WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 water-rights-remarks
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a
transcript of prepared remarks of Assistant Attorney General Ronald J. Tenpas:
RENO, NEVADA
Thank you Mayor Cashell.
I would like to begin by thanking you and Senator Reid for hosting this event,
as well as the other TROA (Truckee River Operating Agreement) signatories:
Secretary Chrisman, Director Biaggi, Chairman Wright, Secretary Kempthorne and
Chairman Carrigan. It is a great pleasure to be here today to sign this
agreement on behalf of the United States Department of Justice. It is
because of TROA's role as a settlement of litigation that the Environment and
Natural Resources Division of the Justice Department has been actively
involved throughout the negotiations. I commend the Department of Justice's
team, led by Fred Disheroon, for all their hard work on behalf of the United
States in helping to make this day happen.
As we gather today along the Truckee River to sign this historic
agreement, I also want to congratulate all of the parties to TROA who have
worked so long and hard to bring us to this place. This agreement is historic
because it will bring to a close the often-contentious litigation that has
long divided these waters, and those of Lake Tahoe, and will promote future
cooperation in the use of this precious natural resource.
We need only look back to the 1970s and 1980s to see just how
momentous this agreement truly is. During those decades, the United States
and many-if not most-of the parties who are gathered here today were embroiled
in numerous lawsuits over the Truckee River, Pyramid Lake, the Newlands
Project, and the use of federal reservoirs for protection of endangered
species and against drought. The settlement act makes the signing and
implementation of TROA the key to final resolution of this litigation, as well
as a path forward. Because of TROA, lawsuits over Truckee River Water that
have persisted for so many years will now-finally-be dismissed.
But signing this agreement does much more than simply bring past
litigation to a close. The Water Rights Settlement Act puts the
implementation of TROA squarely on the path to Congress's approval of the
interstate allocation of the waters of the Truckee and Carson Rivers, and of
Lake Tahoe. As you know, California and Nevada negotiated a proposed
interstate compact in the 1960s, but were unable to secure the needed approval
from Congress until the enactment of the Settlement Act in 1990. The
Settlement Act provides that long-awaited approval when TROA enters into
effect.
I am pleased to say that TROA addresses longstanding concerns of the
Departments of Justice and Interior over that interstate allocation by
providing both protections to Pyramid Lake and benefits to all who use the
Truckee River. This agreement also provides the means to avoid costly and
protracted future litigation that could ensue in the absence of an approved
allocation.
Securing that approval, therefore, is of great public importance to
the states of Nevada and California, to the United States, and to all the
communities that rely on and enjoy these waters.
So where do we go from here? In the coming months, the United States
will join the two states, the tribe, the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, and
other TROA parties, in taking the necessary next steps to ensure that the
agreement we sign today enters into effect. We look forward to working with
all the parties toward a successful conclusion of that process.
Thank you again.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice
