Gerard Keating v. Nebraska Public Power District

Nov 7: In the U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, Case No. 10-2441. Appealed from the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. Several Nebraska farmers filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging their due process rights were violated when Nebraska officials ordered the farmers to cease drawing water from the Niobrara Watershed without providing a predeprivation hearing. The Appeals Court said, "We reversed the district court's prior dismissal and remanded the matter to the court with specific instructions. On remand, the district court determined that there was no deprivation of a property right and entered summary judgment in favor of appellees. The district court also declined to exercise jurisdiction over pendent state law claims, dismissing those claims without prejudice. We agree with the district court's determination and affirm its thorough and well-reasoned decision."

 

    Explaining further, due to a decrease in water levels in the Niobrara Watershed, in 2006 the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) requested that the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issue Closing Notices to hundreds of farmers and ranchers who held surface water appropriation permits that were junior to those permits held by NPPD. In the summer of 2007, the DNR issued such Closing Notices to junior permit holders without providing them notice or a hearing prior to the issuance of the Closing Notices. The appellants filed suit, arguing that the Closing Notices effected a property deprivation, and accordingly they were entitled to the procedural due process protections of a predeprivation hearing.

 

    In this second appeal, the appellants argue they are entitled to a predeprivation hearing prior to the DNR conducting its administration of the Niobrara Watershed and issuing Closing Notices. Specifically, appellants seek a predeprivation hearing

to challenge the validity of the NPPD's permits on the grounds that the NPPD was not beneficially using its appropriation to produce power and to challenge the DNR's determination of water scarcity.

 

    The Appeals Court said, "Appellants argue that when the DNR administers the Niobrara in a manner which requires permit holders to stop taking water, the state should conduct a hearing to give permit holders who are being issued Closing Notices an opportunity to challenge the DNR's determination that there is a scarcity requiring administration and to challenge the validity of any senior appropriator's permit. We reject this argument because when the DNR determines that the watershed no longer has the capacity to supply all permit holders, appellants no longer have a legitimate claim of entitlement to use the surface water and thus do not suffer a deprivation of a property right. On the face of the permits, permit holders are warned that there are periods of time when water supply on the Niobrara River is insufficient to meet the demands of all appropriators and that permit holders are 'hereby given notice that [they] may be denied the use of water during times of scarcity.'"

 

    Access the complete opinion (click here). [#Water, #CA8]

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