BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana sued Wyoming in the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday over water rights in two shared rivers, which Montana claims are running dry because of Wyoming’s overuse.
The lawsuit over the Tongue and Powder rivers, which flow from northeastern Wyoming into southeastern Montana, marks a sharp escalation in the water fight between the states.
The lawsuit alleges Wyoming is ignoring Montana’s “senior” water rights by taking more water from the rivers than allowed under the 1950 Yellowstone River Compact. That includes water diverted and stored for irrigation and ground water pumped from beneath the surface during coal-bed methane production.
“We’re running out of water,” said Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer. “It’s getting worse every year as Wyoming is using more and more water. … Our farmers and ranchers who depend on this water for irrigation are having difficulty raising their crops.”
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said he was disappointed with the lawsuit, but not surprised since Montana had been “agitating for a fight” over the rivers for several years.
“We will vigorously defend our water rights and our sovereign interests to control our own destiny,” he said.
The 1950 compact calls for disagreements to go straight to the Supreme Court for resolution.
Both states have suffered from a prolonged drought dating to 1999. Wyoming State Engineer Patrick Tyrell said that in recent years because of the drought, only a “small fraction” of Wyoming’s water users in the Powder and Tongue river basins received the water they needed.
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