Attorney General Jon Bruning

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                      Contact: Holley Hatt

                                 August 1, 2007, 2:45pm CDT                                                       402.471.2067

Court Dismisses Niobrara River Case

(Lincoln, NE) Attorney General Bruning applauded a ruling issued today by U.S. District Court Judge Lyle Strom that dismissed a challenge to the State of Nebraska's management of the Niobrara River.

"This ruling upholds a surface water law that has been on the books and enforced by the state since 1895,” Bruning said. “There are better ways to settle our water disputes than with lawsuits and lawyers."

On May 11, eight irrigators along the Niobrara River filed a proposed class action lawsuit that challenged the state’s 112-year-old prior appropriation law. The Nebraska Constitution gives the state the authority to regulate surface water in the “first in time, first in right” manner. In this case, Nebraska Public Power District, a senior water right holder, made a call for surface water.

Strom granted the state’s motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that the irrigators should have requested an administrative hearing to challenge the action under state law instead of filing a lawsuit in federal district court.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Dave Cookson and Assistant Attorney General Justin Lavene handled the case.

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