NAVAJO NATION v. DEPT. OF THE INTERIOR

No. 14-16864.

876 F.3d 1144 (2017)

NAVAJO NATION, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR; Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior; United States Bureau of Reclamation; Bureau of Indian Affairs, Defendants-Appellees, State of Arizona; Central Arizona Water Conservation District; Arizona Power Authority; Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District; Salt River Valley Water Users' Association; Imperial Irrigation District; Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; Coachella Valley Water District; State of Nevada; Colorado River Commission of Nevada; Southern Nevada Water Authority; State of Colorado, Intervenor-Defendants-Appellees.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Filed December 4, 2017.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Scott B. McElroy (argued) and Alice E. Walker , McElroy Meyer Walker & Condon P.C., Boulder, Colorado; M. Kathryn Hoover and Stanley M. Pollack , Navajo Nation Department of Justice, Window Rock, Arizona; for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Elizabeth Ann Peterson (argued), Edward S. Geldermann , Ellen J. Durkee , and William B. Lazarus , Attorneys; John C. Cruden , Assistant Attorney General; United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; Scott Bergstrom and Robert F. Snow , Office of the Solicitor, United States Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.; for Defendants-Appellees.

L. William Staudenmaier III (argued), Phoenix, Arizona, for Intervenor-Defendants-Appellees.

Michael J. Pearce , Maguire Pearce & Storey PLLC, Phoenix, Arizona; Kelly Brown and Kenneth C. Slowinski , Chief Counsel, Arizona Department of Water Resources, Phoenix, Arizona; for Intervenor-Defendants-Appellees State of Arizona and Arizona Power Authority.

John B. Weldon, Jr. and Lisa M. McKnight , Salmon Lewis & Weldon PLC, Phoenix, Arizona; for Intervenor-Defendants-Appellees Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District and Salt River Valley Water Users' Association.

Stuart Somach and Robert Hoffman , Somach Simmons & Dunn, Sacramento, California; for Intervenor-Defendant-Appellee Central Arizona Water Conservation District.

Lauren J. Caster , Special Deputy Counsel, and Gregory L. Adams , Fennermore Craig P.C., Phoenix, Arizona; Jennifer T. Crandell , Special Counsel Attorney General; Adam Paul Laxalt , Attorney General; Office of the Nevada Attorney General; for Intervenor-Defendant-Appellee State of Nevada; Colorado River Commission of Nevada; Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Adam C. Kear , Chief Deputy General Counsel; Joseph A. Venderhorst , Assistant General Counsel; Marcia Scully , General Counsel; The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; for Intervenor-Defendant-Appellee Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Steven B. Abbott , Redwine and Sherrill, Riverside, California, for Intervenor-Defendant-Appellee Coachella Valley Water District.

Joanna M. Smith Hoff , Assistant Counsel, Imperial Irrigation District, Imperial, California; Charles T. Dumars , Law & Resource Planning Associates P.C., Albuquerque, New Mexico; for Intervenor-Defendant-Appellee Imperial Irrigation District.

Steven G. Martin and Steven M. Anderson , Best Best & Krieger LLP, Riverside, California, for Intervenor-Defendants-Appellees Coachella Valley Water District and The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Shanti Rosset , Assistant Attorney General; Karen M. Kwon , First Assistant Attorney General; Cynthia Coffman , Attorney General; Attorney General's Office, Denver, Colorado; for Intervenor-Defendant-Appellee State of Colorado.

Before: Ronald M. Gould and Marsha S. Berzon, Circuit Judges, and Marvin J. Garbis, District Judge.


OPINION

The Department of the Interior ("Interior" or "the Secretary") oversees the control, storage, and delivery to the Western states of the waters of the Colorado River. In most years, each state in the Colorado River Basin receives a fixed amount of water from...

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