later in the article, Garner notes, “What the federal government is trying to do is to push the states to solve things on their own. They know that there will be lengthy litigation if they make cuts.”
Subscribers can read the full article, “Draft Federal Colorado River Plan Could Set Off Chain of Litigation,” here.
