(KOLN/KGIN - TV) KOLN/KGIN TV reports, "Kansas is asking the U. S. Supreme Court to order Nebraska to pay monetary damages over alleged violations of a settlement of a water dispute.
Kansas officials filed their petition Tuesday in the long-running dispute over the Republican River.
Kansas sued Nebraska in 1998, accusing its northern neighbor of taking too much water from the Republican River basin. The states reached a settlement in 2003, but Kansas contends Nebraska is violating the agreement."
Read the article by clicking the title above.
Read the full text of Kansas' "MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE PETITION, PETITION, AND BRIEF IN SUPPORT" filed with the Supreme Court here.
In one part of its Motion, Kansas attacks Nebraska's system of local groundwater management by its Natural Resources Districts:
"17. There is no central state administration of groundwater pumping in Nebraska. Instead, local natural resources districts, governed by the water users themselves, control groundwater pumping with little supervision by the State of Nebraska. This system, as it currently exists, has proven inadequate to achieve compliance with the Decree."
Kansas also seeks, in addition to damages it claims it has incurred due to decreased Republican River flows in the water short years of 2005-06, appointment of a "river master" by the Supreme Court to oversee Nebraska's consumptive use of river flows, as well as pre-determined sanctions in the event of future violations of the Compact by Nebraska.
